Flood Damage Emergency Works Update
The South Burnett has experienced a series of severe weather events over the last ten months which has caused significant damage to the region’s road network
and disruption to the community. There have been five separate severe weather events, all within a relatively short space of time, with the first commencing in November 2021 and the latest event in July 2022. This has been quite unprecedented in the South Burnett and has resulted in 6590 sites where damage has occurred needing temporary repairs. Council has undertaken emergency repairs on 4789 of those sites and continues to work tirelessly on the remainder of emergency repairs which are expected to be completed during October 2022.
Roads portfolio spokesperson, Deputy Mayor Gavin Jones, stressed the size of the task of the works needed to restore the South Burnett road network as a result of five wet weather events.
“This is testing our resources, our people, machinery, and budget to the limits. We have never had to deal with flood damage of this scope before. We ask for community patience as we work through the enormous workload,” said Deputy Mayor Jones.
“Concerned residents should also note that temporary emergency repairs are undertaken as a first step before the repairs can be assessed for state funding. Only then can they be fixed permanently – and they will be.”
To date approximately $6m has been spent repairing roads across the five weather events. The overall damage bill, whilst still being assessed, is forecast to be in the order of $25m. Council continues to work closely with the Qld Reconstruction Authority (QRA) who enable the provision of significant financial support from both the State and Federal governments.
Whilst the primary focus has been and continues to be on the emergency works, which are intended to enable roads and streets to allow access to the public as quickly as possible, they are essentially temporary repairs that make the road trafficable for vehicles and are generally not permanent in nature. A permanent reconstruction works program will follow and is expected to be a considerable program that is intended to bring the flood affected roads and streets back to their pre-flood condition. This phase of the flood damage works will take around two years to complete and will take up the largest portion of expenditure.
Flood damage reconstruction works include significant heavy formation grading, heavy shoulder grading, reshaping of table drains, pavement reconstruction and seal works, rock protection, excavation of surplus material and removal from site, medium formation grading, reconstruction of unbound granular base, bitumen spray seal, flowable concrete repairs, clearance of mixed debris and removal from site, importing of bulk fill, and the repair and restoration of drainage structures.
Clearing of drainage assets, including removal of silt and debris from tabledrains and culvert structures has been carried out across the region and remains a high priority with weather forecasts provided by the Bureau of Meteorology indicating above average rainfall during Spring and Summer. This means that works to the unsealed road network may be undertaken in two phases. The first phase will be to complete heavy formation grading to remove potholes and scouring from the road surface and clearing of tabledrains and culverts. The second phase at a later date will be to return to reinstate the gravel pavement with gravel resheeting where gravel has been lost due to the flooding events.
An updated overview of the recent flood damage restoration works both completed and upcoming programmed works can also be found on here.
