Comment: More families raise alarm about flash flooding levels after Airport Link
A Brisbane City Council chief warned nine years ago a new $4.8 billion tunnel under the city would “pose immediate and long-term” flooding issues. Yet flood mitigation work was scaled back and now angry residents are demanding action, writes Des Houghton.
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FAMILIES hit by flash floods in Clayfield and Nundah in Brisbane remain adamant that water levels increased dramatically after the $4.8 billion Airport Link was constructed.
And they say the Brisbane City Council, the State Government and the BrisConnections consortium that built the motorway tunnels were well aware of flood threats – before, during and after the construction phase.
Warning letters I obtained this week confirm this.
Comment: More families raise alarm about flash flooding levels after Airport Link
“Everyone put it in the too-hard basket or blamed someone else,” says Peter Maddern whose workers’ cottage at Wongara St, Clayfield, was flooded badly five times before he and his wife Ellen-May moved up the street to higher ground.
The Madderns have a deeper understanding than most of the failure of the flood protection promises enshrined in Airport Link approvals.
Peter sat on the project’s community consultation group. He now believes it was all window dressing.
“They promised our homes would be protected from flooding.
“In fact they told me I’d be 30 centimetres better off,” he says. “They promised beautiful parks and other improvements. They fed us a load of rubbish.”
The floods have hit property values and sent home insurance premiums soaring across Brisbane.
The controversy has set a legal minefield for Transurban, the Airport Link owner, which denied the project worsened flooding.
More families spoke out after my column last week in which the Clayfield residents’ action group said it believed Airport Link flood mitigation works – described in great detail in the initial proposal – were not carried out.
These included the widening and deepening of Schulz Canal and the excavation of boardwalks at Toombul.
The plans called for the removal of an obsolete bridge that has footings which impeded water flow. It is still there.
The action group chief Cameron Russell says he was alarmed to discover this week that there were “variations” in the design plan finally approved by council in January 2012, just months before the tunnels opened.
The plans show a radical downgrading of flood mitigation works.
I think serious questions remain unanswered.
I spoke to a civil engineering expert who studied 44 drawings in the final approval documents and says eight were described as preliminary drawings.
How did preliminary drawings get the final stamp of approval, I wonder?
The Madderns, who purchased their property in 1999, knew something had gone terribly wrong before the massive tunnel project was complete.
“The moment the Airport Link flood wall was built in 2009 we started having troubles,” Peter says.
“There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that Airport Link worsened flooding.”
The wall is visible from their property.
Neighbourhood backyards once covered by ankle-deep water in heavy downpours were suddenly experiencing waist-deep and chest-deep flooding.
The Madderns were hit hard because they lived in the lowest block in Wongara St.
“The water came up to here,” says Peter, raising his palm above his wife’s head.
“My belief is that council was negligent in approving the project.
“Right from the start we got assurances the tunnel construction would not worsen flooding. But it did. And now they have to fix it.”
Council offered to buy the Madderns out, warning that flooding was likely to be repeated again and again.
After they were hit by another flood in 2015 they agreed to sell.
“By then we had had enough,” he says.
The couple believe they were inadequately compensated, with the price not reflecting the substantial renovations including a deck and drainage works. Like hundreds of others in Brisbane the flooding also hit the value of the land.
Linda and Nathan Watson say flooding under their Huet St home at Nundah, 2km away, worsened after the completion of Airport Link.
From their deck they can see Kedron Brook Creek as it snakes around Shaw Park.
“Since Airport Link was built the frequency of flooding has increased significantly,” Linda says.
“The water runs backwards out of Kedron Brook Creek. It’s amazing to see. The water comes in really, really quickly.”
Mercifully, the water has not entered the family’s upstairs living area although it has reached the seventh rung on the back stairs.
She adds: “We are sure the flood mitigation work was not carried out as promised.
“The problem needs to be acknowledged and we need some truthfulness from council and the State Government.”
Now I can report that City Hall acknowledged Airport Link had caused flooding as early as October 2010, two years before it opened.
Colin Jensen, council’s chief executive, wrote to the State Government saying the project had already “adversely impacted the local drainage and has caused above-floor flooding to properties”.
He added: “Council officers previously communicated these concerns on numerous occasions to the Airport Link Project since early 2009, with no action taken on issues addressed.”
Jensen raised serious concerns about changes to the design of drains in the Kalinga Park less than a kilometre from where the most severe flooding would later occur.
“The proposed drainage system represents a significant reduction in capacity when compared with the original drainage system,” he said.
Jensen accurately predicted the flood chaos that would follow saying Airport Link drainage woes “pose immediate and long-term maintenance issues for council”.
In reply, Queensland Coordinator-General Graeme Newton agreed flooding was a “serious concern” and ordered an “urgent investigation”. The findings of that investigation were not released publicly.
Transurban chief executive Sue Johnson declined to be interviewed on the record.
In a statement she said: “We are confident that all required flood mitigation works were completed as part of the construction of Airport Link.
“A comprehensive process was undertaken by the contractor Thiess John Holland at the completion of the project to verify that all required works had been undertaken before the land was accepted and returned to Brisbane City Council. There is no evidence to support claims that pre-existing flooding in the surrounding area has been made worse as a result of the project.”
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COP THIS
THE state’s crime watchdog has asked the police ethical standards unit to find out why police failed to arrest a single protester after more than 80 animal rights activists stormed a family cattle property on the Darling Downs.
The call came after former deputy PM Barnaby Joyce warned activists that some reckless “hillbilly” may end up shooting or assaulting animal rights “terrorists”.
Farmers accused police of failing to protect families. In a formal complaint to the Crime and Corruption Commission the McNamee family of Lemontree Feedlot at Milmerran say the invasion by militant vegans on March 23 caused distress to animals and the family.
Dave McNamee says the lack of arrests empowered the protesters who returned in large numbers to sit outside and intimidate the family again.
And he is right.
In his complaint to CCC chair, Alan MacSporran, McNamee says he believed around 100 people trespassed on his property.
“They were uninvited, unidentified and we did not know their intentions,” he says. “They spooked our cattle, calves and horses and we had grave concerns that they would cause injury. Our biosecurity requirements were also breached. This large group of people were well organised, intimidating and verbally abusive.
“The fact that we are reasonably isolated geographically only adds to personal safety concerns. The police were very late to respond to our urgent request for assistance. There were no arrests.
“We do not believe that this sort of crime would go unpunished in any other home or workplace. My family and the collective agriculture industry believe this sets a very dangerous example to people who will feel emboldened to trespass on rural properties at will.”
CREDIBILITY SHREDDED
THE green activist group Redlands 2030 has suffered a knock to its credibility after being forced to apologise to Redland City Mayor, Karen Williams.
The group admitted it “published and promoted” a video on social media “that might have been interpreted as suggesting that Mayor Williams had behaved improperly”.
The video was narrated by former ABC television host Peter Wear, who has already apologised for the “distress and embarrassment” it caused.
Redlands 2030 said it “regrets any distress or embarrassment that the comments may have caused to Mayor Williams”.
It added: “Redlands 2030 apologises to Mayor Williams and withdraws any suggestion unreservedly.”
Williams had threatened legal proceedings saying she was keen to “clean up the defamatory social media slander” and had issued a “concerns notice” in response to the video.
BUSH BEANO
CELEBRITY chef Ben O’Donoghue (pictured) is to give bush tucker a whole new meaning.
He has prepared what may be the ultimate Chef’s Table lunch for May 3 featuring Darling Downs produce like Murray cod from Condabilla Fish Farm, pork belly from Sunpork, and aged sirloin from AAco.
The long-table lunch will be held at Di and Roger Lyne’s Brooklyn cattle property on the banks of the Condamine River, eight minutes from Dalby on the Moonie Highway.
The luncheon is part of the Big Skies festival celebration (April 27 to May 5) where city folk are invited to the Western Downs to experience everything from a picnic race meeting to visits to the cattle sales yard, historic Jimbour House, a solar farm and working wheat and cotton farms.
More details at bigskiesevents.com.au
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