Dam operator kept floodgates shut, insisting on formal Townsville order

Townsville City Council withdrew an instruction to open the floodgates after the dam operator insisted on a formal directive.

A drone picture taken of the Ross River Dam at 6pm on January 31, when it was at 154 per cent capacity. Picture: Brooks Steff

Townsville City Council withdrew an instruction to pre-emptively release more floodwater from its swollen Ross River Dam after the dam’s state-owned operator Sunwater insisted on a formal directive.

Amid questions about the dam’s role in protecting the city from flooding, Sunwater yesterday said the council’s first informal request to widen the floodgates came on January 31 after three days of monsoonal rain that pushed the dam to more than 130 per cent of its regular capacity.

Sunwater chief executive Nicole Hollows said the request was “rescinded” after Sunwater requested a formal direction “as required under the contract” signed between the state-owned company and the council.

“Townsville City Council directed Sunwater for the second time on February 1, 2019, to operate the Ross River Dam gates outside the emergency action plan and operating manual, which is within their rights as the dam owner,” Ms Hollows said.

“Sunwater complied with this direction in less than 30 minutes and the gates went to manual operation. Sunwater is not permitted to make releases outside of automatic gate operation and contract operating procedures, unless directed by Townsville City Council as dam owner.”

The comments came after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk yesterday denied Sunwater had rejected the council’s request for the early release of water from the dam, after questions by Deputy Opposition Leader Tim Mander.

“I’m advised that is not true and that everyone worked collaboratively,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

The Inspector-General Emergency Management will conduct an inquiry into the release of water from the dam, which peaked at about 245 per cent of regular capacity before the floodgates were opened fully on February 3, releasing 2000 cubic metres of water a second downstream, inundating homes.

Releases from the dam automatically occur once the supply reaches predefined levels in the emergency action plan.

The first outflows, under the automatic operating procedure, were on January 30, when the dam rose beyond 100 per cent.

Ms Hollows said Ross River Dam was primarily for water storage, not flood mitigation and that Sunwater was contracted to provide advice regarding dam safety, but not flood mitigation.

The Premier last week moved to distance the government from questions about whether the floodgates should have been opened earlier to prevent the inundation of homes overnight on February 3 and said they should be directed at the council.

Ms Palaszczuk said the government worked co-operatively with the council based on advice received from the Bureau of Meteorology.

A council spokesman described the flood levels as a one-in-500-year event.

Affected schools in the region will be reopened by the end of the week, except the badly damaged Oonoonba State School.

As residents continue the clean-up, graziers in northwestern Queensland are counting the cost of hundreds of thousands of cattle that perished in the floods, which extended west to Mount Isa. Gregory MP Lachlan Millar said his electorate had been left devastated after the deaths of an estimated 500,000 cattle.