Why Kempsey Shire road maintenance is on hold

We were relatively fortunate compared to many other areas. With a little bit of time on our side, our levees were topped up, we made plenty of sandbags and all of our communities were provided with sand or sandbags, by either Council or the SES in advance.

The extensive warnings allowed landholders and businesses time to prepare for the worst, and fortunately it didn't eventuate.

Now the clean-up begins, and for many this is when the initial fear can easily turn into frustration, especially when it comes to bins and roads.

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For many bins won't have been collected for a week or so. They may have been damaged. If so, there are catch-up services available. Please call our Waste Hotline on 1300 342 207.

The other major Council area that always causes frustration after floods is damage to our road network. We have 1,253 km of roads in this Shire - 584 km unsealed and 669 km sealed.

Last week our roads and bridges team did the initial work of assessing the issues. Clearing the bridges and roads so covered with flood detritus is now a priority.

The usual maintenance of our road network must be put on hold and work crews must be retasked to deal with many repair issues. These require inspection, temporary repairs and then assessment for future long-term repairs.

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This work is carried out on a priority basis. We have stood up four additional teams in addition to the four teams working on fixing sealed and unsealed roads. The work of these capable Council staff has enabled many repairs to be completed.

I know many people can see their local road repair needs. They may not realise that there are other roads that have a higher need for repair due to safety and usage. Council staff are stretched by the flood event in many areas, and road repair is costly.

For this reason, I would ask you to be patient and only make urgent and necessary reports for a few weeks.

I am so glad that we are safely through this flood together. We should continue to cooperate in these next weeks of clean-up as well.

Thank you and stay safe.

Mayor Leo Hauville

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