Shock at the havoc wreaked by Thursday, February 9's downpour may be subsiding, but the effects of that storm will be long-lasting. Some may not even be apparent yet.
“Initially our entire focus was on emergency response,” said Greg Doyle, general manager of Wollongong City Council, in an interview last Friday, February 17.
Mr Doyle said council had been concentrating on making the environment safe as there had been “significant damage” across the city.
One of the first priorities, he said, was “working through that human side before we actually get into the engineering side”.
“We actually had a situation at our Western Suburbs pool at Unanderra where, where the entire pool got engulfed by water and we had a swimming carnival. So we've now got a range of really distressed children and parents who have had a very difficult experience … We had a range of children that had to seek safety in our pool sheds.”
The storm then headed north where it proceeded to cause chaos on the roads of the northern suburbs. Thirroul’s main street was awash; Otford weir buckled and broke; Coalcliff was cut off by flooding to the north and south of Lawrence Hargrave Drive; while in Stanwell Park a creek overflowed and swept a Suzuki Swift out to sea.
“Thankfully, there was no one in that car,” Mr Doyle said.
(Look out for the vehicle owner’s account of this incident in our March edition of The Illawarra Flame magazine; deliveries to homes and businesses begin this weekend.)
Council workers have been busy since the storm, checking on drains and assessing the damage to stormwater infrastructure.
“We are doing assessments of all our infrastructure at the moment. Obviously Otford weir and other pieces of infrastructure, [like] our stormwater. A lot of concern we have at the moment is for what we don't see – so under the ground.”
While the community’s shock at the sudden ferocity of the storm damage has passed, the full impact of the extreme weather may be yet to appear.
“While there can be a focus on the immediate aftermath of a significant storm event, we look at every storm event through the window of a four- to eight-week timeframe,’’ Mr Doyle said.
“The environment post a significant rain event remains dynamic and changing. We can see contraction and expansion in clay within the ground. It’s at this point when we can see significant damage to the gutters, to roads, and to stormwater infrastructure.
“From that perspective, it’s quite challenging.
“We will do an immediate clean-up of infrastructure like rockpools that may contain run-off debris, for example, but then we’ll start a comprehensive inspection and review of things like the city’s stormwater assets that are less easily seen.
“We're also acutely aware that that wasn't the only significant storm event that we're likely to receive this season.”
Mr Doyle said it was too soon to put a dollar figure to the damage from the February 9 storm. “It'd be fair to say that it is significant. It would be in the millions of dollars.”