‘We desperately want something done about it’

Kinchant Dam residents are fed up over a creek crossing they say floods them in during emergencies

Kinchant Dam resident Bill Ruffell says Antoney's Crossing along Kinchant Dam Rd easily floods under heavy rainfall. Picture: Heidi Petith

KINCHANT Dam residents are concerned about a creek crossing they say regularly floods them in during emergencies.

Bill Ruffell and his wife Joan live on the Kinchant Dam side of Antoney's Creek crossing along Kinchant Dam Rd that joins with North Eton.

"Every time in the wet season, if we get more than 200mm of rain, it's over," Mr Ruffell said.

"We were stuck for 11 days once."

"And we could be flooded in up to four times a year," Mrs Ruffell added.

With concerns emergency services would not be able to access the more than 200 residents on the Kinchant Dam side of the creek, Mr Ruffell was calling on Mackay Regional Council to increase the crossing's culverts from four to at least seven.

Antoney's Crossing along Kinchant Dam Rd flooded over in 2012.

The pair said neither the extra 45 minute detour by road or a helicopter being able to land nearby at Kinchant Dam was reassuring.

"If a house is on fire, how handy is a bloody helicopter?" Mr Ruffell said.

"We desperately want something done about it."

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Mr Ruffell, who issued a petition with 381 signatures to the council back in 2011, said "nothing happened outside the city gates".

Kinchant Dam resident Bill Ruffell says Antoney's Crossing along Kinchant Dam Rd easily floods under heavy rainfall. Picture: Heidi Petith

But the council said a 2013 report showed extra culverts would not significantly reduce the flooding over Antoney's Creek nor the time it took water to recede.

Engineering and Commercial Infrastructure director Jason Devitt said only a significant waterway capacity upgrade of the downstream channel would reduce flooding.

"The upgrades required as part of this channel upgrade project would stretch several kilometres downstream and would require regrading of the slope," Mr Devitt said.

"The report established that the engineering measures required to mitigate flooding issues at Antoney's Crossing would not be financially viable given the impact on both private and crown lands, the level of restoration required and the environmental approvals that would need to be met.

The equipment that monitors the water levels at Antoney's Crossing along Kinchant Dam Rd. Picture: Heidi Petith

"Instead, a number of emergency management and notification processes have been established including the installation of flood gauges to improve predictive flood modelling in the catchment and ensuring SunWater provides notifications to the public and council prior to upcoming discharges."

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Mr Ruffell said Sunwater's notifications about water released from Kinchant Dam had helped, but did not eliminate the issue.

He said plans had previously been sent to him with a $1.4 million solution and was now calling on the council to personally come inspect the crossing next time it went over.

 

This story was thanks to the My Town series - a Daily Mercury and Mackay Regional Council initiative.

My Town is about telling the stories of Mackay and surrounds that matter to you.

 

My Town is about telling the stories of Mackay and surrounds that matter to you.

Next up, reporter Heidi Petith will visit the Kuttabul and Calen area on Tuesday, October 20 alongside a Mackay councillor.

Let us tell the stories that matter to you and if you think we should come to your town, send us an email to [e-mail]