Queensland Health has issued a public health alert after a confirmed human case of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) in the state amid the current flooding event

It was the shock rail shutdown that impacted a million Sydney commuters and cost the state more than $33 million.

Now the truth about what happened in the hours before the sudden decision to cancel the city's train services last Monday is being revealed, with boxes of documents in response to an order for papers delivered to NSW Parliament today.

More than 400 pages of text messages, emails, briefings and reports illustrate the extent of a breakdown in communication and increasingly strained relationships between the office of the NSW Transport Minister David Elliott and Transport for NSW, including Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink.

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At the heart of the issue, Transport for NSW (TfNSW) claims to have briefed Mr Elliott's office and received confirmation he was comfortable with the controversial decision to suspend train services on the night before the shutdown.

The snap shutdown caused chaos across the city, leaving many unable to get to work and disrupting plans on the day international borders re-opened.

Union action springing from ongoing disputes over pay and privatisation had been planned and was before the Fair Work Commission two days beforehand.

In an email with a summary of chronology before the shutdown, Rob Sharp, Secretary of Transport for NSW, claims the Minister's office was briefed and kept informed.

"There was ongoing consultation with the COS (chief of staff) throughout the day," he said.

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"I have included [a] text message confirming Minister Elliott's approval."

Text messages between Greater Sydney Deputy Secretary Meg Bourke-O'Neil and Mr Elliott's chief of staff Tanya Raffoul were sent from 10.43pm, allegedly "when the decision was made that [rail] operations could not occur on Monday".

The pair also had a phone conversation.

After the call, Ms Raffoul texted: "I just spoke to the Minister. He has been briefed and is comfortable with our position."

However, Ms Raffoul told 9News today she was not told about a shutdown in the phone call – rather that the department intended to re-list their case to terminate union action with the Fair Work Commission the following day and that there would be "disruption" on the network.

In a separate text message to Premier Dominic Perrottet's chief-of-staff and media director sent at 11.43pm, Ms Raffoul wrote: "There will be significant disruptions to the rail network tomorrow. Advice is that we will not be able to run many trains."

She insists the first she learned of a decision to suspend services completely was when she was asked to approve an emailed media release announcing it at 1.28am. Ms Bourke-O'Neil has been unable to give her account as she was ordered to take leave last week.

Meanwhile, Mr Elliott claims to have only found out about the shutdown when he awoke to the news on Monday.

The animosity between Mr Elliott and Mr Sharp is clear in other documents.

In a text message between Michael Coutts-Trotter, Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC), and Mr Sharp, Mr Coutts-Trotter wrote: "Premier is going to be asked what happened and what he's done about it.

"He proposes to say that there's been a failure if [sic] process and as a result both TfNSW and the minister thought they'd done the right thing and were clear about the agreed course of action.

"The advice that the network had to be shut down for safety reasons should have been put in writing and should have been endorsed by the minister in writing.

"DPC will work with TfNSW to ensure there are appropriate communications between the agency and MO [Minister's Office] on major issues affecting customer service."

In response, Mr Sharp shot back: "I am happy for process improvements to be assessed and implemented however this appears to place the blame on Transport.

"You are aware of the 'process' issues I have raised with you. I think a more balanced position is that processes in the both [sic] Minister's Office and Transport will be reviewed.

When a draft media statement claimed Mr Elliott was briefed about the impacts by the Sydney Trains CEO "by 8am on Monday morning", Mr Sharp responded: "Do we really need to say when the Minister was briefed?"

Labor MLC Mark Buttigieg, who used the Standing Order 52 to get the papers released today, said Mr Elliott should be held accountable for the shutdown.

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"What today's released government documents prove is that the government has a deliberate and premeditated strategy to shut down the rail network on Monday 21 February," he said.

"This was after they had reached an agreement with rail workers and the union on the preceding Saturday to operate the network safely and reneged on that agreement."

Shadow Transport Minister Jo Haylen called on Mr Elliott to resign.

"There is no room for interpretation here," she said.

"The public service dossier prepared for the Premier is crystal clear. Minister Elliott's office was briefed on the full shutdown of the train network at 10:43 on Sunday night. The Minister's office responded just 56 minutes later clearly saying he had been briefed and that he approved of Transport's position."

Further documents from a separate order for papers are expected in a couple of weeks.

New satellite images released today by Maxar Technologies have provided insight into the damage on the ground in Ukraine.

In Mullumbimby, there is mud everywhere. 

Discarded mattresses, clothes and people's belongings are piled up on roadsides; the streets smell of sewerage and rubbish.

Locals from the NSW Northern Rivers town where the monumental flood recovery effort is beginning describe the area as like a "warzone" or a scene from the Burning Man Festival.

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"You feel like you are in a war or something. Everywhere there is mud, people with shovels and rubbish," local mother-of-three Max Beeman said.

Another local shared on Facebook: "Mullum looked like a war zone, three people said it reminded them of Burning Man, it reminded me of New York after 9/11."

The powerful, record-breaking floods have swept away parts of roads and bridges across the Byron Bay hinterland.

Such destruction may take months to rebuild.

Ms Beeman said she felt grateful her house in the higher ground of Bangalow had been spared.

But damage to roads and terrifying landslides meant many living in the hills past Mullumbimby remain trapped and isolated in their homes without power, food or clean water.

READ MORE: Landslide caused by wild weather hits Northern Rivers town

"There's been lots of landslides, all the bridges are broken, they've got no power, no water," Ms Beeman said.

"There's no shops or anything so people are trying to get food across them by pulley systems."

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In Mullumbimby, many parts of the town are still without power and the water has been turned off.

Supermarkets in Bangalow and Mullumbimby were all out of all fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as bread and basic supplies, Ms Beeman said.

"All the food is running out everywhere," she said.

"Two days ago, I went to three shops.

"There were mountains of people and there was pretty much no fruit and vegetables, basically no meat and bread." 

EFTPOS systems were also down, meaning people needed to queue up at ATMs to get cash – until the machines ran out of money.

"There were massive queues at all the ATMs of which two of them my husband was lining up in.

"By the time he got halfway through the money ran out. 

"I think yesterday at the end of the day, most of the petrol was gone." 

There were reports some Bangalow supermarkets received a delivery this morning, however the stocks had almost run out by lunchtime, Ms Beeman said.

Internet services and mobile phone reception remains patchy in many parts of the area, leaving locals disconnected and struggling to make contact with family and friends, Ms Beeman added.

Amid the devastation, Ms Beeman said it was heartening to see the local community going to heroic efforts to help others.

"There are some amazing people doing brave things," she said.

"People were trying to get across the river where there were raging rapids, where the bridges are broken and then hiking, walking for miles with water and bits of food to try and take it up to these communities and to check on people. It's incredible.

"There's a lot of donations and people are making food and there's all different drop off places where people are bringing heaps of stuff and then there's teams of people trying to take them out to the areas."

In a statement released last night, Bryon Bay Shire Council said it remained extremely concerned about people cut off in the Upper Main Arm and Upper Wilsons Creek areas. 

Australian Defence Force personnel had been able to airlift some people out from Upper Wilsons Creek, the council said.

"Additional support from the ADF has been requested to assist with our severely impacted communities," the council said. 

Council staff are out inspecting damage to roads and bridges.

Infrastructure Services Director Phil Holloway said due to the extensive damage in many areas, it was unknown at this stage how long the assessments would take to complete. 

"It is devastating and when combined with the damage throughout Northern NSW, Councils have an enormous job ahead of restoring communities, roads and access," he said.

"Staff have been out clearing and repairing roads to restore access where we can, but in some cases, we are only managing to get about 500 metres into a road before we come across extreme damage.

"This is especially the case in the hinterland with failed causeways and landslips."

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The House Committee investigating the US Capitol insurrection said its evidence shows former President Donald Trump and his associates engaged in a “criminal conspiracy” to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the presidential election, spread false information about it and pressured state officials to overturn the results.

The committee made the claims in a filing in response to a lawsuit by Trump adviser John Eastman.

Dr Eastman, a lawyer who was consulting with Trump as he attempted to overturn the election, is trying to withhold documents from the committee as it investigates the January 6, 2021, insurrection.

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The committee argued there is a legal exception allowing the disclosure of communications regarding ongoing or future crimes.

“The Select Committee also has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States,” the committee wrote in a filing submitted in US District Court in the Central District of California.

The 221-page filing marks the committee’s most formal effort to link the former president to a federal crime, though the actual import of the filing is not clear since lawmakers do not have the power to bring charges on their own and can only make a referral to the Justice Department.

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The department has been investigating last year’s riot, but has not given any indication that it is considering seeking charges against Mr Trump.

The brief filed on today was in an effort by the committee to refute attorney-client privilege claims made by Dr Eastman in order to withhold records from congressional investigators.

"The Select Committee is not conducting a criminal investigation," Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee’s Democratic chairman, said in a statement.

“But, as the judge noted at a previous hearing, Dr Eastman’s privilege claims raise the question whether the crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege applies in this situation.”

The filing also details exhibits from the committee's interviews with several top Trump aides and even former Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short.

The committee also said it found evidence that Mr Trump sought to obstruct an official proceeding — in this case, the certification of the results — by trying to strongarm Mr Pence to delay the proceedings so there would be additional time to “manipulate” the results.

“The evidence supports an inference that President Trump and members of his campaign knew he had not won enough legitimate state electoral votes to be declared the winner of the 2020 Presidential election during the January 6 Joint Session of Congress, but the President nevertheless sought to use the Vice President to manipulate the results in his favour,” the filing states.

Lismore Mayor Steve Krieg has been a rock for his community.

But behind the scenes, he is grappling with the same devastating loss as many people in his community.

Mr Krieg returned to his home and business to discover he had lost almost everything to floodwaters.

LIVE UPDATES: Thousands evacuated as rain bomb unleashes on Sydney

When he first walked into his food business, he was hit by a strong smell, which was the result of a lack of power to his coolroom and freezers.

"It's just heartbreaking," he said.

"Only five years ago to the month that we were affected by a major flood.

"We thought we had done everything right to prepare for this one.

"You think you're doing the right thing.

"A lot of bad things happen to pretty good people."

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Mr Krieg said he would have a "good bawl for half an hour or so to take it all in".

He is one of the many who have been reduced to tears as they process their losses and the road to recovery that lies ahead.

"You've got to absorb what's happened, you've got to realise what's happened," he said.

"I'm just one of many, many thousands and thousands of people.

"There are hearts broken like mine all over this city, but we'll come back, we'll bounce back."

'Completely unimaginable' few days

Olivia Brown "can't even put into words" what the last few days have been like for her and her neighbours in the NSW town of Coraki.

"Monday was honestly the most traumatic day of all of our lives, saving what we could, leaving behind what we knew and just getting to safety," she said.

"Just trying to save ourselves, really.

"But we are alive and that is all that matters."

Ms Brown was up all night watching the local river.

Her mother is a vet and she was away at work.

As a result, Ms Brown was home alone with her two younger siblings and the many animals on the property.

"Come Monday morning, our banks broke," Ms Brown said.

"Within half an hour I was up to waist-deep water trying to save what animals I could because we do have a lot of animals.

"We were stuck for roughly five hours, just waiting, trying to call (for help). We had no reception to call Triple Zero or SES or anyone really.

"We just honestly didn't think we would survive but luckily a nearby SES boat saw us.

"We had 15 adults on the boat and around 10 animals.

"We eventually got to Coraki to an evacuation centre on a little strip of land that nearly went under. I was there for three days."

Clean-up continues

The clean-up is underway in Lismore as floodwaters recede, with the death toll expected to rise as crews search ravaged homes.

Four people are confirmed dead after the town experienced the worst flooding in its history.

There are currently half a million people across the state who are subject to evacuation orders and warnings.

There are 76 evacuation orders in place in NSW, impacting 200,000 people.

An additional 18 evacuation warnings are also in place, affecting nearly 300,000 people.

https://twitter.com/livgracecurran/status/1499192868006600704

The Clarence Valley town of Maclean is urgently preparing to be impacted by floodwaters.

Engineers have indicated there is a chance the town's levee wall will fail, causing large-scale inundation throughout the town.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said many people were waking up today to see "much of the state underwater".

"It has been an incredibly difficult evening," he said.

"I want to acknowledge the trauma and suffering that many people have gone through, throughout the evening, having to leave their homes in the middle of the night.

"But my message to you is that we will get through this."

READ MORE: Evacuation orders in Sydney and across NSW as rain continues

Where you can get help

As flooding continues to hit homes and businesses, there are ways you can get help.

The following are support services for flood-affected individuals:

• Triple Zero (000) for police, fire and ambulance in an emergency
• State Emergency Service on 132 500 for flood assistance
• The Agriculture and Animal Services Hotline on 1800 814 647 for stock or animal welfare issues
• Red Cross on 1800 733 276 to connect with the service to register, find and reunite people after an emergency
• Services Australia on 180 22 66 to find out if you are eligible for disaster recovery payments
• Resilience NSW on 13 77 88 to find out if you're eligible for a disaster relief grant in New South Wales
• Community Recovery Hotline on 1800 173 349 for information and support in Queensland
• Lifeline on 13 11 14 for mental health support