CEO issues statement in response to Shire floods

Published on 02 February 2022

Hi Everyone,

As you know, our Shire has been severely impacted by storms over the past few weeks and again over the weekend and yesterday.

There’s been widespread damage, with a number of homes inundated with water, especially in Rutherglen, but also Chiltern, Kiewa-Tangambalanga and Beechworth.

With most roads now re-opening, we’re starting to see the full-extent of the damage. Some of our roads resemble the aftermath of a tornado, with dozens of trees felled and major damage to road surfaces, edges and roadside drains.

At this stage, it’s too early to put a dollar figure on the damage, but we will be applying to the State Government for disaster relief as we expect the repair bill to be significant.

To our residents who have been impacted, we understand what a stressful and upsetting time this has been. After the torrid time we’ve all had coping with the pandemic, this is the last thing that anybody needed and we are well aware that many of you are hurting.

There is no denying that the sheer volume of rain that fell in a short period of time meant that storm flows exceeded the capacity of much of the infrastructure. With climate change and variable weather patterns, and events of this nature happening more frequently, councils across Australia are facing the same dilemma, how to manage ageing infrastructure that was never designed for these events.

However, right now our immediate priority is cleaning-up, ensuring roads are safe and accessible and assisting affected residents in any way that we can. While there are many agencies responding to particular needs, we are keen to hear from our residents on how we can assist further. Please contact our Customer Service Centre on 1300 365 003.

Additionally, our Economic Development Team has been reaching out to affected businesses to understand flood impacts and to provide assistance and referral where possible. If any businesses have not yet been identified, please contact Jodi Mann on 5728 8000.

To assist our Rutherglen and Chiltern residents, we will be opening the Rutherglen Transfer Station for additional hours and an extra day from tomorrow.  We’ve only been able to confirm this now that water which had been covering the road leading into the centre has receded.

The Rutherglen transfer station will be open from 11am to 5pm tomorrow through to Sunday and the Beechworth Transfer Station will be open as usual from 1pm to 5pm Friday to Monday.

Residents can also dispose of flood or storm damaged items free of charge at both facilities for the next two weeks.

I also want to acknowledge the positive feedback we have received from many of you about the efforts of our work crews who’ve been hard at it, both at nights and across weekends. We appreciate this very much and recognise that the clean-up, not just from the weekend, is going to take some time.

Please take care and reach out if you need to.

Regards

Trevor