Long time Lismore shopkeeper Alex Coronakes says he's sick of the "blame game" when it comes to flood disaster and recovery.
Alex has been in business at Tropicana Fruit Shop in Keen Street for nigh on 30 years and has lived through some lean years.
On February 28 he was prepared for the events that unfolded because he kept an eye on the weather.
But even this veteran business owner, who was around for the 2017 flood, was nonetheless staggered by the magnitude of the disaster that took place.
"I have seen many, many floods here in Lismore over the years, I have been here all my life," he said.
"The 2017 flood wasn't too bad, we were able to get back into production within a week.
"But this flood has just been a little bit over the top
"It has created a lot of damage everywhere."
When asked the 64 million dollar question: Will you reopen? He adopts a cautious approach.
"I am not in a hurry to sort of open up just yet until everything is right and there are a few shops reopening," he said.
"Until that happens I will just sit back and watch progress."
Alex said he was prepared as well as he could be for the February 28 flood "because I watch the weather all the time".
"The amount of rain that fell everywhere in such a short period of time, on that night, created a monster," he said.
"Two weeks before we had a minor flood, the place was soaked, dams were full, ponds were full and the rivers were all I knew it wouldn't take much water to create a flood."
Alex, who has done much of the flood clean-up and re-build of his store himself, gives short shrift to any talk of moving the CBD or talk of post flood recovery.
"The suggestion of moving the CBD out of town is just stupid," he said.
"How do you relocate all this CBD. Where are you going to put it. Who's going to pay the money for it all.
"Lismore was put here for a purpose all those years ago for timber cutters and this is where we should be.
"Flood mitigation might hep a little bit."
Alex said he was sick of the "blame game" post-flood.
"I am sick of politicians blaming one another and people in businesses blaming someone else that they weren't informed about the flood," he said.
"You couldn't blame anybody for this flood. It was just one of those things that a bomb went off above us that night for 24 hours."
Although Alex said he was planning to retire this year he will reopen his shop and wait until Lismore is back up and running before he makes a decision about his future.
I'm a media professional with over 34 years of experience in public relations and journalism, including a decade setting Lismore's news agenda as the editor of The Northern Star. I have proven track record in growing audiences and improving engagement by delivering quality local stories for and about the Lismore community.
I'm a media professional with over 34 years of experience in public relations and journalism, including a decade setting Lismore's news agenda as the editor of The Northern Star. I have proven track record in growing audiences and improving engagement by delivering quality local stories for and about the Lismore community.
