NSW extreme weather: Lake Conjola locals accuse council of water release mismanagement
A bushfire devastated town on the NSW south coast has been hit by disaster again with a deluge of rain and wild weather causing flooding and property damage as the council is accused of mismanaging water releases from the lake.
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A bushfire devastated town on the NSW south coast has been hit by disaster again with a deluge of rain and wild weather causing flooding and property damage as the council is accused of mismanaging water releases from the lake.
Low-lying areas in Lake Conjola flooded on Monday just six weeks after residents were forced to flee their homes as bushfires razed dozens of properties in the region.
While the rain is welcome news for firefighters, it has created chaos of a different kind, including fallen trees, power outages and flash flooding.
A kangaroo was on Monday spotted swimming through floodwaters in the town as residents were also forced to wade through flooded streets.
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Shoalhaven Council workers used earthmoving equipment to dig a channel to the sea at Shoalhaven Heads and Lake Conjola, after water levels rose to dangerous points.
But some residents claimed it should have been done earlier to reduce the risk of flooding amid a 100mm downpour at the weekend.
Local Nev Britton told The Daily Telegraph the lake was the most full he had seen it in 25 years and the council had been “slow” to act.
“Areas that have never been inundated are now flooded,” Mr Britton said.
He said a more permanent solution was needed for the lake, which has been locked since last August.
“The council have been pretty slow in getting off their hands,” he said.
Resident Dale Steven had waist-high water through his house. “It’s absolutely ridiculous. It could have been stopped,” he said.
Many residents want the lake to be permanently opened citing concerns of flooding, odour and water health.
Last month, Shoalhaven City Council mayor Amanda Findley told the Telegraph the state government should wear the costs of reopening the waterway.
Meanwhile, the wild weather ripped earth from beneath homes on the northern beaches leaving them teetering on the brink of disaster.
Residents were told to evacuate amid fears their properties were at risk of toppling on to the street as the damage bill across NSW hits $45 million.
Police on Monday cordoned off houses at Bayview and North Narrabeen to stop families from returning to their homes after they were evacuated on Sunday afternoon.
In Kookaburra Close at Bayview the footings of a house have been exposed, prompting fears it could collapse on to neighbouring properties.
At Garden St in North Narrabeen police tape has gone up in front of four homes after mud slipped off a rocky slope into back yards at the southern end of the street.
Coastal residents have been warned to stay alert with four-metre swells to hit already eroded beaches next weekend, increasing the likelihood of damage to properties.
In Collaroy, where beachside homes were battered by a massive storm in 2016, there are concerns another major weather event could be disastrous.
A record-breaking 16,000 emergency calls were fielded in just 48 hours over the weekend, double the amount received on the busiest day during the bushfires.
This included at Maraylya where hero fireys saved a bus with six children on-board from flooded waters after the vehicle became bogged.
Ausgrid said 89,000 buildings remain without electricity across Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle with the wild storm the third worst flooding event in 20-years. A spokesman said it had been “Mother Nature at her worst”.
DAMS ON CUSP OF OVERFLOW
Drought-hit dams that were on the verge of running dry barely a week ago are now on the cusp of overflowing thanks to a rain deluge that has resulted in the biggest inflows in three years for the Sydney metropolitan supply network.
At Warragamba, dam levels have soared almost 20 percentage points in three days from 43 per cent on Friday to 60.7 per cent yesterday with some 360,000 megalitres of water flowing into the catchment — equivalent to 150,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Storage levels at Nepean Dam jumped by an astonishing 67.7 per cent — from 32.3 per cent the previous week to 100 per cent yesterday — and Cataract Dam levels have spiked by 41.4 per cent.
A spokesman said the rain was likely to fill all of the metropolitan dams.
But Premier Gladys Berejiklian yesterday said it was too early to consider axing level-two water restrictions and cancelling plans to double the capacity of Sydney’s desalination plant.
“There’s nothing to suggest we should change course as we need to set ourselves up for the future,” she said.
HERO FIREYS SAVE KIDS ON BUS IN FLOOD WATERS
Hero fireys have helped save a bus full of kids just weeks after fighting fires for the last three months.
The six children and driver were rescued from flooded waters after the school bus became bogged in Maraylya northwest of Sydney.
Oakville Rural Fire Brigade Volunteer David Pennycuick said his crew was first on the scene at Reedy Road about 7.30am on Monday.
“We were first on the scene and spoke to the bus driver to the window,” he said.
“We checked everyone was all right then assisted SES. We put the boat in the water. Crowd control and manpower.”
NSW State Emergency Services Hawkesbury Unit volunteer Steve Wood said the flooded road averaged 800ml at its deepest point.
He said the SES crew used 20 horsepower boats to get to the children about 50 metres away.
“There was three inches of water inside the bus,” Mr Wood said.
“We took three kids at a time in the boat, while we walked alongside the vessel.”
Mr Pennycuick said all the kids were OK despite the scary experience.
All the children were in good spirits, but a couple of parents that arrived were concerned,” he said.
“It was a relief to know that no one was hurt.”
He said they started fighting fires mid-November at the Gospers Mountain blaze before helping out with the storms.
“We were doing day and night shifts – we’ve been flat out,” he said of the time fighting the fire.
Mr Wood said the two girls and four boys, who looked to be between nine and 13 years old, were in high spirits, but the bus driver was distressed.
“He was upset, as you can imagine,” he said.
“But I think the kids were just happy they weren’t going to school.”
He said paramedics checked the children, who were all uninjured.
Police also attended the scene.
Originally published as NSW extreme weather: Lake Conjola locals accuse council of water release mismanagement
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