ULONG General Store & Café in the Valley has become the official ‘unofficial’ road reporter and weather watch as the flood conditions unfold around the village.

Carol and Steve Cleary, proprietors of the café and store have built their business on serving their community and in tough times they pull out all the stops.

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“We have a well-oiled bush telegraph of loyal customers who live out around the local river systems and they phone in and say ‘all good to Harry’s Bridge’ or tell us how the Bobo river is going, and we can pass that on,” Carol told News Of The Area.

“Steve drives down the ‘hill’ everyday and when he hits Coramba he phones the store and sends a road report.

“For the recent road works on Eastern Dorrigo Way we’ve been talking with Daniel, the project manager from the Council – he reports in to us and tells us what’s happening and if there’s a road closure.

“So, if a farmer tells us he’s bringing a truck in or out we can phone him and give him the details, letting him know it’s closed or it will be open on the hour for traffic to pass.

“That’s how we’ve managed to keep communications channels open.”

Carol and Steve’s daughter, the little ray of sunshine, Katie Sibio, is the weather reporter.

Every day dressed in bright outfits and with a big smile on her face she’s been posting funny messages on social media to brighten people’s day.

“We started that to help keep mental morale up,” said Carol.

“People tell us that the frivolity of what we do really brightens their day.

“The people on the mountain are pretty resilient but with the bushfires, the floods, backed-up by Covid and more floods it’s been a long time of consecutive challenges.

“But we have nothing to complain about in comparison to our Northern Rivers neighbours…all we have is mud between our toes.

“Looking at the positives, we don’t have to buy water for our tanks and the best time to visit a rainforest is in the rain,” she laughs.

Ulong General Store & Café is running a fundraiser for the Northern Rivers flood-devastated people, donating $1 from every coffee to a fund which will be given to an organisation that gets the money directly to the people in need.