It is a very welcome piece of news for fire-affected residents: the NSW government has agreed to cover six months of council rates for individuals and businesses severely affected by this season's bushfires.
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Deputy Premier John Barilaro said yesterday (Tuesday) the NSW government would cover the full cost of council rates for individuals who have lost their homes and for business properties damaged beyond repair.
This would occur for the final two quarters of the 2019/20 financial year.
"Bushfire-affected communities will not have to pay rates on a home which has been lost in the fires," Mr Barilaro said in a statement.
"The last thing our communities need right now is more financial stress which is why the NSW government is doing everything to ease the burden by funding council rates and picking up the bill for the clean-up, at no cost to owners."
The NSW Rural Fire Service says more than 11,000 fires have ignited since July, burning 5.5 million hectares. Some 2432 homes have been destroyed to date this bushfire season and 25 people have died.
Fire authorities on Tuesday confirmed 17 additional homes were lost to blazes over the weekend, five Bega Valley homes and 12 in the Snowy Monaro region.
More than 60 bush and grass fires were burning across NSW on Tuesday afternoon, with up to 30 still to be contained.
Bureau of Meteorologist forecaster David Wilke said rain was expected on fire grounds across NSW into early next week.
"Rainfall is expected to become heavier from Wednesday on the north coast where it will build until it moves down south tomorrow evening and into the weekend," Mr Wilke told AAP on Tuesday.
"It's a reasonably good bet we'll get a good amount of rain right across the state."
Mr Wilke said severe weather warnings could be issued on Thursday and Friday for flash flooding in the north coast and mid-north coast regions.
There could also be landslips due to a lack of vegetation on fire grounds.
Federal and state parliamentarians on Tuesday used the first sitting day in Canberra and Sydney respectively to pay tribute to those impacted by the bushfires.
"The scale of these bushfires is unprecedented and NSW is experiencing the most devastating natural disaster in living memory," NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
"The bushfire season has left a huge scar on NSW."
Australian Associated Press
