ABC NEWS, 9 October 2022. IMAGE: The swollen Macquarie River continues to rise near homes around Troy Gully in Dubbo.(Supplied: Rod Price)
The Daily Telegraph/Northern Star, 6 October 2022:
Tony Leggo was part of the Bonalbo Rural Fire crew who attended the latest accident where a coupe ended up on its roof.
“Two local Bonalbo residents were driving behind them and saw the rear swaybar of the car in front come off in the first set of potholes,” Mr Leggo said.
“The car then lost control and hit a second lot of potholes where it started to roll over.
“A crew of four as well as the Group Captain West attended that one.”
He said all of the district’s roads are in poor condition after back-to-back La Nina events and associated floods.
“I get it,” he said, “but when you’re forced to drive at 60 km/h or less on sections and meet someone on your side of the road coming around corners, it’s dangerous.
“Millions were spent recently on a section of the Clarence Way which was improperly mixed so it has to be done again.
“The accident should be a wake up call because it was sheer luck nobody died.”…..
Bonalbo firefighter Joanne Leggo was on scene to assist.
“In my own opinion, I think that the condition of the road, with many potholes being unavoidable, has taken its toll on our cars and perhaps the car experienced mechanical failure upon hitting the smaller, hard to avoid, potholes,” Ms Leggo said.
“They may not have known that the car was at breaking point that day.”
Clarence Way, a major arterial road that connects NSW and Qld, demands improvement, according to residents and emergency personnel.
“Residents, tourists, and seasonal workers have been left to risk their lives daily,” Ms Leggo said.
“The witnesses were adamant the car was not speeding, which makes it even more frightening.”
Occupants of the car, seasonal workers with limited English, were uninjured.…..
Flood affected local government areas eligible to share $312.5 million, to rebuild damaged roads and transport infrastructure, in order to better withstand future natural disasters:
Armidale, Ballina, Bellingen, Byron, Central Coast, Cessnock, Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour, Dungog, Glen Innes, Gwydir, Kempsey, Kyogle, Lake Macquarie, Lismore, Maitland, Mid-Coast, Muswellbrook, Nambucca, Newcastle, Port Macquarie-Hastings, Port Stephens, Richmond Valley, Singleton, Tenterfield, Tweed and Upper Hunter.
This enhanced round of grant money is jointly funded by the NSW and Federal governments.
‘While support to rebuild damaged roads was announced earlier this year, it only allowed for infrastructure to be repaired to pre-disaster conditions.
It has now been expanded to enable councils to build back in a more resilient way with roads to be improved, and built to withstand future natural hazards.
"This is the next step in the process to get these projects underway, and I'd encourage councils to apply for this funding," Federal Minister for Emergency Management, Murray Watt said.
"We've seen infrastructure like roads and bridges damaged time and again, with no opportunity for them to be repaired or built to a standard that would help them withstand and bounce back from a future natural disaster.
"By rebuilding to a better standard we can protect communities during disasters, while also lessening the long-term damage to regions."’ [The Armidale Express, 7 October 2022]
Clarence Valley Council continues its schedule of works which includes flood repairs.
Storms and heavy rain continue to bedevil the state, with three Natural Disaster Declarations published over the last four months.
La Niña is still active and is expected to increase the chance of above average rainfall for northern and eastern Australia right through to December this year.
