Adele McCollom. Citation recipient Mary Ball was absent. Photo: Supplied.
SIX members of the Nambucca Valley Red Cross emergency services team have received NSW Premier’s Flood Emergency citation awards for their contributions and service during the 2025 NSW Floods emergency response throughout the Mid North Coast and Northern Rivers.
In the aftermath, the chief executive of Natural Hazards Research Australia, Andrew Gissing, said that the flood event was the biggest on record for the region, and could be classed as a 1-in-500-year event.
Around 600 volunteer hours were logged by the team at Nambucca Valley evacuation and recovery centres during this time.
Deputy Team Leader of the Nambucca Valley Red Cross emergency services team, Helen Mower, said that NSW had faced compounding catastrophic floods that set new records for rainfall in river catchments and flood levels across many regions.
“Our team members are trained, committed and work in a professional way with other first-responder agencies for those who may be impacted by emergency situations and disasters,” Ms Mower said.
“Assistance is provided before, during and after an emergency.”
Ms Mower said the Nambucca team had been involved in a range of community engagement activities throughout 2026, at Waterfall Way, the Bellingen Support Hub, a Tenterfield Disaster Welfare Evacuation Exercise, the Eungai Creek Community Resilience Network Preparedness Stall, a Coffs Harbour Airport Exercise Briefing, a Coffs Harbour Disaster Welfare Evacuation Exercise, the Frank Partridge VC Public School First Responder’s Day, and a Valla Beach Market Preparedness Stall.
Ms Mower said the Nambucca team was now gearing up to distribute essential emergency and preparedness information and resources to the local community, residents and businesses during Emergency Redi Week, which runs from September 14 to 22.
These events will take place on 15 September, in front of Woolworths Nambucca Heads from 10am to 2pm; 16 September, at Nambucca Heads RSL from 11:30am to 2:30pm, and on 18 September, in front of Trisley’s Betta Electrical, Macksville, from 10am to 2pm.
Anyone interested in volunteering with the Australian Red Cross can also obtain information at these events.
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