Many of those preparing their homes for the cyclone are still recovering from the 2022 floods. Thousands of homes and businesses were devastated, and many haven't finished rebuilding. But some business owners are hoping they can learn from their experiences and be better prepared this time.
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00:00This time three years ago, Woodburn was almost completely underwater.
00:07There's still a lot of trauma, and if you drive around town you'll still see that there's a lot of houses that still aren't even rebuilt.
00:14Sandra Peters runs a bakery in the town. She and her staff will be keeping locals stocked up before evacuating at 2pm tomorrow.
00:22We're doing bulk bread, so our bakers are starting five hours early tonight to do bulk bread and bulk pies.
00:28Thousands of Lismore homes and businesses were destroyed by the 2022 floods.
00:34Mayor Steve Krieg had been in office for a matter of weeks.
00:38I threw everything that I had into trying to protect Lismore, but I was made very acutely aware that I put the city first and my family second.
00:54This time he's more conscious of protecting his family.
00:58They live above his restaurant, which he opened in a new Lismore location after the old site was flooded.
01:04It was a gamble, no other way to describe it.
01:07This concrete levee protects the Lismore CBD, but in 2022 floodwaters went nearly four metres above it.
01:15The SES says it's preparing for the possibility of water to go over it again this week, but it's putting measures in place to protect residents.
01:24If our levee was to overtop this week, I just don't know how many of our businesses will be able to take that.
01:32Organisation Resilient Lismore helps to rebuild disaster damaged homes.
01:37We will swing into action as soon as we can after the event.
01:41This is something that happens in our community, none of us like it, but we know how to do it.
01:47Preparing for the worst, while still recovering from it.