The cascading and compounding impacts of these climate changed times have contributed to an era of long disaster, resulting in devastating consequences for communities, ecologies and infrastructure in particular places. Just as the intensity of climate extremes has increased, so has their frequency, resulting in reduced time and resources for recovery and reconstruction. The unprecedented nature of the 2022 floods across Eastern Australia overwhelmed many responding agencies, resulting in a shift in the burden of responsibility for recovery to the individual and community level. Subsequent delays and inadequacies in the availability and appropriateness of responses from government agencies and insurance companies have left some with a sense of being ‘on their own’. The enormity of the floods also activated incredible community responses; yet as the tail of this disaster stretches on, the capacity of organisations to continue to respond is seriously challenged. How are relations between communities and emergency and recovery agencies being reconfigured in this era of long disaster? How might some of the complex needs of communities affected by extreme events be better anticipated and responded to in the future? This paper reports on the qualitative component of a study of community experiences of the 2022 floods in NSW and QLD funded by NHRA. Drawing upon the stories of more than a 100 people in NSW shared with the research team, we highlight three themes: first, the capacity of formal and community level organisations to respond is increasingly challenged with long disasters; second, those on the frontline of emergency and recovery efforts are severely fatigued; and third, a sense of being forgotten has emerged in particular places. Living with long disasters will require reconfiguring the way formal emergency and disaster recovery agencies engage with and support communities, as well as increased attention on underlying causes of differential vulnerability.