Twelve months of continued severe weather, rainfall and flooding, followed by the two devastating flood events this month have caused severe soil saturation and subsequent damage to our road network.
“The road pavement structure is absorbing soil moisture from underneath, weakening the ability to carry traffic loads without damaging the surface. We’ve put in extensive warning signage across the road network and in areas with the worst road conditions” Mr Wymer continued.
Based on risk assessment, our aim is to repair the worst affected locations and remove the temporary speed zones so we can get the roads open again, but the current rate of damage far exceeds the resources available and the ability to carry out immediate repairs,” Mr Wymer said.
The Cowra Shire was declared a Natural Disaster area on November, 9th 2021. Subsequently there have been two more declarations of NSW Severe Weather and Flooding from June 27th 2022 onwards and NSW Flooding from 14th September 2022 onwards.
Funding assistance is provided under State and Federal Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery arrangements to repair damaged road infrastructure.
Council’s Infrastructure and Operations team are working through a backlog of customer service requests. “If you have not yet been contacted or have not received a response or update, our team will be in touch as soon as possible to respond to your specific request. We understand the inconvenience and frustration caused by the flood damage and we ask for your patience as the reconstruction works are planned and delivered,” said Mr Wymer