There is still no timeframe for when the February/March 2022 flood data levels will be made public by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment (DPE), despite Byron Shire Council expressing its concern at ‘how long the project is taking’.
Data collected from the unprecedented flood levels that devastated the region last year will be influential in determining future developments on the north coast.
Councillors supported a recommendation from the Floodplain Management Advisory Committee at their June 22 meeting.
The flood data is sought, so it ‘gets checked by those who provided the information, or were flooded, and it can be amended where necessary, prior to the expensive task of flood modelling.’
When asked when the public can expect the data, a DPE spokesperson told The Echo, ‘The majority of February 2022 flood level field surveys in the Byron Local Government Area (LGA) were undertaken by NSW Public Works’.
‘Surveyed flood levels were provided to Byron Shire Council, Council’s consultants and the Department of Planning and Environment.
‘The surveyed flood levels were used in the modelling and development of the post-2022 flood event analysis reports.
‘DPE is finalising the post-2022 flood event analysis reports in collaboration with project consultants’.
They added, ‘DPE will share the completed reports with Byron Shire Council and the reports will be publicly available at that time’.
