Three months after devastating extreme flooding on the NSW North Coast it appears that a co-ordinated effort to prepare state emergency services for the next extreme flood has not even begun

Lismore City and environs, 28 February 2022
IMAGE: Life Flight Australia

The NSW Legislative Council Select Committee Inquiry on the Response to Major Flooding across New South Wales in 2022 held a public hearing at Room 814-815, in Parliament House, Sydney on 14 June 2021.

This public hearing took evidence from expert witnesses in relation to events in Northern NSW during the period February-March 2022.

Hearing transcripts are not yet available.

However, here are mainstream and social media responses to evidence given by state emergency response agencies.

Government agencies face strong scrutiny into NSW flood response https://t.co/shUF2UXz5O

— no_filter_Yamba (@no_filter_Yamba) June 16, 2022

 

ABC News, 16 June 2022:

The chairman of a parliamentary flood inquiry has accused the NSW government and Service NSW of running a "cruel hoax" on financial support for flood victims.

Service NSW faced tough questions on why fewer than 20 per cent of applications for a 16-week rental support program had been paid out.

The inquiry heard 11,667 applications for the grant have been received.

About 1,900 have been approved but 7,467 have been deemed ineligible.

The inquiry heard just $18 million had been paid out from a $248 million grant program due to close in nine days.

Catherine Ellis, an executive director at Service NSW, told the inquiry applicants were typically given 28 days to provide documentation to prove they were eligible.

But inquiry chairman Walt Secord questioned what allowances Service NSW was making to help people who had lost paperwork and electronics to floodwaters.

"Isn't simply being in the community that had the worst flood in NSW enough?" he said to Ms Ellis.

"I put it to you that flood support and support from this government is a cruel hoax and that you have no intention of providing support."

Ms Ellis said that Service NSW assessed applications on the policy and guidelines that were set…..

Earlier in the hearing, the SES and other marine-based agencies were questioned about the rescue efforts during the height of the floods.

SES Commissioner Carlene York was asked why civilians were directed not to conduct flood rescues in their own boats.

"[There is] rubble, refuse, very swift-flowing water, contaminated water," she said.

"Going out is very dangerous so I have an obligation to try and keep the community safe."

The so-called "tinnie army" ignored directions from SES not to enter the water and has been credited with hundreds of rescues across the Northern Rivers region.

NSW Maritime was also asked why it did not participate in more flood rescues.

Executive director Mark Hutchings said his agency was not responsible or equipped for swift-water rescues.

"Operating in flood waters is the most dangerous, perilous thing that you can do," he said.

"As a government agency you would not recommend, nor would you deploy, untrained staff in inappropriate vessels into that environment.

"But Aussies will do what Aussies will do."

Mr Hutchings told the inquiry he could be charged and come before the Coroners Court if he sent his staff into dangerous conditions and something went wrong.

Mr Fitzsimmons spent most of the day in front of the inquiry as it examined the immediate emergency response and recovery and rebuilding plans.

The agency was formed in response to the Black Summer bushfires but has faced criticism throughout the inquiry for its performance.

Mr Fitzsimmons bristled at criticisms put to him by the inquiry that his staff treated the emergency as a typical nine-to-five job.

"We're not a 24-hour organisation, we don't have thousands of personnel, [but] we've been doing extraordinary hours and running after-hours arrangements," he said.

"I've had some staff sleeping in their vehicles overnight close to evacuation centres and other areas where they're providing support."

Today is the last day of the inquiry's scheduled hearings.

A report with recommendations is due to be handed down by August 9.

AAP News, 15 June 2022:

Labor MP Penny Sharpe said North Coast victims had been worn down by the bureaucracy.

"The level of frustration and distress as a result because they (residents) are being asked for paperwork they no longer have is extraordinary," she said.

"We've had people crying in front of us because they're being asked to provide the same documentation five times they don't have because their house or business has washed away.

"I just cannot overstate the level of trauma in the community ...They're in desperate circumstances in terms of housing."

Mr Secord described the slow drip of rental support provided to displaced residents as "a cruel hoax".

Ms Sharpe also levelled criticisms at the SES for not effectively communicating with flood-affected communities over which rescue agency would take the lead, describing the response as "confused"…..

ABC Radio, Australia Wide program,

A New South Wales parliamentary inquiry examining the devastating floods from earlier in the year, is hearing evidence from emergency services and non-government organisations on how the response to natural disasters can be improved. The inquiry has been told its madness to have a volunteer organisation as the lead response agency to a major disaster. Leighton Drury, from the Fire Brigade Employees' Union, told today's hearing the State Government must rethink the strategy that sees the SES take control of floods, storms and tsunami events.

https://abcmedia.akamaized.net/radio/local_perth/audio/202206/aip-2022-06-14.mp3 – starting at 1:06 mins & finishes at 9:15 mins.

Twitter, 15 June 2022

 

“We’re not a 24-hour organisation.”

NSW Resilience Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons defends the agency’s response to the NSW floods, after an inquiry learns residents felt that rescue & recovery had been treated as a “9-to-5 job”.
Office hours emergency only?
Give me strength!

— 💧Urban Wronski (@UrbanWronski) June 15, 2022

 

UPDATE: The New South Wales flood inquiry has heard a shocking admission that life-saving help was withheld due to safety regulations. Earlier this year, #60Mins spoke to several residents in the devastated town of Lismore, who said calls to evacuate came too late. pic.twitter.com/D94PQHxiyh

— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) June 16, 2022

 

Sometimes I feel like I’m imagining or catastrophising how bad the response to the floods has been, but then basically every news article confirms exactly what I’ve been saying and I feel a little more sane. https://t.co/D7L3Tsv1w2

— Clare Kearney (@wordsfromrobin) June 15, 2022

 

“We’re not a 24-hour organisation.”

NSW Resilience Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons defends the agency’s response to the NSW floods, after an inquiry learns residents felt that rescue & recovery had been treated as a “9-to-5 job”.
Office hours emergency only?
Give me strength!

— 💧Urban Wronski (@UrbanWronski) June 15, 2022

 

The WORST of @Labor and #LNP hypocrisy on display at NSW Parliamentary Inquiry to LISMORE floods emergency response. The STATE has not planned adequately for catastrophic weather then tries to blame problems on fine, dedicated front line responders. Shameful, lazy and ungrateful. pic.twitter.com/XhXaJrvElt

— eliza_brien (@elizabrien2) June 15, 2022

BACKGROUND

Response to Major Flooding across New South Wales in 2022 public hearing transcripts can be found at:

https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/listofcommittees/Pages/committee-details.aspx?pk=277#tab-hearingsandtranscripts

Video recordings of public hearings are at:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb7SKvfgKNwYKVbOv4fBTX2UizaWVHK7y

The aftermath of Northern Rivers February-March 2022 floods revealed a failure of planning and emergency response, NSW Upper House inquiry told

Locals rescuing locals
Lismore March 2022
IMAGE: ABC News, 7 March 2022

AAP General Newswire, 30 May 2022:

A failure to plan was behind "devastation" caused by severe flooding to towns across northern NSW, an inquiry has been told.

Northern NSW towns hit by this year's devastating floods have been left "exposed" by the emergency, which highlighted a housing crisis, telco failures and government missteps in the region, an inquiry has been told.

A NSW parliamentary committee is looking into the official response to the flood catastrophe of February and April that struck primarily in the Northern Rivers region.

At least 10 people died in the wild weather that forced thousands of residents to flee their homes and left many towns in the region severely damaged.

Federal and state authorities have faced criticism over their handling of the emergency, including their response times, preparedness and recovery.

On Monday, Byron Shire Council mayor Michael Lyon told the inquiry the floods revealed an "inability to deal" with a housing crisis which existed before the crisis.

"We've put planning proposals (in on) tiny homes, caps on short-term letting, we've been attempting this for several years, we haven't been able to get those through," Mr Lyon told the inquiry, sitting in Ballina.

"What that meant was that the exacerbation caused by the floods, and that existing crisis, left us really exposed and it's made things so much harder in the aftermath of the floods.

"If you fail to plan then the plan is to fail and I think that's what we saw in a number of areas as the result of this devastation."

He also hit out at the NSW Department of Communities and Justice, saying the agency failed at times, especially on setting up evacuation centres.

He pointed to one evacuation centre in the town of Mullumbimby having to be "informally stood up" as DCJ "didn't really make the effort to get in there".

"That left residents stranded with nowhere to go," he said.

Telstra was also in Mr Lyon's firing line for the communications network remaining down for weeks during and after the floods.

He said the telco giant had serious questions to answer over the way its network was designed and whether its privatisation contributed to its performance.

"I'm interested to know how that can be improved so that we are ... more resilient for the future," he said.

Ballina Shire Council mayor Sharon Cadwallader, in her evidence, said residents knew the area faced a flood risk, but "mitigation money" had been inadequate.

Ms Cadwallader also cited communication problems during the crisis which left the area isolated, labelling what happened as "totally inadequate" .

The situation was so dire, she said, "runners" had to go between evacuation centres and people had to cross the border to Queensland to get messages out.

Rebecca Woods, chief executive of the Bogal Local Aboriginal Lands Council, testified that in Coraki -- a small town at the juncture of the Richmond and Wilson Rivers -- flood-hit residents had been taken in by others, resulting in overcrowding.

Ms Woods said the practice had led to the "tragedy" in the town of two and three families living in houses meant for six people.

The upper house inquiry continues in Lismore on Tuesday.

Once again local government tries to paper over the real flood plan for Yamba & environs, which has always been 'let them climb on their roofs or float out to sea - their choice'

Clarence Valley Independent, 18 April 2022:

Environmental watchdog, Valley Watch, first began predicting flooding of Yamba, as a result of developing West Yamba, in about 1995; on Sunday May 21, the group will present a more than 1,000-signature petition to the mayor, Ian Tiley (or his proxy), calling for a moratorium on further filling and development approvals on the Yamba floodplain.

“Basically, the petition is demanding a well-designed master plan for West Yamba,” Valley Watch spokesperson Helen Tyas Tunggal said.

During the record rain that fell during February and March, many homes and properties were flooded for the first time, some of which were built within the past 20 years, theoretically above any threat of flooding.

Ms Tyas Tunggal couldn’t have been more succinct speaking with the Sydney Morning Herald in March 2007, when she expressed a view now apparent to many Yamba residents.

“When you raise the ground level, the displaced water has to go somewhere,” she said, when referring to the estimated 270,000 truckloads of fill needed to accommodate future West Yamba development.

“Other more established areas of town will flood as a result.”

As it happens, Cr Tiley, who was the mayor at the time, agreed.

“It may be that people who are flood-proof at the moment will be put at risk,” he said at a Clarence Valley Council (CVC) committee meeting, according to the SMH, when answering a question about filling the area.

“A great deal has happened since the council [first] decided to increase [the area’s] yield.

“From the middle of last year, a great awareness of climate change issues [has surfaced].

“It is a whole different ball game.”

According to the SMH, former CVC environment and planning director Rob Donges “acknowledged [there were] problems there”.

“It is flood-prone, low-lying land with a high water-table … we have never hidden the fact that if we were to start the process of West Yamba today there would be doubts as to whether council would proceed,” he told the SMH.

Come 2008/09, CVC adopted the Yamba Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan, which warns that “it is imperative that any additional development does not exacerbate the existing flood problem”.

The plan recommended, for example, that a master plan “must address water-related cumulative issues”, including “possible floodplain management measures … (if the development is to proceed) [including]: a) a floodway, b) a comprehensive flood evacuation strategy, and, c) [various] updated flood-related development controls.”

Meanwhile, there appears to be confusion among CVC staff about whether or not the Yamba Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan is relevant.

In a response to a detailed enquiry by Valley Watch, following the public meeting held at Treelands Drive Community Centre on April 29, 2021, staff wrote that the Yamba flood study and plan had “been superseded by the 2013 Grafton and Lower Clarence Flood Model and updated Grafton and Lower Clarence FRMP hence, the queries in relation to this study are no longer relevant”.

However, the Grafton and Lower Clarence document excludes Yamba and Iluka stating, “Flood-prone areas of the Lower Clarence River formerly administered by Maclean shire council from Brushgrove to Palmers Island including Maclean, and excluding Iluka and Yamba, which are the subject of separate studies.”

Valley Watch’s insistence that CVC develop a master plan for West Yamba, because “there are many unanswered questions” about how development is or should proceed, was partially addressed in a Notice of Motion by Cr Stephen Pickering at the April 26 CVC meeting.

“The community is heartened that the new council is taking an interest in the concerns of residents regarding development in West Yamba,” Ms Tyas Tunggal said.

However, she doubted that part 1 of the CVC resolution, to “support the creation of a West Yamba Masterplan document”, would be fulfilled and said part 2, to publish an “information brochure … to educate the community, does not go far enough and does little to address the current and growing problems”.

Meanwhile the mayor, Ian Tiley, told the Independent that a master plan would “absolutely” be prepared once the brochure is completed.

“Part 1 demonstrated a clear intent to create a West Yamba Master Plan, to guide sustainable development and infrastructure integrated with the greater Yamba township,” he said.

BACKGROUND

North Coast Voices

• THURSDAY, 1 APRIL 2021

The story of a little town in the Clarence Valley and a growing problem

POSTED BY CLARENCEGIRL

 

• MONDAY, 5 APRIL 2021

“The story of a little town in the Clarence Valley and a growing problem” - Part Two

POSTED BY CLARENCEGIRL

•  COMMENT:

Anonymous said...

Dear Clarencegirl, you should send your blog on Yamba to all our non concerned councillors, and to Clarence Valley Council. Most people in this area live in denial, that is until the sh... hits the fan, then they whinge. Apathy seems to reign high in Clarence Valley Shire, and Yamba, and this council is sitting on it's hands. Your blogs are good and real. But how do you wake this council up, and make them represent and think! Cheers Yamba resident for 16 years,

5 APRIL 2021 AT 13:45

• TUESDAY, 16 OCTOBER 2012

West Yamba subdivision questioned

POSTED BY CLARRIE RIVERS

 

• TUESDAY, 21 APRIL 2009

How serious is local government about protecting against climate change impacts? Not very it seems, if it is Clarence Valley Council

POSTED BY CLARENCE GIRL

• SUNDAY, 31 MAY 2009

The question of West Yamba

POSTED BY CLARENCE GIRL

• TUESDAY, 8 JANUARY 2008

The folly of allowing developments in flood-prone land

Persons associated with proposals to develop West Yamba would be well advised to take special note of a decision of the NSW Land and Environment Court.

In an article headed Court agrees climate-change risk rules out housing plan The Sydney Morning Herald (January 8, 2008) reports:

"Many may be pleased to know the Land and Environment Court can overturn not just a council decision but a ministerial one.

The court recently ruled invalid a concept plan approved by the Minister for Planning, Frank Sartor, for a controversial residential subdivision and retirement complex at Sandon Point, on the coast near Wollongong. The action was brought by a resident, Jill Walker.

The court agreed the department should have considered the flooding risk from climate change as it was an aspect of the public interest that potentially had a bearing on the justice of the decision.

The decision is a win for residents who have been protesting for years against the development of the flood-prone 25-hectare site by Stockland Development and Anglican Retirement Villages.

Deacons Lawyers said councils would have to ensure risks from climate change in flood-constrained coastal areas had been addressed by developers and that they considered such risks in their decisions."

Comment:

The land at West Yamba is flood-prone. Allowing further development in the area will require fill being obtained from elsewhere in order to raise the area above designated ASL requirements. That may solve current problem associated with the West Yamba site but one doesn't have to be Einstein to understand that water which would normally find its way to this naturally occurring flood storage area in times of heavy rainfall will be diverted elsewhere. And just where is elsewhere? Think about it. Land that is currently occupied and considered flood free will not necessarily carry such a tag in the future.

Yes, further development at West Yamba will create a new set of winners (just think 'developers and their associates'), but there'll also be a crew of losers who'll be up the creek without paddles in times of high local rainfall and/or flooding that results from waters flowing downstream from the catchment area.

Clarence Valley Council should have this matter uppermost in its collective mind. So too, should Minister Frank Sartor and all others who will be called upon to give consideration to any hair-brained proposals to develop West Yamba.

Remember, the law attaches great significance to the concept of precedence. Hence, this decision of the Land and Environment Court has implications for West Yamba.

POSTED BY CLARRIE RIVERS