Sikh volunteers have said there is a lot more work to be done in Lismore after handing out 1500 meals in the flood-devastated town.
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Members of Sikh Volunteers Australia (SVA) were given a police escort around flooded roads to enter Lismore at 5pm on Wednesday after a 35-hour journey that began in Melbourne at 6am on Tuesday.
The not-for-profit organisation was thanked by locals as they handed out meals of soy bean curry and rice, water and supplies on the street, at student accommodation and at evacuation centres.
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SVA spokesman Jaswinder Singh said he "has not seen anything of this scale" when describing the devastation in Lismore.
"The water mark on the trees was sitting at somewhere between 20 to 25 feet [6 to 7.6 metres]. It was not just a flood, it was a tsunami," he said.
Mr Singh said that Lismore locals are still in shock as they begin to clean up the flood damage.
"I sensed that the people were in shock but they are very resilient and very strong people. They have witnessed the flood before but not this scale. So, it's a mixed feeling down in the town. People know that they have to recover from this but they really don't know how to do that," Mr Singh said.
"They are doing the cleaning of the shops, of their houses. At the moment there is not much resources available for them to conduct this massive job but they are bouncing back."
The SVA normally cooks in commercial-size kitchens but are currently living at a local person's house in Lismore, who is allowing them to use their home kitchen to cook their next batch of meals for Thursday.
"We have three big burners, we have big pots, we have a lot of grocery supplies with us. We are like a mobile kitchen, you just give us a dry space and a gas connection and we are good to go," Mr Singh said.
The volunteers prepared white chickpea curry and rice for the free meals they distributed at evacuation centres and on the street on Thursday.
Mr Singh said the next challenge is getting more food and supplies delivered up to Lismore as their ingredient supply is likely to be depleted within the next two days.
"We have arranged our own supply truck from Newcastle. But since this morning the situation in northern Sydney and Newcastle is not very good, so I don't know how long it will take, they say it could take a good eight to 10 hours to reach Lismore," he said.
The long road to Lismore
SVA members began driving from southeast Melbourne at 6am on Tuesday to arrive at the First Gurdwara of Australia in Woolgoolga on the NSW Mid North Coast at 4am on Thursday.
After having a four-hour sleep, they got up to cook 1500 meals on Wednesday morning before getting back on the road at 12pm to travel to Lismore.
But the volunteers faced road blocks in Grafton and were seemingly halted in their tracks until a highway patrol officer gave them a police escort to avoid flooded waters and arrive in Lismore at 5:30pm.
Including driving, cooking and rests, it took the volunteers a total of 35 hours to travel from Melbourne to Lismore with 1500 hot meals, bottled water and supplies in tow.
Mr Singh said two more volunteers are flying from Melbourne to Lismore on Friday to boost their numbers.
"We will stay as long as it's required," he said.
If you can help, call Jaswinder Singh on 0452 601 734 or those who want to donate to Sikh Volunteers Australia can do so on their website.