diff --git a/cloud-etl/create_rds.sh b/cloud-etl/create_rds.sh
index 2c50c0669..028043a25 100755
--- a/cloud-etl/create_rds.sh
+++ b/cloud-etl/create_rds.sh
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ ccloud::validate_psql_installed \
   || exit 1
 
 ccloud::validate_aws_cli_installed_rds_db_ready() {
-  STATUS=$(aws rds describe-db-instances --db-instance-identifier $DB_INSTANCE_IDENTIFIER --profile $AWS_PROFILE | jq -r ".DBInstances[0].DBInstanceStatus")
+  STATUS=$(aws rds describe-db-instances --db-instance-identifier $DB_INSTANCE_IDENTIFIER --profile $AWS_PROFILE --region $RDS_REGION | jq -r ".DBInstances[0].DBInstanceStatus")
   if [[ "$STATUS" == "available" ]]; then
     return 0
   fi
@@ -31,11 +31,12 @@ aws rds create-db-instance \
     --db-instance-identifier $DB_INSTANCE_IDENTIFIER \
     --engine postgres \
     --allocated-storage 20 \
-    --db-instance-class db.t2.micro \
+    --db-instance-class db.t3.micro \
     --master-username pg \
     --master-user-password pg12345678 \
     --license-model postgresql-license \
     --region $RDS_REGION \
+    --publicly-accessible \
     --profile $AWS_PROFILE > /dev/null
 status=$?
 if [[ "$status" != 0 ]]; then
@@ -48,15 +49,15 @@ echo "Waiting up to $MAX_WAIT seconds for AWS RDS PostgreSQL database $DB_INSTAN
 retry $MAX_WAIT ccloud::validate_aws_cli_installed_rds_db_ready $DB_INSTANCE_IDENTIFIER || exit 1
 print_pass "Database $DB_INSTANCE_IDENTIFIER is available"
 
-SECURITY_GROUP=$(aws rds describe-db-instances --db-instance-identifier $DB_INSTANCE_IDENTIFIER --profile $AWS_PROFILE | jq -r ".DBInstances[0].VpcSecurityGroups[0].VpcSecurityGroupId")
-echo "aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress --group-id $SECURITY_GROUP --cidr 0.0.0.0/0 --protocol all --profile $AWS_PROFILE"
-aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress --group-id $SECURITY_GROUP --cidr 0.0.0.0/0 --protocol all --profile $AWS_PROFILE
+SECURITY_GROUP=$(aws rds describe-db-instances --db-instance-identifier $DB_INSTANCE_IDENTIFIER --profile $AWS_PROFILE  --region $RDS_REGION | jq -r ".DBInstances[0].VpcSecurityGroups[0].VpcSecurityGroupId")
+echo "aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress --group-id $SECURITY_GROUP --cidr 0.0.0.0/0 --protocol all --profile $AWS_PROFILE  --region $RDS_REGION"
+aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress --group-id $SECURITY_GROUP --cidr 0.0.0.0/0 --protocol all --profile $AWS_PROFILE  --region $RDS_REGION
 status=$?
 if [[ "$status" != 0 ]]; then
   echo "WARNING: status response not 0 when running aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress"
 fi
-echo "aws ec2 authorize-security-group-egress --group-id $SECURITY_GROUP --cidr 0.0.0.0/0 --protocol all --profile $AWS_PROFILE"
-aws ec2 authorize-security-group-egress --group-id $SECURITY_GROUP --cidr 0.0.0.0/0 --protocol all --profile $AWS_PROFILE
+echo "aws ec2 authorize-security-group-egress --group-id $SECURITY_GROUP --cidr 0.0.0.0/0 --protocol all --profile $AWS_PROFILE  --region $RDS_REGION"
+aws ec2 authorize-security-group-egress --group-id $SECURITY_GROUP --cidr 0.0.0.0/0 --protocol all --profile $AWS_PROFILE  --region $RDS_REGION
 status=$?
 if [[ "$status" != 0 ]]; then
   echo "WARNING: status response not 0 when running aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress"
@@ -70,8 +71,8 @@ for row in $(jq -r '.[] .Data' $KAFKA_TOPIC_NAME_IN.json); do
 done
 
 echo "Create table $KAFKA_TOPIC_NAME_IN"
-export CONNECTION_HOST=$(aws rds describe-db-instances --db-instance-identifier $DB_INSTANCE_IDENTIFIER --profile $AWS_PROFILE | jq -r ".DBInstances[0].Endpoint.Address")
-export CONNECTION_PORT=$(aws rds describe-db-instances --db-instance-identifier $DB_INSTANCE_IDENTIFIER --profile $AWS_PROFILE | jq -r ".DBInstances[0].Endpoint.Port")
+export CONNECTION_HOST=$(aws rds describe-db-instances --db-instance-identifier $DB_INSTANCE_IDENTIFIER --profile $AWS_PROFILE  --region $RDS_REGION | jq -r ".DBInstances[0].Endpoint.Address")
+export CONNECTION_PORT=$(aws rds describe-db-instances --db-instance-identifier $DB_INSTANCE_IDENTIFIER --profile $AWS_PROFILE  --region $RDS_REGION | jq -r ".DBInstances[0].Endpoint.Port")
 PGPASSWORD=pg12345678 psql \
    --host $CONNECTION_HOST \
    --port $CONNECTION_PORT \