“Everybody gets trauma from these events”: The mental toll of living through disasters on the Mid North Coast

David and Carolyn Duff are fourth generation farmers on the Mid North Coast – a region prone to floods, droughts and fires. They’ve experienced the destruction of disasters time and time again, and felt the emotional and financial toll after each event.

Now, facing predictions of increased bushfires and more intense storms, the Duff family has been contemplating the mental impact – and quality of government support – surrounding life on the MNC.

🔥Living through the Black Summer: The Duffs’ 2,500 acre Toorooka property, west of Kempsey, was devastated by the Black Summer fires of 2019/20.

In just two hours, David estimated the fires had cost them $1.2 million dollars. 

The flames took everything but the family home, although it was a close call. Under the house, David managed to control the fire as flames gathered beneath the master bedroom.

Alongside the devastating property loss, the Duffs lost 100 head of cattle. Their neighbour lost his life.

“There’s not a day goes by where we're not reminded of it,” David told the Mid North Coaster.

🧰 Impact of bushfires still ongoing: David and Carolyn believe their business is still struggling, and know of people in the area who lived through similar experiences and still get triggered by the smell of smoke five years on.

After Black Summer, the Duffs changed course and had soya bean crops. They lost some in the floods of 2021/22 floods.

Another fire came through in 2023. “It managed to burn 90 percent of this property,” David said.

“Trying to operate the business has been a bit of a challenge”.

The pair agree the government support process following a disaster makes the mental impact substantially worse by “extending the stress”, with the prolonged wait times, plenty of red tape and insufficient assistance at inappropriate times. “It’s not fit for purpose,” David said.

Carolyn believes the "mental anguish” comes from the frustration of dealing with the process. “People either give up, or walk away, it’s just too hard.”

🗣️“We deal with nature on a daily basis, whatever it throws at us,” said David.

“Whether it's fire or drought or flood or too much rain, not enough rain… but to have the pre-leading drought, which was stressful enough, for two years, in 2018 and 2019, and then to be hit [with the fires], it just really bowled me out.”

“And then it didn't rain for 10 or 11 weeks afterwards, so we were feeding 700 head of cattle here daily… and it was 45 degrees and there wasn't a leaf on a tree. You couldn't get in the shade. There was no water in the creek. The river was back to pools”. 

David said access to government assistance for fire damage was particularly hard going.

“All these hurdles came up, and she couldn’t get it, and that just frustrated us to no end,” he said.

“You’re not only dealing with the result of what the event is – whether it's fire or flood– mentally, which is not your norm, and then you've got to deal with this other stress load. 

“The firemen and everybody that comes to help, and even the LLS [Local Land Services], everybody gets trauma from these events because they have to deal with the people that have been affected”.

💧 Close friends “devastated” from May floods: Jennifer Schoelpple has lived near Charity Creek on the MidCoast since 2001. The area was hit hard by the record-breaking floods in May, and while Schoepple was not directly affected by the water – living on high ground – she said seeing her close friends and community impacted was "extremely difficult.”

🗣️“It feels like there’s no way out for a lot of people, especially when they’re already settled in a certain place,” Schoelpple told the Mid North Coaster.

Close friends of hers were “devastated” after floods, with some losing land, swept away and now disappearing with erosion. 

“They’re sort of riverfront, grazing land, and they're having to replace and try and find new ways of trying to hold that soil… it's very expensive, it's tiring, it's mentally exhausting.” 

Schoelpple said the suffering of livestock was “horrendous”.

💳 Insurance instability:  Currently covered by insurance, Schoelpple is preparing for a future where her home is denied cover, or the premium is increased by an affordable amount.

“One day, insurers are going to stop insuring us. That’s very stressful”. 

Schoelpple said disasters are “a definite cycle that the entire community has to live with” but she believes there has to be a better way of dealing with it.

“We keep doing the same thing and expecting different outcomes”.

☀️ Climate impacts outlined by the government: Earlier this month, the government released the first National Climate Risk Assessment, revealing the effects climate change will have on the country in the coming decades. The report warned of increased extreme heat days, floods,and bushfires, as well as the impacts of climate change and its effect on mental health and wellbeing.

🧠 Mental stress a key factor: In response to the report, Australians for Mental Health said the ongoing impact of extreme weather and changing climates on people’s mental health will need to be better managed. The group called on all governments to take steps to slow climate change, stating climate action is mental health action. 

“The mental health risk cannot be underestimated,” Australians for Mental Health Executive Director Chris Gambian said. “When disasters pile on, so do the harms to people’s minds, families and communities.” 

“Climate policy is mental health policy, and the test now is whether governments move fast enough to protect people’s wellbeing”.

Gambian said ensuring people have safe workplaces is critical. “For those working in hotter conditions, we must make sure our workplace laws protect them, such as our farmers, tradies and construction workers”. 

🚪What’s the government doing? The federal Government has vowed to cut emissions by 62 to 70 percent by 2035, despite environmental and expert groups calling the target “timid” and recommending 70 per cent as the minimum ambition. 

Analysis released by Deloitte in August found a target of 75 percent was not just achievable, but would add a $370 billion boost to Australia’s GDP by 2050 compared to a weaker target. 

Some of the country’s biggest businesses like Atlassian, Canva, and Fortescue made up a 500 business coalition that backed the larger target, while polling from earlier this month showed two-thirds of the public support an emissions target of 75 percent or higher.

Thumbnail: Carolyn and David Duff, and dog Sadie, on their Toorooka property.