Disaster assistance has been made available for the local government area of Upper Gascoyne following heavy rainfall and flooding in late June 2018.

Assistance is being provided through the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA).

Assistant Minister for Home Affairs Linda Reynolds, who has responsibility for Commonwealth disaster assistance, said that the NDRRA funding will help the Upper Gascoyne local government area with ongoing recovery efforts.

"Heavy rainfall across the Gascoyne Catchment caused multiple road closures and impacted communities across the region," Assistant Minister Reynolds said.

"The flooding caused widespread damage throughout the Shire, particularly to public infrastructure.

"Importantly, today's announcement ensures that Upper Gascoyne Council can access much needed funding to repair, rebuilding and clean-up essential flood damaged assets, such as roads."

Western Australian Minister for Emergency Services Francis Logan, said that it was important to ensure government financial support was available to help the affected communities.

"A range of disaster assistance is also now available under the jointly funded programme for individuals, small businesses and primary producers who were affected by the floods," Mr Logan said.

"We are continuing to work with other local councils in the region to assess the impacts of the floods and will extend further assistance as required.

"This announcement demonstrates the ongoing commitment of the Commonwealth and Western Australian governments to supporting disaster affected communities."

Assistance available under the NDRRA may include:

• personal hardship and distress assistance for affected individuals and families
• financial support for affected local governments and state agencies to help with the costs of cleaning up and restoring damaged essential public assets
• interest rate subsidies for small businesses and primary producers, and
• freight subsidies for primary producers.

The assistance available for this disaster is divided into specific categories. For further information, visit: www.semc.wa.gov.au/funding/wandrra.

Information on disaster assistance for natural disasters is also available on the Australian Government's website at disasterassist.gov.au.