Lisa Lamarre is a business owner in Lismore, and while she was quick to reopen the doors of La Trouvaille in the Star Court Arcade, she's concerned about the future of the town.
Create a free account to read this article
or signup to continue reading
Lisa says it is heartening to see more shops reopening in the town every day, and says it goes a long way to building business confidence.
"I'm hopeful. Every day we hear about new shops opening. We've got a gallery opening over here, and we're working on getting a chef at the cafe, and the theatre is up and running," Lisa said.
She would, however, like to governments play their part in alleviating stress by revealing what's being planned to mitigate against future flooding.
Lisa opened the Molesworth St store in July 2021, and in that time has endured pandemic closures and then the flood in February 2022.
She says one of the biggest challenges is the mental challenge of the unknown.
"The hardest thing to get our heads around is that we are all trying to rebuild and get the heart back into Lismore, but without any clue about what's coming or what we're up against," Lisa said.
"We don't know where to hang our hats. We know floods are coming, we're aware of that. All we hear about is preparedness - which of course we do, we're all prepared," Lisa said.
She wants to know what plans are being made to ensure when floods come again, that Lismore will not suffer the level of devastation it suffered in 2022 - because many businesses, including her own, would not survive that again.
She doesn't think bigger levees or moving the town are the answers, but would like to see a plan that looked at "digging us out of this" - through a broader scope of engineering commitment.
CSIRO report findings have been too long in coming, she says, and called on government leaders to talk to the community about what it is planning.
"I feel like we are these little planes in the air, but we're starting to run out of fuel a bit, because there's no answers, nothing's coming.
"Our local people are rattling the cage, they are doing everything they can, they are absolutely beating themselves up trying to keep Lismore on the map and not forgotten.
"I feel like at a federal level they all just want to make this go away. They want us all to move out of our containers and move on."
Lisa has a plan to "just pack everything up" when floods threaten in the future.
She has put pressed metal walls back into the building, and made the choice to reinstate the ornate plaster ceiling, because, "it's just so beautiful". She figures the ceiling will be the least of her worries if a flood reaches that high again. Lisa is optimistic Lismore can survive and thrive.
She talks about looking for the positives amidst all the devastation - like saving beautiful cashmere and leather items from all of the debris, and selling it at a recovery sale to fund the refit.
"A business owner friend of mine said, 'Even as thin as the lining is, if it's a silver lining, it's there'. That's our story."
