NRMA reveals worst areas in NSW for potholes and tyre damage

La Nina and blanketing rain has had a costly impact on drivers – with more potholes causing car chaos. Find out if your suburb is one of the worst for damage.

La Nina’s constant deluges have had an unexpected and costly consequence for NSW drivers — rain damage to roads is leading to a new wave of tyre and wheel damage.

Analysis conducted by the NRMA and provided exclusively to The Daily Telegraph found that since July last year the NRMA has responded to around 56,000 call-outs for tyre and wheel damage, despite Covid-19 restrictions heavily impacting traffic volumes across the state.

According to NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury, consistent rain hammering NSW has resulted in a growing number of potholes and road surface damage, with one-in-ten calls outs in the last six month related to tyre failures.

A car bottoms out on a damaged section of busy Beacon Hill Rd. Constant rain is being blamed for more tyre blowouts. Picture: John Grainger

The highest number of call-outs since July was in the state’s largest local government area, Blacktown City Council, with 2,581 calls logged.

Central Coast Council was narrowly second with 2,580 incidents, while Canterbury-Bankstown was third with 2,451.

“Local councils and the NSW Government have a tough job maintaining the road network with the heavy rains we have experienced throughout 2021 and so we urge the community to drive safely and be patient,” the NRMA’s Mr Khoury said.

“We should expect to see continued roadworks across the state as these damaged roads are fixed and it is therefore important that drivers should patience behind the wheel as we would expect delays while the work is being done.”

He also implored the NSW Government and local councils to work together to fix road issues as quickly as possible.

“NRMA patrols see first-hand the damage these potholes can do to vehicles and we know there are safety risks to driving on poor quality road surfaces,” he said.

HOLEY MOLEY

Most NRMA call outs for wheel and tyre issues:

1. Blacktown - 2581
2. Central Coast - 2580
3. Ctb-Bankstown - 2451
4. Northern Beaches - 2126
5. Sydney - 1805
6. Parramatta - 1744
7. Inner-West - 1592
8. Sutherland Shire - 1511
9. Cumberland - 1404
10. Bayside - 1322

Local councils have also reported increases in pothole-related incidents being reported directly to them through their own portals.

Canterbury-Bankstown Council logged around three incidents per day from June to August, with that increasing by about 25 per cent from October to December, with a spokeswoman saying wet weather has contributed to road issues.

“Wet weather can impact road surfaces, this is due to water penetrating a crack in the pavement softening the road structure causing deformation,” she said, adding “as a general rule” road surfaces within the LGA are fixed within 48 hours.

A spokesman for Blacktown City Council said the higher number of calls was due to their high populations, as well as booming development in the area driving cars onto roads.

“Many of the formally rural roads are now subject to high traffic volumes due to the incredible development in the North West growth region of Sydney, most of which is contained in the Blacktown LGA,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sydney is in for a decent soaking over the next three days as an enormous downpour of rain makes its way across the state, blanketing the city in dark grey skies and miserable wet conditions.

South to south-easterly winds of up to 40km/h are expected to push a cooler breeze into the city but high humidity means temperatures will remain in the mid- to high-twenties until next week.

The large rain cloud is travelling across the state and heading northbound this afternoon towards the Mid-North Coast and Upper Hunter, and is expected to drop up to 100mm in northern areas of NSW on Wednesday.

Rain is forecast to bucket down on coastal suburbs in and around Newcastle, Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour, as well as inland in the Hunter Region and Dubbo on Wednesday and Thursday.

The period of heavy rain is accompanied by severe thunderstorms and is anticipated to last until Friday when there will be scattered showers.

“We’ve got a rain event developing over north and northeast parts of the state. Showers will be seen across many areas. It’s certainly quite wet,” BOM forecaster David Wilkie said.

“Through northern parts of the state, like the Mid-North Coast, we’re most likely to see showers and storms that drop around 50-100mm (of rain), potentially even more over the three days.

“Further inland around the Tamworth region, some areas will get 100mm over the next three days. That’s going to be more driven by thunderstorms.

The intense humidity that has sweltered the state over the past week has triggered the weather event.

Moving into Friday, heavy rain will start to ease off in Sydney and northern areas of NSW, but showers and storms will linger until the weekend for most of the state.