The flood waters wreaked havoc in minutes, swamping streets and washing homes away as the sun rose over Dungog. But long after the storm front passed, Alison Eyb is still seeing its toll on her small NSW town. Her three children – Emily, 10, Archie, 4, and Oscar, 1 – are home sick with sore throats and high temperatures. Across the road is a unit riddled with black mould. Some houses remain uninhabitable – her neighbours are sheltering in caravans in their yards.
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Seven weeks on from the Dungog floods, in which three people died, local authorities are seeing a rise in respiratory conditions and post-traumatic stress disorder. Emily has been ill for the past fortnight, first with bronchiolitis and now tonsillitis. A year 6 assembly at her local St Joseph's Primary School was postponed last week because more than a third of the class was absent.
"Half of our street went underwater, so it's hard to know if there are any germs still lurking around," says Ms Eyb, 44.
Dr Duncan Dew, from The Medical Practice, in Dungog, says he has seen a noticeable spike in respiratory conditions since the floods on April 21, even after allowing for the onset of winter. "It's a little hard to tell seasonably, but there have been a lot of people with respiratory-tract infections and atypical pneumonia. We have seen a lot since the floods."
Other patients are showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, including nightmares and anxiety, he says.
NSW Health says contaminated flood waters may carry a range of viruses, bacteria and parasites. Separately, mould and rising damp triggered by floods can cause nasal congestion, coughing, wheezing and respiratory infections. Dr David Durrheim, public health controller for Hunter New England Health, says the incidence of respiratory conditions has increased across the region.
Dungog Shire Community Centre manager Sarah U'Brien says some residents among the town of 2500 people are also suffering stress and fatigue. About 80 people remain in temporary housing, uncertain when or if they can move back home, according to Dungog Shire Mayor Harold Johnston.
"A lot of these houses have been absolutely soaked so we have to be careful putting people back in there – with mould they can get seriously ill," he says. "It's going to be couple of years at best until people can resume normal life."
There is much work to do in Dungog: the local tennis courts are a wreck; the main creek remains littered with washed-up furniture, fridges and cars. Some residents are in crisis accommodation while waiting for insurance assessments. Others have left town altogether since the floods.
Ms U'Brien's own home remains damaged after cyclonic winds forced a gum tree through the roof of her five-year-old daughter's bedroom. "People are still living in homes that are compromised, homes aren't weather proofed, there are doors and windows missing," she says.
"On the whole, I have been amazed at the resilience of the community but people are just tired and fatigued ... Once the water goes away, that is when the real work starts."
