One of the prime people behind Grantham's post-flood move to higher ground says he is prepared to help Lismore navigate the same path.
Environmental Engineer Jamie Simmonds said even though Grantham involved moving 100 residents and Lismore's flood prone homes number 1,000 it was the "same problem just a bigger number'.
The American-born Australian resident's work in helping relocate Grantham after the devastating 2011 floods has made him a world leader in disaster recovery.
His book, Rising From The Flood: Moving The Town of Grantham, has become the textbook for how to save flood-prone communities.
When the Lismore City News tracked him down last week, Mr Simmonds had just given a talk in Washington and was taking a well-earned break travelling around the states in a motorhome with his family.
Parked on the side of the road in Oregon, Mr Simmonds said he'd be "happy" to provide Lismore with some advice if someone wanted to contact him.
"If someone needs me, just call me I'd be happy to give free advice," he said.
"I'd be happy to help, up to a point, I'm sure you have got 1,000 cooks in the kitchen there.
"If the mayor wants to give me a call, I will give him as much time as he needs."
Indeed it was the Lockyer Valley Mayor Steve Jones (now deceased) who first approached Mr Simmonds to help with the Grantham relocation.
From floods in January 2011, to the first ballot for land swaps in August, to residents moving into a new estate on higher ground, only took 11 months.
This incredible feat was driven by the community and council and done with a high degree of assistance from governments, banks, insurance companies and builders.
Mr Simmonds said momentum was the key and making a start before you had even worked out every step of the process.
"This can't be decided by people living in Sydney," he said.
"You can't leave it up to people living in Sydney to make all the decisions, they don't know what the community wants.
"This has to be the community and the mayor going down to Sydney and telling them this is what we want.
"It doesn't take much to win people over. All you need is a little hope."
Mr Simmonds said the model used in Grantham was for land swaps rather than buy backs.
"We were against buy backs because basically you are paying someone to leave and what you are left with is land that is pretty useless," he said.
"It breaks up the community and lots of people leave the area and you don't want that.
"We worked hard with the insurance companies to give people their full pay outs so they could take part in this scheme.
"People who don't have insurance need to get help either through the millions of dollars that have been donated to various flood funds or the government has to step in and assist the uninsured.
"Even though things are bad right now, there is plenty of opportunity for people if they are willing to get onboard."
Although admitting he is no expert, Simmonds doesn't support government backed flood insurance schemes.
"We are seeing these disasters happen more and more," he said.
"It doesn't make sense for the government to underwrite a scheme and yet the risk remains."
Lismore Mayor Steve Krieg said he would definitely "feel" Simmonds out.
"His ideas make a lot of sense," Mr Krieg said.
"I definitely think we should seek his input in conjunction with the reconstruction corporation."
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.
