Lismore’s mayor Isaac Smith has delivered a message of thanks and praise to the brave residents of flood-ravaged Lismore, and those who have come to their aid.
As the city continues to clean-up after the flooding, the Lismore City Council has organised a community meeting tonight at the Lismore City Hall from 6pm.
The meeting will provide updates from the council and emergency services about the flood situation so far, as well as outlining the recovery process.
Meanwhile, the clean-up continues around the CBD, and in houses that were impacted by the flood.
Volunteers and community groups, along with emergency service personnel have turned out in force to help the city recover from what has been billed the worst flood since 1974.
Lismore levee is a lemon – proven!
In the initial discussions prior to building Lismore’s CBD levee wall, residents and businesses were led to believe that the levee could protect downtown commercial Lismore against a one-in-100-year flood. After costings and behind-the-scenes finagling, when it came to be built the wall was said to be “good” for only a one-in-10-year inundation.
Some hydrologists (presumably not those salaried by the levee proponents) voiced opinions that regardless the AHD river height, when a levee (of any height) was overtopped the consequent rapid flooding of the CBD would be far worse than with no levee.
Throughout my life – seven decades during which there have been seven Lismore floods of >11m AHD river height, two of those +12m – never have I seen floodwater enter the CBD as anything more than relatively “quiet water”. Yes, it could rise rapidly enough, but there was no visually discernible current (a bit of a tug around the legs if one were in, say, Molesworth nearer the riverbank); no waves in the streets (except those created by boats); and certainly never a frothing wave-topped, urgent rush-gush of water as seen in Woodlark Street days ago.
In this flood, the extent of the Browns Creek Basin backup to past Diadem St was at least as extreme as in 1954 and 1974. The house I grew up in was located underneath what is now Lismore Shopping Square (at about the original travelators today). Our floor was 2.5m above the ground yet in the 1954 dunking the water was almost 2m in the upstairs. That’s at least where it was last week – and possibly more.
The levee’s associated pumping station was designed to, at strategic times, stop the exit of Browns Ck water to the river and to pump CBD water back into the Browns Ck basin – the shopping square and rec fields.
Since the ’54 and ’74 floods – which had river heights 58cm greater than last week’s – the eastern extremes of that flood basin (Uralba & McKenzie at Diadem; Magellan & Ballina at Diadem/Hunter/Dibbs) have not seen water levels anything like those of the past week. The recent AHD at Lismore was a “mere” 11.59m; since 1887 there have been five floods of AHD equal to or greater than this latest.
Between the initial effects of the levee – and its pumps (which ultimately drowned and failed!) – and the inevitable post-breach rush of water through the CBD and into the basin (the downhill runs of Magellan, Woodlark & Zadoc between Keen & Dawson), the basin and the CBD were both worse off than in at least 43 years. WHY?
And let’s not mention just how much worse this flood was for Lismore’s longsuffering Northies and Southies. Even those who’ve lived there “forever” copped it worse than they expected or imagined. WHY?
Now if it wasn’t a record river height – and it wasn’t, by more than a half-metre! – why, other than the inadequate / ill-considered / (inevitably?) failed lemon of a levee, did just about everyone cop a worse dunking than in 43–63 years? WHY?
The residents and businesses of Lismore were sold a pup – Woof! – and now, I suppose, are stuck with it, at least until it collapses and washes away – again*, this time completely.
*In a flood – well more than a metre lower AHD than this latest one – not long after the levee’s completion, there was major damage to parts of its concrete wall – in the area behind the Lismore Club – which required rebuilding and partial re-routing of the wall because of undermining. It could happen again with even greater consequences.
And don’t forget that in 1989 we had an April Fools flood and a Mothers Day flood. Don’t unpack too much yet! ‘Tis the season.
Well yes Gordon!,
All this was, and as is obvious,was predicted , the only discernible effect on Lismore is the
Greater effect of flooding in North Lismore, which was also predicted and subsequently proved. The fact that the flood-waters over-topping the levee were more destructive, was allowed for in the planning and acceptable
to the council.
There is overwhelming evidence of the disastrous effects of ‘so called flood mitigation’,which on the Clarence not only failed to mitigate flooding but also destroyed the fisheries industry in the lower Clarence, however it did provide jobs for the unemployable survivors of WW2 until the 1970’s.
G”)