THE head of the Fraser Coast’s Disaster Management Group has declared the community has completely recovered from the 2013 flooding disaster.

Disaster resilience councillor Rolf Light could “confidently say” the community has returned to normal.

“I feel we’ve recovered,” he said.

“I can’t speak for every single individual – in terms of the overall community I think we’ve recovered.”

Earles Paint Place in Maryborough was inundated in January 2013.

The thousands of dollars damage has been cleaned out and owner Melissa White said things were almost normal.

“We’re getting close – it’s all about cash flow and that sort of stuff,” she said.

“A lot of the cash flow problem is really in the downturn of industry; we can’t put it all down to the floods.”

The resilience of the Fraser Coast comes as the state and federal governments engage in a tussle about National Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangement funding.

In this month’s Federal Budget the reimbursement of more than $1 billion in disaster funding to the State Government was delayed.

Fraser Coast Regional Council CEO Lisa Desmond said the council had already been reimbursed by the state for the 2013 disaster.

“Council estimated that the repair bill for the 2013 flood was $8.3 million and received $7.65 million in NDRRA funding,” she said.

“The council component of the repair bill came to $650,000.

“Under the NDRRA guidelines council was liable for the first $400,000 and NDRRA deemed $250,000 of the claim was ineligible.

“While council has a long-term sustainable financial plan which includes contingencies for natural disasters, it relies heavily on federal and state funding to pay for repairs to damaged infrastructure.”

Cr Light said the community had recovered from the last disaster and was prepared for any future one, thanks to the council’s initiative.

“We’ve empowered our satellite communities to be self-reliant and self-prepared,” he said.

“These were the real areas that can get isolated easily and we’ve helped with generators, defibrillators, radios and Red Cross kits.

“I think we’ve done a really good job of this.”

Seven new defibrillators have been ordered and will be placed in the region’s halls, libraries and at the Hervey Bay Airport.