Comment: Clayfield families raise alarm after flash flood heights exceed catastrophic 1974 flood levels
Outgoing Lord Mayor Graham Quirk is demanding answers on Airport Link flood mitigation work as Cross River Rail raises fresh new flood fears, writes Des Houghton
QLD News
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LORD Mayor Graham Quirk has ordered an investigation into claims Airport Link has worsened flooding at dozens of homes – smashing property prices and sending home insurance premiums soaring across Brisbane.
In one of his last duties as mayor, Quirk has written to Airport Link owner, Transurban, requesting clarification over the flood mitigation work carried out as part of the massive project.
Flash floods have repeatedly hit more than 70 families in the Kedron Brook and Eagle Junction Creek catchments since the Bligh government twin tunnels project was completed in 2012.
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A Clayfield residents’ action group believes Airport Link flood mitigation works, including the widening of Schulz Canal and the excavation of tens of thousands of cubic metres of earth, was not properly carried out.
Residents commissioned an independent report that backs up their fears. They are calling for a public inquiry amid fears the Cross River Rail project may cause flooding at Woolloongabba.
Clayfield resident Cameron Russell says alarm bells rang when his Milman St home in Clayfield was swamped after a three-hour downpour in 2015, a year after he purchased the property.
He was “amazed” when Councillor David McLaughlin confirmed the 2015 floodwaters were higher than those recorded in Brisbane’s catastrophic 1974 flood.
Russell, who heads the action group, began a relentless, four-year hunt for answers.
“We wondered why. It simply didn’t add up,” he says, as he points to a marker on his garage door showing floodwaters rose .9m above the 1974 level.
Russell, 52, the owner-director of Simplified Financial Planning, says he was fobbed off repeatedly by City Hall and State Government departments who maintain the flood mitigation efforts were adequate.
But he did not give up. And in the most recent letter to him, City Hall appears to have dramatically changed its stance admitting the “paperwork” for the final approvals was incomplete.
The letter was personally signed by Quirk. While not conceding the tunnel project intensified the flooding he did say he had directed council engineers to “investigate as a matter of priority”.
“Council requires formal certification from a RPEQ (a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland),” he said.
“Council has written to Transurban Queensland, who is responsible for this site, seeking their confirmation of RPEQ certification of the constructed works as a matter of priority.”
Sue Johnston, Transurban Queensland chief, declined to be interviewed.
However in a letter to Russell she said she is satisfied the work was “properly completed” before Transurban took ownership of Airport Link.
“Furthermore, we have no legal liability (in tort, contract or otherwise) for any alleged damage or loss caused by, or in connection with, any flooding to your property,” she said.
“Accordingly, the responsibility for these areas, and the ongoing maintenance of the relevant returned works, rests with Brisbane City Council.
“We now consider this matter closed.”
Russell was also rebuffed by Neil Scales, the Director-General of Transport and Main Roads who told him he would not refer his complaint to the Crime and Corruption Commission because “we do not consider the conduct referred to in your claim raises a reasonable suspicion of corrupt conduct”.
The action group say worse hit homes are in streets in south of Toombul shopping town and low-lying properties around Aviation State High, formerly Hendra Secondary College, and east to Lodge Rd, Wooloowin.
Clayfield properties in Lewis St, Jackson St and Milman St, had been inundated, although not all suffered floodwater damage in habitable areas.
Russell says although his upper-living areas were not affected by floods, his backyard swimming pool and non-habitable downstairs rooms have flooded several times.
He met the insurance company chiefs and the Insurance Council of Australia who said the floods have prompted council to update its flood mapping data they use to set premiums.
As a result, premiums soared for countless thousands of Brisbane families.
Russell says he now pays $18,000 a year for flood insurance. Others saw premiums jump from $2000 to $10,000.
An independent study for the residents’ action group concludes “mitigation works may not have been completed as designed”.
Dr Haydn Betts from engineering consultants pitt&sherry said: “There is evidence to suggest the mitigation works recommended by SKM Connell Wegner that were expected to counter the effect of the Airport Link were not executed as outlined.
“This suggests the perceived benefits of the migration measures may not have been achieved, and there are grounds to support the residents’ concerns.”
However, there would need to be more hydrologic and hydraulic modelling to more precisely measure the adverse impacts.
Russell says it’s not the first time tunnelling has caused flooding. He points to a 2010 report in which Brisbane City Council acknowledged the Clem7 worsened flooding around Windsor.
“In total, it is estimated that 335 properties were subjected to slightly higher flood levels during the 20 May 2009 flood event as a result of the Clem7 works,” the report found.
CONTROVERSY
AIRPORT Link is Australia’s longest road tunnel, stretching 15km. It was built by BrisConnections, with construction completed by a Thiess John Holland joint venture.
Former state and federal Labor ministers Terry Mackenroth and Con Sciacca were paid a success fee said to be $500,000 when BrisConnections won the tender, while Anna Bligh admitted she enjoyed a break in the Sydney mansion of Thiess director Ros Kelly after the consortium was chosen.
A year after the tunnel opened, BrisConnections went into voluntary liquidation owing more than the asset’s value, and Transurban bought Airport Link in 2015.
Despite the controversies, the project has been hailed a success in removing traffic bottlenecks.
PS .....
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