THIS Friday marks the 139th anniversary of the "horrible flood" of 1867, and Windsor identity John Miller seized the opportunity last Thursday to put the "raise the dam wall" campaign back on to the political agenda.
During a visit by NSW Opposition leader Peter Debnam to the Londonderry electorate, and speaking on behalf of the local DAMIT group, Mr Miller made the most of an opportunity to share his concerns.
He reminded the Opposition Leader of the unsuccessful push 10 years ago to raise the Warragamba Dam wall 23 metres to reduce the impact of flooding by 4.7m downstream and "protect the lives and properties of 50,000 people".
"There are 34 sewage treatment plants along the river now," Mr Miller said.
"In a big flood there would be a total mess... But instead of flood
mitigation, we got a spillway."
Mr Miller did not secure a commitment from Mr Debnam that the Coalition, if elected, would raise the dam wall. Mr Debnam said he was "aware of the project" and supported the notion of "going to the Commonwealth for funds".
Mr Miller told Mr Debnam it was important to factor flood damage costs into the equation.
"There would have been a cost of
$2 billion to the State Government if there was a big flood 10 years ago," Mr Miller said. "That cost would be much higher now."
Councillor Kevin Conolly, also chairman of Hawkesbury City Council's Floodplain Risk Manage-ment Committee, explained experts had recalculated the maximum possible rainfall in the Hawkesbury-Nepean and realised the Warra-gamba Dam wall was not strong enough to hold that amount of water.
The options then were to strengthen and raise the wall, or build a spillway to take that excess water and construct flood evacuation routes.
Mr Conolly said building the spillway would protect residents downstream from the dam bursting but would "do nothing" for flood mitigation: "Richmond and Windsor will completely disappear at the maximum possible flood.
"We're still at risk of a significant number of people drowning... Even with the flood evacuation routes, people are still at risk," he said.
The Liberal councillor said he believed raising the dam wall was an issue "outside politics".
"I encourage both parties to consider raising the dam wall."
Cr Conolly and Hawkesbury SES controller Kevin Jones agreed a crucial part of the problem of securing our community's safety was a lack of awareness of flooding.
"It's been 14 years since the last flood," Mr Conolly said.
"People are unfamiliar with what happens. They don't know what it's like to have their homes inundated or to be isolated, and a large part of our population are at risk of that, particularly at Bligh Park, Windsor, Richmond and McGraths Hill."
Even people not directly affected by flood water could lose power, water and sewerage.
Mr Jones said because flooding posed a genuine danger, the Hawkesbury SES was "continually working on 'operational readiness'. "The 1867 flood will happen again one day, and we have to be ready for it," Mr Jones said.
Mr Jones pointed out people at Windsor, Pitt Town and McGraths Hill had become "marooned on an island".
"Once people are marooned it's very slow to move them out in floodboats," he said.
"The flood evacuation routes give us a bit more time to get people out, but they don't help people once they're marooned on islands."
Mr Jones said the Hawkesbury SES would hold a series of education nights to remind residents that they lived on a floodplain - and help them plan accordingly.
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