Nationals Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh has congratulated Coffs Harbour City Council on receiving almost $2 million in NSW Government funding for local floodplain management.
Mr Singh said the grants, awarded under the 2021-22 Floodplain Management Program, will help the council better understand and manage local flood risk and exposure in the region.
The funding is for:
• North Boambee Valley Detention Basin – $1,802,668
• Moonee Creek Flood Study Review – $60,000
• CHCC Flash Flood Warning System Upgrade – $50,000
“Each year Councils can apply for grants through the NSW Government’s Floodplain Management Program to fund important projects to assess and understand flood risk and help reduce flood impacts on their local communities,” Mr Singh said.
“This is a continuation of the NSW Government’s investment to support councils, which have the primary role of managing flood risk in their communities.”
North Boambee Valley Detention Basin:
Investigation and design for the proposed basin is now complete, following the Boambee-Newports Floodplain Risk Management Plan. While the basin does not completely alleviate flood risk, it will reduce flood risk to many areas in the middle and lower Newports Creek catchment, reducing the cost of flood damages in the future, and providing improved accessibility during flood events to and from the hospital. Importantly, the basin also enables critical residential development to proceed in the North Boambee Valley West area which will significantly add to local housing stock.
Moonee Creek Flood Study Review:
To better understand flood behaviour in the catchment, Council requires detailed flood modelling and the study will provide up to date detailed and more accurate flood mapping. The study will provide Council with a suitable platform to continue through the floodplain risk management process.
Flash Flood Warning System Upgrade:
This project will upgrade and improve the CHCC flood warning system by providing a more robust and easy to use web-based decision support system for Council and the SES. The alerting mechanism of the system will also be upgraded to provide targeted alerts with improved lead time to the SES and expanded to include an opt-in system for the community.
Coffs Harbour Mayor, Councillor Paul Amos, said reducing the flood risk to homes, businesses, and key facilities like the hospital has been a long-term focus for Coffs Harbour City Council.
“The detention basins that serve Coffs Creek have been shown to reduce flooding by 200mm-400mm around the city centre and the modelling done for the North Boambee Valley Detention Basin reveals similarly positive results for the North Isles Drive, hospital and Cook Drive industrial areas,” he said.
“The Flood Warning system has also proved to be extremely valuable to the SES and Council during storms and this upgrade – which includes an opt-in service for residents – will make it even more effective.”
