Mary Allford death inquest: SES boss told twice to evacuate Latrobe as it became inundated

Wayne Richards was told twice that the township of Latrobe should be evacuated – but he didn’t want to be “the boy who cried wolf”. Latest in the inquest into death of Mary Allford >>

Mary Allford died in her Latrobe home during the 2016 floods. Picture: Chris Kidd

WAYNE Richards was told twice during the night of June 5, 2016, that the township of Latrobe should be evacuated.

But the then-SES north-west regional manager held off.

He said he didn’t want to be “the boy who cried wolf” and evacuate residents unnecessarily.

Instead, he remained busy – “consumed” even – that night, managing individual calls for assistance as the rain pelted down and the Mersey River broke its banks.

Mr Richards was so busy, getting metaphorically “caught in the weeds”, that he missed a number of calls to his phone, and was deemed by a colleague to “be uncontactable”.

In the early hours of June 6, 75-year-old Latrobe woman Mary Allford died when she was trapped by rising floodwaters in her Shale Road home.

Helicopter vision overhead of floods at Latrobe SUPPLIED TASMANIA POLICE

On Thursday, Mr Richards admitted before a coronial inquest into Mrs Allford’s death that he made the wrong decision in not evacuating the town.

He said he was “busy doing other things” when the Bureau of Meteorology was disseminating information about the situation in Latrobe and its major flood warning.

He said a number of calls to his phone “went undealt with” including calls from the BOM about the weather.

While cross-examining Mr Richards on Thursday, lawyer Rebecca Munnings – acting for Tasmania Police – said he finally called the BOM at 10.03pm, some two hours after a colleague had first flagged that Latrobe needed to be evacuated.

“With the absence of science and data from the Bureau of Meteorology, you thought an evacuation would be ‘wasteful’?” Ms Munnings asked.

“At that point,” Mr Richards replied.

He said he was expecting more detailed information to come from BOM, and said he hadn’t reached out to the bureau earlier because he’d been tied up in managing individual events

“Do you accept you made the wrong decisions?” Ms Munnings asked.

“In hindsight, yes,” he replied.

Family members of Mary Allford who died in her home during flooding at Latrobe: Mary's son Michael Allford, grandsons Aaron Allford and Michael Warren. PICTURE CHRIS KIDD

Mr Richards said he did the best he could on the night of June 5, with the resources he had available.

But Ms Munnings challenged that, saying he had resources available from other emergency services, and from colleagues who he did not consult.

“Not one witness has given evidence that you sought help from them in assistance in making decisions,” she said.

“I agree,” Mr Richards replied.

“I was busy and didn’t take time out to pursue that.”

Ms Munnings said any complaint about not being supported was “false”.

Mr Richards told the inquest it was practice to “err on the side of caution” regarding evacuations unless it was clear properties would be inundated, “rather than create anxiety”.

“I certainly likened it, and a number of my associates talk about, the boy who cried wolf. If we issue a warning too regularly, and it doesn’t eventuate, the public becomes disenchanted and will ultimately disregard when there is a critical (incident),” he said.

Mr Richards also fielded questions about the state of his office being “messy”, sleeping at work, and being subject to a performance management plan, with requirements to see a psychologist.

A separate inquest will deliver findings at a later date into the 2016 floods deaths of 81-year-old Ouse farmer Trevor Foster and newspaper delivery driver Peter Watson, who died at Evandale.

The inquest into Mrs Allford’s death continues.

Follow @ambervwilson