PREMIER Mike Baird has recalled witnessing the “devastation ” in Dungog on the anniversary of the storms that claimed the lives of three people last year.
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“It was an unbelievably traumatic time,” Mr Baird said.
“I’ll never forget walking down the main street of Dungog and seeing the look on the local people, they were shocked, they were in disbelief. It’s certainly something I’ll never forget.”
The storms hit just a month after Mr Baird’s government was re-elected.
The state government shelled out about half a million dollars in recovery funding, as well disaster relief packages.
Mr Baird toured the town in the wake of the storms, touching down by helicopter after witnessing what he likened to a “war zone” from the air.
“On that night, the force and long period of the storm, it was clear we were in for a rough old time [but] from the air actually seeing it, you couldn’t quite believe it,” he said.
