Council holds flood meeting for feedback from Sapphire residents

“Unlike anything anyone had seen before”: Council will use the community’s insights to work on how to better handle future natural disasters.

The bridge over Retreat Creek, Sapphire, was closed following major rainfall on March 17.

A handful of Gemfields residents have shared their stories and experiences from the recent major flood, which left many families stranded.

On March 17, fast-moving flood waters swept across the Gemfields following the rapid rise of Retreat Creek in the early hours of the morning.

More than 200mm of rain fell in the catchment surrounding the tourist area of Sapphire Gemfields and Retreat Creek, between the Capricorn Highway and the town of Sapphire, peaked at 9.8 metres.

Following the flood event, many community members raised concerns that while the warning siren at Rubyvale went off, the one located at Sapphire failed to, which Central Highlands Regional Council Mayor Kerry Hayes told CQ News was not triggered intentionally due to the rapidness of the situation.

On Tuesday, a core team of council officers joined 15 residents to listen to their stories and understand how the situation could have been better handled.

Renae Mills took this photo of Retreat Creek behind the Blue Gem Tourist Park in Sapphire.

Rubyvale resident Kim Tompson, who was also a member of the Human and Social Recovery Group, said it was a really positive meeting, with residents able to say what they felt.

“We were all given the chance to speak and everyone felt really comfortable in the space,” she said.

“The elephant in the room was the siren – it didn’t work because it wasn’t activated.

“A lot of the comment was, you tend to rely on something like that and when it doesn't work people panic.

“[The meeting] was a great way to start a conversation on how the community can create an alternative system rather than just relying on the siren.

“We need to find other ways to alert each other in the community.”

Ms Tompson said it allowed locals to say how they were coping and what could be done in the future, not only for floods but also for fires or other natural disasters.

“It was to get people to talk about how they feel about things,” she said.

“[The flood] happened so quickly, but if we have a bit of time in the future I think we can make a difference.”

Central Highlands Regional Council Mayor Kerry Hayes welcomed all opinions and thoughts at the community meeting.

General manager Communities John McDougall said the community insights would be a valuable source of information for dealing with further floods.

“The flooding event in March was unlike anything anyone had seen before, and the communities stories and insights will be a valuable source of information for our work dealing with flooding there, and across the region,” he said.

“Reliving the event was no doubt a big ask for the community, but in doing so our staff have all taken on board the learnings, and we thank the Gemfields community for this.”

Council will take the community’s insights from the conversation back to an internal group of technical and non-technical project managers for a debriefing on Monday, May 17.

The knowledge shared will be used to inform a range of future council projects and works, with council teams back in the Gemfields community to continue the conversation around flood mitigation in just a few weeks.

If you or someone you know is in need of information or support, please contact the Emerald Neighbourhood Centre on [phone].

If you would like more information about how to deal with emergencies and natural hazards when they happen in your community, please visit council’s emergency management dashboard.