How Byron Shire’s faring from severe weather impacts

ROAD access has been restored to some impacted residents.

People watch the long stretch of coastal areas seen disappeared due to erosion along the beach side, December 14, 2020 in Byron Bay, Australia. Byron Bay's beaches face further erosion as wild weather and hazardous swells lash the northern NSW coastlines. (Photo by Regi Varghese/Getty Images)

A SEVERE Weather Warning remains in place for the Northern Rivers and Mid North Coast as Lismore has experienced flash flooding in the CBD today.

Conditions seem to have eased for the Byron Shire but heavy rain and flash flooding is still possible.

At the time of publication there was no Bureau of Meteorology flood warning for the Byron Shire.

Byron Shire Council’s director of infrastructure services, Phil Holloway, said the council had been able to reinstate road access for affected residents in Main Arm.

“We are really pleased that conditions have generally eased, although intermittent heavy rain and flash flooding is still a risk,” Mr Holloway said.

“The good news is that we’ve been able to reinstall access to Main Arm residents through Causeway 12 and 14, which is a huge relief.

“Our crews have been working tirelessly to clear debris from the causeways and make them safe for vehicles to travel over.

“We ask that drivers take caution and drive as slowly as possible at the approaches on all hinterland causeways, and especially Main Arm’s causeways 12 and 14 which have temporary road-fill in place to enable access.”

COASTAL EROSION

As severe weather eases for the Byron Shire, the erosion of Byron Bay’s beaches appears to have petered out.

The council inspected storm damage this morning and found no significant changes to the already severely eroded beach conditions.

Erosion from this weather event has been mainly contained to Main Beach and Clarkes Beach.

Pedestrian and vehicle access routes have been impacted with steep drop offs, exposure and dislodgement of sand bags, loss of large trees, dislodgement of rock, impact to fencing and signage, with a lot of debris strewn across the beach.

“The erosion has created steep escarpments on the beach side of some pedestrian accesses, unstable vegetation and hazardous localised conditions,” Mr Holloway said.
“We have closed some access ways, and installed barriers to avoid falls and accidents occurring.”

The council is continuing to assess the situation and will prepare an impact assessment from the event including collation of clean-up costs and infrastructure repairs.

“At this point, public access to the beach and safety is our priority but we ask people to stay off the dunes, avoid closed access ways, and swim only in patrolled areas,” Mr Holloway said.

“Council’s advice is that No Flags = No Swim.”

For emergency information visit the Byron Shire Emergency Dashboard at emergency.byron.nsw.gov.au.

People can access My Road Info information via Council’s Emergency Dashboard at emergency.byron.nsw.gov.au or directly at www.myroadinfo.com.au.

To report local road closures or trees and debris on roads after hours, call the council’s emergency after hours number 02 6622 7022.

For help during floods and storms – call the SES on 132 500.

In an emergency phone Triple 0.

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