AFTER THE RAIN...

“People are trying to come to terms with the long haul they are in for.” – Tiana Stevens

In the weeks after the New South Wales floods, the town of Coraki was still a wasteland. For as far as you could see, the ground was brown, as if it had been scorched rather than flooded. The waters had receded, and the stench of overflowing sewage and rotting animal corpses had abated but still lingered. What remained were the shells of ruined houses and the shattered lives of the people. A people for whom the most fundamental thing, their home, had been ripped away from them in such a violent way. In the enervating, flattening heat, it was a desolate place – wounded, broken, scarred. Army trucks were in the streets throwing mud-and sewage-covered belongings into skips. There was still no electricity in a lot of the houses.

“The devastation in this small community is horrific,” says Sergeant Tory Tipler, who serves with the Royal Australian Air Force and volunteers