Broadwater woman, Karina McKey has been honoured with a Community Service Award from the NSW Government for the extraordinary role she played in supporting the village of Broadwater recover from the devastating 2022 flood, Clarence Nationals MP Chris Gulaptis has announced.

Mr Gulaptis surprised Karina with the award at her Broadwater home yesterday in the company of her husband, Dave, along with Nationals’ Candidate for Clarence, Richie Williamson.

“Even before the flood waters had fully receded, Karina saw her community in need and decided to help,” Mr Gulaptis said.

“She marshalled a volunteer brigade of locals to help clear the flood mud and debris out of the community hall and turn it into a community recovery centre, as well as organising the delivery of cleaning supplies and the clean-up the flood debris around the entire village.

“The hall was turned into a make-shift supermarket and used as a place of refuge, a place of belonging and a place to give hope to a community that was torn apart.

“What was remarkable was that Karina’s enthusiasm to help her community was infectious and it rubbed off on the whole community. The community mood was buoyant and upbeat even with over 90% of the village being significantly flood damaged.”

Mr Gulaptis said when he took Premier, Dom Perrottet to visit Broadwater a week after the flood waters receded, he was in awe of the positive community spirit despite the devastation around them.

“It was something quite remarkable and I made a comment to the Premier that it felt like we were visiting the ‘Mash 4077’ unit as were confronted with a group of happy people celebrating life with destruction all around them,” Mr Gulaptis said.

“Karina is very modest in the role she played in leading the community through difficult times, and attributes the recovery of Broadwater to the passion, hard work and goodwill of the whole community.

“While this is true, Broadwater stood out as a beacon of hope, and despite Karina being far too humble to admit it, this is largely attributed to her leadership.

“On behalf of the community, I thank Karina for going above and beyond right when her community needed it.”