Burringbar village left to fend for itself in second lot of landslides

Residents in Burringbar were still trying to rebuild where landslides had ravaged the village in early March when a second lot of flooding brought new landslides. Now there’s little faith left in the authorities to help.

Residents of Burringbar were still picking up the pieces from early March flooding which isolated their town through land slips when a second wave of water inundated the area once again.

And they knew this time around the authorities weren’t coming to help.

Upper Burringbar resident Adam Hunt, who in the last round of flooding helped rally the town together to make sure everyone was accounted for, said fortunately this time around no major personal assets had been damaged.

“There’s been very limited property damage,” Mr Hunt said.

“Lots of different roads and bridges are damaged and there have been further landslides.”

Damage to Ophir Glen Road Burringbar.

Small landslides on Tweed Valley Way and fallen trees up the range have caused access issues once again for the town – although possible to navigate it is being discouraged.

Upper Burringbar copped 208mm of rain on Monday followed by another 100mm on Tuesday – almost twice as much as Murwillumbah which received 53mm Tuesday night.

Mr Hunt said concerns were raised on Monday night for the welfare of a heavily pregnant woman who was thought to have gone into labour while trapped in an inaccessible home.

Water over Geles Road in Upper Burringbar.

“We went into negotiation about access points about how to get her out,” Mr Hunt said.

“Everyone is safe and sound now and we have a plan to get her out if required.”

He said this week there had been better communication from authorities including the mayor Chris Cherry and state member Geoff Provest, however the town still lacked physical resources.

The top of Ophir Glen Road where one of two houses were destroyed by land slides.

“It’s definitely sombre, there’s a lot of disbelief as well,” Mr Hunt said.

“We missed this by 20 or 30 kilometres.

“None of the official reporting, SES or BOM had and indication of any event coming.”

He felt for the areas further south with higher populations who were also inundated with severe weather.

“It’s the same old issue of the small hinterland towns and villages – the resources are stretched so thin,” he said.

Ophir Glen Road appears more like a creek after flooding.

Just a week ago, a town meeting was held in the village to plan how moving forward the residents could take care of themselves in an emergency.

“We know we can’t rely on anyone else,” Mr Hunt said.

“Every time we know we need to be ready for ourselves.”

For now the residents in and around Burringbar need professional geotechnical support, especially for the properties that have already lost their driveways in previous landslides that now have even less access.