Mid-North Coast floods: Council calls extraordinary meeting to assist recovery and relief efforts
Port Macquarie-Hastings Council will hold an extraordinary meeting to delve into recovery and relief measures for its residents and businesses after a horror five days of floods.
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Port Macquarie-Hastings Council has called an extraordinary meeting for Wednesday to formulate a recovery strategy following a horror five dais of floods.
It comes as the head of the Port Macquarie-Hastings state emergency services said the Mid-North Coast flooding is the largest he, and many other’s, have seen in their lifetime.
Meanwhile, police have slammed reports from residents that looters have begun stealing from flood-affected homes.
And Kempsey residents have breathed a collective sigh of relief after flood waters did not reach as high as anticipated overnight.
6pm: Council calls meeting for flood support
Port Macquarie-Hastings Council will hold an extraordinary council meeting on Wednesday to consider a recovery strategy, and a report on relief measures for flood and storm impacted residents.
The report will consider waiving fees and charges on services for people suffering financial hardship as a result of floods affecting their property.
The range of services to which fees and charges would be waived include sewage, waste management and those associated with development applications, construction or building certificates.
The waiving of fees for food shop inspections and public health inspections, is also under consideration for customers, properties, and businesses impacted by floods.
The report will be considered by council at 4pm Wednesday,
As of 5:30pm Wednesday, the NSW State Emergency Services (SES) conducted 58 rescues during the past 24 hours across the Mid-North Coast towns of Taree, Kempsey and Port Macquarie.
More than 1250 have now been conducted for the region since the floods began on Friday.
Kempsey’s Macleay River has remained steady today, while other systems up stream continue to rise, including the Georges and Bellbrook river catchments.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a moderate flood warning for the Macleay River.
This warning provides insight into the rise occurring at Georges Creek and the expected impact on the Kempsey CBD. An evacuation order for the town remains in place.
4pm: Footing the bill of a flood crisis
Port Macquarie restaurateur Nathan Tomkins can hear the sound of the Hastings River lapping up against the side of his waterfront business ... again.
“It’s really starting to p**s me off,” he told The Mid-North Coast News.
It’s not the type of reaction you’d expect to hear from a man whose premises is perched in one of the most idyllic locations on the Mid-North Coast, but after the five days that he’s had, you can’t blame him for not wanting to see another body of water again.
“The water is coming back up at the moment ... I wish it’d just bugger off ... I’ve had enough of this s**t.”
The well-known Whalebone Restaurant owner spent his Tuesday, while talking to this reporter, stripping the inside of his business bare after more than $300,000 worth of damage was done when water flooded the building on Friday night.
The property loss, combined with the loss of weekend trade, he estimated will end up putting him more than $1 million out of pocket.
“You can imagine the amount of money I’m losing while I’m not open ... it’s really hurting.”
The perks that come with being so close to the water unfortunately have their drawbacks.
Mr Tomkins said the financial impost of taking out any sort of flood cover in his location, wouldn’t be worth him opening the doors.
“No one would cover us for flood cover ... no way they’d just laugh at you. I mean, we could, but it wouldn’t be worth us opening our doors. It’d be anywhere between fifty and a hundred [thousand dollars] plus.”
“We’re just getting on with it now. This is my everything mate, you know what I mean? If I don’t get onto this now ... if you don’t clean up with floods straight away, the damage is just horrendous.
“The support we’ve received from the community has been tremendous.”
“I take my hat off to this community ... I have plumbers, I’ve had electricians, I’ve had builders ...tradies that just turn up, they’ve been here all day just working and working and working.
“Another lady turned up at lunch with a heap of food .. it’s just been, wow.”
“We’ll be back ... don’t you worry about that, this isn’t going to knock me down, no way.”
MIDDAY: LOOTING is ‘ONE OF THE LOWEST THINGS I’VE SEEN’ – TOP COP
A large scale police operation tasked to assist in the floods are turning their attention to reports from flood affected residents that property is being stolen from impacted homes.
Mid-North Coast police superintendent Shane Cribb told media police’s tolerance towards looting in this time of crisis was zero.
“If we have any reports of looting, I would encourage the community to report that to the police ASAP,” he said.
“We’ve all got videos, we’ve all got phones, take pictures of those people looting and I can assure the public I’ll make sure the appropriate action is taken.”
“At present, I have a police commander looking after that [reports] and I don’t have any facts into that, but I do know there were some reports. They came in yesterday afternoon and my instructions to the police commander were you are to provide whatever it takes to support the community.
“Especially those isolated people who have been taken out of their houses and they’re already doing it tough, and to have people take it upon themselves to go into a premises and take something, steal something or whatever, is one of the lowest things I’ve seen.”
“I can assure you, from a police and commander’s point of view, I will make sure the appropriate action is taken.”
11am: PORT MACQUARIE SES CHIEF: ‘THIS IS THE WORST I’VE SEEN’
Speaking to media at Port Macquarie SES headquarters, commander Michael Ward said the size, scale and magnitude of the rain and recent flooding is like no other he has seen.
“I don’t have the numbers on the magnitude of the event, but I do know it is probably the largest one that most people would have seen in their lifetime,” he said.
“I do know that it is probably the largest that I have seen from a flooding perspective in the Port Macquarie area.
His comments come as he and other agencies continue to work “24 hours a day” to battle the crisis unfolding across the region which have now left the people of Comboyne without access to clean running water.
Port Macquarie-Hastings Council’s director of infrastructure, Dan Bylsma said there is a current “significant water issue” in the Comboyne Village, due to a main water burst.
“We’ve had a significant water issue in the Comboyne Village, and that village will be on a boiled water alert when that mains water comes back online later today,” he said.
“That is a standard practice when a water main has had no water through it. In the interim, we have been able to supply bottled water to that community today and we will continue to do so.”
“It’s [boiled water alert] is probably going to be on for a few days.”
8am: KEMPSEY: CBD SPARED AS FLOODS PEAK BELOW LEVEE
In Kempsey, sandbags lining businesses throughout the main streets of Kempsey remain dry this morning as the town breathes a collective sigh of relief that major rain and fast flowing rivers have not broken the CBD levee.
Kempsey Shire Council is reporting that river levels at the Kempsey Traffic Bridge have fallen overnight, and that there is now “no imminent threat” to CBD inundation on Tuesday.
The flood marker has dropped more than one metre since yesterday’s highest recording to 5.52m.
The latest Flood Alert issued by the council this morning stated: “On the basis of overnight rainfall, river gauge levels and the current Bureau of Meteorology [BOM] warning level, it has been determined that there is no imminent threat of floodwater inundating the CBD on Tuesday morning.”
MORE ON THE FLOODS:
The faces of a flood crisis: Stuck in Hell
In pictures: Floods hit the Mid-North Coast
Despite the good news, businesses will not be able to trade again today as an evacuation order remains in place.
“The potential for further river rises at Kempsey remains however through Tuesday.”
There is no let-up just yet in the rain, with the BOM expecting more heavy downfalls, likely leading to further flash flooding presenting a ‘serious risk to coastal districts, particularly the Mid-North Coast.’
“Heavy rainfall is likely to continue in the east coast, together with strong winds, damaging surf and abnormally high tides,” the BOM reports.
All councils across the Mid-North Coast are reporting serious damage to the region’s road network, for those that can be accessed and driven, extreme caution is advised as crews are still not able to attend to the damage.
Read related topics:NSW floods
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