For those living on the east coast of NSW it probably feels like it has been raining forever.
Those who have been lucky enough to have homes on higher ground have been hit with mould growing everywhere, and those on the lowlands are facing huge clean-ups and massive bills, at the very least.
We are just 68 days in to the year, but already we are asking "just how big are the 2022 floods?"
For Lismore, it was record breaking. The northern NSW town has not recorded a bigger flood since records began in 1887.
At 14.4 metres the March flood rose well above the previous highest of 12.46m recorded in March 1890. In living memory the two biggest floods fell in February 1954 at 12.27m and March 1974 at 12.15m.
Stories that brought readers to tears poured out of the region, along with stories of local heroes, and the images of utter devastation the town experienced shocked.
The flood crisis for the town started nine days ago and continues.
For the Hawkesbury district north-west of Sydney it was a big flood and it's been ongoing for a week now, but certainly not the biggest in living memory.
The problem is the floods are increasing in intensity and prevalence. As this graph shows:
This week's flood peaked around 13.8m at Windsor, but the biggest in recent memory was 14.46 in March 1978. Yet even that wasn't as big as the June 1964 flood in 14.57m nor the November 1961 flood at 14.95m.
But all those are trumped by the biggest on record, which came way back in June 1867 at a height of 19.68m.
It cost the lives of 12 members of the Eather family: two women and 10 of their children.
Raging waters struck the families farmhouses at Cornwallis on June 21.
Those lost were sisters-in-law Catharine and Emma Eather, all of Catharine's children: Catharine, Charles, Clara, Mary Ann and William, and five of Emma's six children: Emma, James, Elizabeth, Angelina and Annie.
Only the womens husbands brothers Thomas and William Eather and one of Thomas children, Charles Frederick, aged 16, survived.
An inquest was held at the Commercial Hotel in Windsor on June 26. William Eather was recorded as saying he last saw his family alive on June 21 on the roof of his brother George's house.
Kim Chappell
As Senior Producer - Digital for ACM's regional titles I assist newsrooms in digital best practice. Before this role, I was the digital journalist with ACM's national team and prior to that, the digital specialist with ACM's Agricultural division. I started as a general rounds journalist with The Land in 2006, moving up to hold the title of chief of staff before switching to digital reporting in 2015.
As Senior Producer - Digital for ACM's regional titles I assist newsrooms in digital best practice. Before this role, I was the digital journalist with ACM's national team and prior to that, the digital specialist with ACM's Agricultural division. I started as a general rounds journalist with The Land in 2006, moving up to hold the title of chief of staff before switching to digital reporting in 2015.
