Ten years after the 2007 June long weekend storm wreaked havoc across Lake Macquarie, the city is better prepared to deal with the next extreme weather event.
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With Croudace Bay at its epicentre, the east coast low pressure system crossed the NSW coast and battered Lake Macquarie City with cyclonic winds, horizontal rain and flash flooding.
And in Newcastle, the Pasha Bulker was blown onto the beach at Nobbys, and into Hunter folklore.
Council’s sustainability manager, Alice Howe, said recovering from extreme weather events such as storms and bushfires was not easy.
The community had, however, shown “a great deal of resilience and community spirit” over the past 10 years.
“From the Pasha Bulker storm (2017) to the 2013 bushfires at Catherine Hill Bay and, more recently, the April 2015 storms, both council and the Lake Macquarie community have learnt a lot,” Dr Howe said.
“Since 2007, we’ve improved our technical understanding of disasters, invested in appropriate infrastructure, and undertaken strategic planning with our community to plan and be better prepared for events such as these.”
The initiatives council had undertaken over the last 10 years to help the community stay safe, include.-
- ‘Be Ready, Be Safe’, a city-wide engagement campaign, helping residents to prepare emergency kits, develop emergency action plans and more;
- Provided free access to the Early Warning Network’s emergency alert service for residents and workers;
- Worked with communities in priority catchments to understand their flood risk and be more prepared and emergency-ready;
- Implemented an integrated Citywide Flood Warning System;
- Provided online information about natural disaster risk, and advice and preparedness tips on flooding and severe storms, bushfires, emergency management and climate change; and
- Introduced development assessment and compliance measures in flood-prone and bushfire-prone areas.
“The lessons we’ve learnt and actions that we’ve taken together as a community over the past 10 years put us in a better position to face the next extreme weather event when it comes,” Dr Howe said.
The council is a likely nominee for a 2017 Resilient Australia Award.
“The awards are about recognising the innovative practices and achievements that not only make our communities safer but also resilient enough to handle any emergency situation,” Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter, Scot MacDonald said.
The Resilient Australia Awards are open to individuals, not for profit organisations, small and large businesses, local and state governments, schools, education institutions, research bodies and emergency service agencies.
Applications close on June 30.
If you think our council, or any other locals, deserve consideration for a 2017 Resilient Australia Award, nominate them at emergency.nsw.gov.au/emsector/awards/
