You can taste the danger in the air

Right before a bushfire, you can taste the danger in the air.

You can smell the smoke.

You can often see the flames flickering way off in the distance.

You can hear the fire engine sirens, and see the emergency services’ utes buzzing around.

You tune in to the ABC radio to hear the latest warnings from the authorities.

And then you brace yourself as the head of the fire roars through and destroys everything in its path.

It’s sheer madness. Utter destruction.

And then moments later it’s … eerily quiet. You can walk around and survey the damage.

Floods are the exact opposite:

All you hear is rain. Then the water starts rising. It’s relentless.

Yet the water doesn’t quickly recede. It just sits there and ruins everything you own, covering everything you hold dear with rot and faeces.

There is no quick escape. Most people are trapped, and isolated, and hungry, and traumatised.

I called up a colleague of mine, Kimbah, who is right in the middle of the floods.

“I’m really just heartbroken, Scott”, she said, her voice cracking.

Kimbah runs one of the oldest financial counselling services in the country. Her office is located in the heart of Lismore, in the grand old council building that was built in 1886.

“The last time the floods came through, the water made it into the office and reached about 40 cm up the wall, which meant the bottom of all the filing cabinets got soaked. So this time, I told the team to stack things on the desks … just to be safe.”

This time, the water level reached 3.3 metres.

This time, they lost absolutely everything.

Now, you don’t sign up to be a not-for-profit financial counsellor if you want to make a quid. You do it because you care deeply about your community. And right now Lismore, and surrounding areas, are suffering through what Kimbah calls “a catastrophe of biblical proportions”.

Yet I tried to pull Kimbah back into the business of financial counselling for her clients:

“You and I know that a coping mechanism for people in a crisis is to want to get back to normal … which often results in them making poor decisions with their insurance claims. That’s something you can help with …”

“What insurance?” she snapped. “It costs people $28,000 a year for flood insurance in Lismore. Who the hell can afford that?”

Drop the anchor!

To me, what we are witnessing here is a failure of the system.

All too often it’s the most vulnerable people in our communities that become the collateral damage of these ‘once-in-a-hundred-year natural disasters’ … that seem to come around every few years.

Thankfully, the Lismore financial counselling service has been faithfully serving their community for decades … helping them stay afloat.

And, come hell or high water, Kimbah assures me they’re not going anywhere. So if you’ve been impacted by floods, call the National Debt Helpline 1800 007 007 and speak to a financial counsellor.

Tread Your Own Path!