Clearing flood rubbish is ‘a marathon, not a sprint’

Floodwaters are subsiding. The evidence of this disaster can be measured in the piles of damaged goods and furniture outside homes and businesses.

Casino has had a lot of its flood rubbish collected. The CBD was spotless by Thursday.

Coraki has had two days to clean up and street after street has the characteristic rubbish piles by the road.

Richmond Valley Council will be collecting Coraki’s rubbish on Monday, March 7.

General manager Vaughan Macdonald said this gives people Sunday to get flood damaged stuff out.

The council reminds residents the rubbish must be flood damaged.

Trucks collecting the rubbish will be on the Coraki streets early Monday morning.

“Don’t stress if you have not had the chance to get everything out of your home. All stockpiles will eventually be collected,” the council advised.

Mr Macdonald said a crew would be in Rappville on Monday, March 7.

“There will also be pickups of rural impacted properties but we are prioritising towns for health and safety reasons,” he said.

“This will be a marathon and not a sprint and we ask people to be patient.”

The plan is to focus on Evans Head on Wednesday, weather permitting.

If accessible, council crews will be assessing Woodburn, Broadwater and Rileys Hill on Thursday, March 10.

Any contractors interested in assisting in these cleans up should call 6660 0300.

Stock owners who need cow corpses removed, can call 1800 814 647 and log the location of carcasses.

Local Land Services will get a contractor to remove them, however, it should be noted this can take some time given scale of the disaster.

If possible, farmers are advised to bury dead animals on their property as soon as possible.