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“If we had money, we could write strategies, action plans and communicate with the community,” she said. “The frustrating thing for people like me, who are on the ground dealing with the impacts on a local government level, is that we are making calls for urgent action, and we don’t feel like we’re getting any traction.”

The letter notes that extreme weather events had forced schools and businesses to close, communities to be completely cut off and homes destroyed.

“Many can no longer afford insurance and will be left with little,” the letter said. “The impacts of climate change and extreme weather are all around us.”

“We are exhausted by the immediate costs and challenges, and we are worried about what’s to come. We are among the sunniest and windiest countries on earth. We have the natural resources to become a world leader in renewable energies like solar and wind, and can create hundreds of thousands of jobs along the way.

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“Local governments are working together with their communities to take action against climate change and
build resilience. But we need more support.”

In the floods that devastated the state last month, more than 10,300 buildings had been damaged, of which 4000 are not habitable. In the Northern Rivers region, which includes the Tweed, Lismore, Ballina region, more than 3500 buildings are not habitable. Residents in the affected areas now face a mammoth clean-up effort and are grappling with whether they stay in a community that is already facing severe housing shortages or to move away.

City of Ryde councillor and Local Government NSW treasurer Jerome Laxale said local governments had been talking about the effects of climate change for so long, but their communities were now living through it.

“Communities are paying the price of decades of inaction in dealing with climate change,” he said. “We will keep on banging this drum until we get results. We are here to represent our communities, and our communities are hurting.”

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Olenka Duma said a southerly change was moving across the state on Wednesday and was likely to stall over the Northern Rivers region bringing some wet weather. Another trough moving across inland parts of the state in the coming days would add to the deluge.

The two weather systems are likely to result in parts of the east coast spanning from the Mid North Coast to the Hunter region are likely to see the worst of the wet weather in the coming days and could see up to 100mm of rain. The rain is likely to linger for the rest of the week and into the weekend.

A flood watch has already been issued for parts of the Bellinger, Nambucca and Severn Rivers where minor flooding is expected.

Duma added thunderstorms could impact the Hawkesbury and Nepean regions which were also facing clean up efforts following the floods earlier this month.