Central Coast flooding: Calls for Mayor Lisa Matthews to resign as blame game gets nasty
As flood waters continue to recede around Tuggerah Lakes, the blame game is heating up with one councillor saying she’s been hit in the face and calls for Mayor Lisa Matthews to resign.
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Anger, frustration and the blame game over flooding of Tuggerah Lakes continues with one Central Coast councillor claiming she has been hit in the face and calls for Mayor Lisa Matthews to resign.
Cr Jillian Hogan took to social media over the weekend saying she had been personally attacked.
“These past few days I have experienced personal attacks, witnessed violence and felt the repercussions of community outrage,” she posted. “I have also been hit in the face.
“When did we become such a society that is so bent on blaming others in the here and now?”
Social media has exploded with posts regarding Central Coast Council’s management of the
Tuggerah Lakes and The Entrance Channel, while some houses across the region are displaying posters calling for Mayor Lisa Matthews’s resignation.
Two councillors have described the situation as an “unprecedented collapse in community confidence in council”.
Councillors Bruce McLachlan and Greg Best are bringing the issue to next week’s council meeting calling on fellow councillors to support calls for Cr Matthews to resign.
Flash flooding, torrential rain, high tides and dangerous surf hit the coast on the weekend of February 8 and 9, with more than 300mm of rainfall across the region.
During the storms, the The Entrance Channel was open however with water levels continuing to rise desperate residents took shovels and an excavator to North Entrance beach to try and dig a second channel to release water.
By Monday, residents were flooded in and took to the streets in boats and canoes.
On Tuesday, council dug a second channel outlet at Karagi sandspit at The Entrance North with many members of the community saying it should have been done earlier.
A fact sheet released by council states “there is no evidence to suggest that carrying out works prior to the significant rainfall event would have made any difference to the water level in Tuggerah Lakes”.
“The works were designed to realign direction of water flow already escaping the channel and help protect public infrastructure at The Entrance. Since the works were carried out, there is nothing to confirm that the works have had an impact on water level in Tuggerah Lakes.”
Council states the channel was open before the rainfall however the flow of water was low due to the dry weather.
“Observations throughout this period are that the channel has never closed.
“The water level of Tuggerah Lakes was impacted by the significant water volume flowing from the catchment into the lake due to the rainfall event.”
The Express has contacted Cr Matthews for comment.
ROTTING WEED TAKES OVER
With flood water receding, Tuggerawong resident Brad McDougall and his neighbours are now dealing with tonnes of rotting weed on their properties.
“In some areas it is knee deep,” Mr McDougall told the Express.
“It’s awful, we are cleaning up and repairing after the house has flooded and now we have this weed.”
He said his neighbour was advised by an excavator operator that he had 20 tonnes of weed to remove from his property.
“The council has told us to use our green bin,” he said.
“This council has to be accountable. I will not be paying one cent to remove that stuff.
“The flood is 100 per cent because of council’s failure to maintain The Entrance Channel and the lake. As soon as they opened the north end of the channel the water went out of my yard.”
Mr McDougall is also concerned about contamination of the weed from run-off and bird lice.
“It’s also not just the weed, it’s everything else that washed up with it. If they choose to do nothing, this will be a major health risk.”