Prime Minister Julia Gillard has promised residents of the flood-ridden NSW city of Wagga Wagga they will get all the assistance they need to rebuild their community once the full extent of damage is known.
Ms Gillard arrived in the Riverina city on Wednesday, after floodwaters peaked at 10.56 metres and began to ease through the morning.
She met with SES workers to thank them for helping prepare locals for the worst, which was narrowly averted after the city’s levees held fast against the raging and swollen Murrumbidgee River.
“In Australia we know we face these kinds of disasters only too often for a nation that over the last two years has seen so much hardship caused by floodwaters,” she told reporters in Wagga Wagga.
“Now we’re seeing that hardship here.
“But whenever we see that hardship we see some great Australian spirit, and I’ve seen that in spades today.”
Ms Gillard boarded a helicopter with Major Kerry Pasco to view damage to properties from the air.
“When the flood water subsides, then we will be able to count the cost to infrastructure, and we will be working with the state government and with local governments to assist with getting infrastructure back in order,” she said later.
From the air Ms Gillard saw houses almost covered by water in north Wagga Wagga, where there are about 1200 homes and the flooding was worst, saying the damage inside the buildings would be devastating.
“For people when they are able to get back to those homes and start the clean-up, it’s going to be a very heart-breaking time,” she said.
Wagga Wagga mayor Kerry Pascoe was also distressed by the damage.
“There’s water where I thought water wouldn’t be,” he said.
Nationals Federal MP for Riverina, Michael McCormack, says he’s confident Ms Gillard will ensure flood victims get the help they need.
“She came, she saw, she made a commitment,” he told AAP.
Mr McCormack also said her arrival in Wagga Wagga would boost morale.
“The fact that a prime minister comes to a country town that doesn’t get many prime ministerial visits … when a community is on its knees through a natural disaster … it gives an indication that the prime minister cares,” he said.
Aside from an estimated $500 million worth of road damage, Mr McCormack believes the bill for other public works, fencing, telegraph poles and loss of livestock will top $1 billion.
On Wednesday afternoon, paddocks adjacent to the Olympic Highway were transformed into a large lake, with fences and gates almost submerged.
A gush of muddy water streamed angrily beneath the Gobbagombalin Bridge.
“I’ve never even seen water below it before,” a young woman told AAP.
Beatrice Gestier, owner of Uneke Coffee Lounge and Homewares store, on Fitzmaurice Street, kept both her stores closed on Wednesday, after the SES ordered business owners in the CBD to evacuate on Monday.
“We had to totally pull the homewares shop apart,” Ms Gestier said.
It had taken until 3am on Tuesday morning to put everything away.
Ms Gestier expected to reopen the stores on Thursday.
She said she was humbled by the support of friends and strangers alike.
“One lady and her nine-year-old son knocked on the door and just offered to help,” she said.
“The community was fabulous, people came from everywhere.”
Brothers Mitchell and Matthew, aged 13 and 16, worked until 4am on Tuesday helping the SES fill sandbags across the road from their Fernleigh Street home.
They were rewarded with a handshake from the prime minister.
“She’s awesome,” Mitchell said.
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