"The rejection is disappointing, although not unexpected, said Walcha Mayor Eric Noakes.  

"Due to the number of these disasters occurring on a regular basis the criteria around escalation is very tight. Even though the devastation is widespread, there is not a large enough percentage of land that is out of production, as opposed to the flooding that has occurred in Northern Queensland, and maybe the Tingha fires."

Mr Noakes said local Members Kevin Anderson and Barnaby Joyce both advocated strongly on Walcha's behalf.

"But in the end the decision is in the hands of the bureaucrats, and the bottom line is the numbers do not stack up," he said.

Young graziers Angus and Lisa Kirton were one of the worst affected by the ferocious storm, and to say they are disappointed with the result is an understatement.

"If you look at the assistance guidelines we pretty much fit quite well into it," Mr Kirton said.

"My understanding is that the reason it was unsuccessful was because of the low value of the capital and the infrastructure damage, but most of those things would be insured by the majority of people anyway.  So this rigid way of defining how it gets escalated doesn't really encompass other things like the fact that  30 per cent of our property is covered by felled timber so the grass can't grow and we're a grazing operation. I think however it is assessed is lacking, and this is illustrated in our case."

The Kirtons also feel the support offered under Category B status is inadequate.

"We have all these people we employ through local government agencies who tell us what we can and can't clean up, but they're not putting a bloody red cent in to do the job," Mr Kirton said.