Cows Found Dead on Beaches and Beehives Ruined: Locals in Shock After NSW Flood Disaster

Residents in parts of the NSW mid-north coast encountered a distressing sight as carcasses of cattle beneath debris arrived on beaches, having been swept away in violent floodwaters.

Heavy equipment is being used to clear them from the sand, painting a sorrowful image of the destruction wrought by the floods that have devastated the area this week.

It is anticipated that more dead animals will surface as floodwaters withdraw, revealing the full extent of the damage.

Fifth-generation dairy farmer James Neal from Oxley Island, just east of Taree, told SBS he knew of nearly a hundred local dairy farmers impacted.

“It’s such a desperate situation, unprecedented in that any plan you had just went straight out the window,” said.

“It’s been really stressful for everyone involved.

“This is going to take a huge mental toll on farmers for sure. It’s upsetting.”

A view of a herd of black cows, including small calves, from behind, walking through muddy brown floodwater up to the underside of their bellies. One calf is seen up to its neck in water. The very tops of the fence line can be seen in the water, with trees in the distance.

Farmers tried to move cattle to higher ground through raging floodwaters by foot and canoe. Source: Supplied / Laura Polson

Emotions are still raw as the community grapples with the distressing loss of both animals and property.

Neal was one of hundreds who also had to be rescued when water rose rapidly on Tuesday night, catching many off guard.

“I had to get rescued at our own house and there were so many calls, SES was so under the pump,” he said.

“We had a friend rescue us and some other people up to their waist in water sitting on a table.

“All our houses for our staff went under water as well.”

A screenshot of a zoom call, showing the face of a middle aged man with white beard and wearing a black cap, superimposed on a background of an aerial view of flooded farmland.

Dairy farmer James Neal spoke to SBS over Zoom as he remained cut off by floodwaters on Oxley Island. Source: SBS News

Neal said many farmers in the area made contingency plans for moving stock to higher ground after major flooding in 2021, but those areas were under water by half a metre this week.

“In 2021, we had a flood that was recognised as one in 100. This year they’re saying this is a one-in-500-year flood because all those areas that were normally flood-free are not flood-free anymore,” Neal said.

“Cows were simply carried off and ended up caught on fences. I’ve got numerous photos of livestock that have washed up, and they are not even from here; they’ve come from upriver where people assumed paddocks were safe from flooding, and they just weren’t.”

According to WeatherZone, Oxley Island received 279 millimetres of rain on Tuesday alone, 500 millimetres over three days — equivalent to eight months’ worth of rain.

Neal said they weren’t warned of the severity of the weather event, and modelling didn’t reflect how much rain ultimately came.

He, along with many others on the island, has been cut off for days without power, struggling to care for surviving livestock without feed and with equipment destroyed.

A young woman with brown hair, wearing a chequered jacket, feeding a white, fluffy calf on the wooden veranda of a property.

Laura Polson feeding a calf as she stayed with her isolated property during flooding on Oxley Island. Source: Supplied / Laura Polson

According to Neal, dairy cows also need to be milked every 24 hours, but that is proving a nearly impossible task in current conditions.

Laura Polson, part of one of Oxley Island’s biggest dairy farming families, has also been isolated on her property, trying to keep animals alive.

“Sadly, a lot of calves have been lost but we were able to hoist this white calf up out of the water and have been feeding it bread, milk and weet-bix,” she told SBS on Thursday.

“My dad, brother and sister have made huge efforts to protect our cows and calves on other parts of the island but it’s unknown how those cows are doing.”

A fluffy white calf with black spots lying on the wet wooden veranda, undercover. Brown, muddy and clearly fastmoving floodwater sits just up to the veranda ledge.

A calf taking shelter on the veranda of Laura Polson’s home as floodwaters raged around it on Thursday. Source: Supplied / Laura Polson

‘A few bad years now’

Commercial beekeeper Colin Broos keeps hundreds of hives on Oxley Island and says he’s lost most of them in the flood.

“Pretty devastating. I’ve lost 40 to 50 per cent of my income. Just like that, gone.”

“We had the droughts in 2019, we were all affected by bushfires, lost hives there, a lot of people did. Then we had the floods in ‘21, then we had Varroa Mite, and now we’ve got this. It’s pretty tough.”

He was ferried across flooded pastures on a friend’s boat to assess the damage to his hives.

“This is next level. We did not expect this. There were no warnings … nobody knew how bad this was going to get. It’s taken us by completely by surprise.”

“We’re a bit numb at the moment actually.”

A middle aged man, with short spiky hair, greying on the sides, looking concerned, standing in front of floodwater, with an SBS TV microphone in front of him.

Commercial beekeeper Colin Broos says he doesn’t know how his business will bounce back after more than 120 of his hives are washed away in the flood. Source: SBS News

Other Oxley Island farmers like Lee Fieldhouse say it’s going to be a “tough winter” for everyone in the area.

“From an animal perspective, the pastures are in trouble and a lot of hay has been lost, the soil has been lost as well,” Fieldhouse said.

“Because [the flood] is so late, it’ll take a very long time to dry out this time of year.

“There’s going to be a lot of people that have lost everything.”

A middle aged man wearing yellow shirt and black and blue board shorts, standing barefoot on a road holding a canoe paddle, with an orange canoe sitting behind him in floodwater over the road.

Lee Fieldhouse among locals using boats to get to their friends and neighbours, for rescues and to deliver supplies. Source: SBS News

He has been reaching isolated friends by canoe, delivering supplies to keep spirits up.

“I’ve done the bread and milk run and beer and ciggies. All the essentials.”

Locals ‘cut off’ from medical care

Sherinah Peck is one of likely hundreds of people whose homes have been completely flooded and who have lost nearly everything.

Already facing the challenge of rebuilding a destroyed home, Peck was injured by a distressed cow while searching the beach for missing belongings that washed away during the flood.

She had to travel two hours south to hospital in Newcastle with a suspected broken leg, because the nearest public hospital in Taree was still cut off by floodwater.

“Taree is only 15 minutes away from where I live but I couldn’t get to that hospital,” Peck said.

“I have to have surgery… for them to put in a plate and screws.”

The lack of a public hospital in Forster-Tuncurry has been the subject of debate for several years.

A small tinny boat with motor sitting on floodwaters, the street sign about a third underwater, with trees in the background clearly showing the high level of the widespread flood water.

On Friday, locals on Oxley Island continued using boats to rescue and assist residents still stranded by floodwaters. Source: SBS News

On Tuesday, local member Tanya Thompson told SBS it was a serious problem.

“I called on the premier to do a stand up hospital in Forster because people in that area don’t have access to public health at the moment, that’s a concern,” Thompson said.

“If something happens, where do they go? Our paramedics are stretched. We’re in a whole world of pain here.

“We don’t want any further trauma here; we are already traumatised enough.”

A middle aged woman with blonde hair sitting in a hospital bed, wearing a pink onesie with one leg resting upwards, wrapped up in a white cast.

Sherinah Peck suffered a leg injury after an encounter with a distressed cow on the beach. Source: Supplied

Searching for lost items

Peck has appealed to her community to look out for things that have been washed from her home, including one with deep sentimental value.

“I am after one particular item, that means the world to me and that’s my mum’s bike if anyone finds that I’ll be so grateful,” she said.

“Her bike – Betsy – was everything.”

Many others have lost everything, and donations have begun to pour in to support those in need.

Four people have died in the flooding disaster.