Community input wanted for local Flood Studies
Wingecarribee Shire Council is calling on residents living near the Nattai Ponds and Whites Creek areas to provide information on past flood waters as part of a major study designed to better prepare for future flood events.
Flooding causes over $300 million worth of damage each year across the nation and historically causes more damage annually than any other natural disasters in Australia.
Council is currently preparing major flood and floodplain risk management studies across some of the Shire’s key catchment areas in an effort to better plan, predict and manage the risk of flooding across our Shire.
The primary goal of the Nattai Ponds and Whites Creek studies is to identify and evaluate options that aim to reduce the impact of flooding on people and property within these catchment areas.
The Nattai Ponds Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan will focus on the Nattai Ponds catchment area which covers an area approximately 7.7 square kilometres in size and includes the villages of Renwick, Willow Vale and Braemar.
The Review of the Whites Creek Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan on the other hand will concentrate on an area 5.1 square kilometres in size immediately surrounding Whites Creek in Moss Vale.
For the studies to be as accurate as possible, Council is asking residents to submit any historical information they may have collected from past floods. This could include written data and historical photographs. Any information collected will be used to help calibrate computer flood models and databases.
Data can be submitted electronically or via a hardcopy questionnaire to be distributed to households and businesses in the immediate areas.
The Nattai Ponds and Whites Creek Flood studies follow similar surveys previously undertaken in the Robertson, Gibbergunyah Creek and Nattai River areas.
To learn more about the dual floodplain studies, including viewing initial feedback on options that could be potentially implemented to better manage the risk of flood, visit www.wsc.nsw.gov.au/flood-studies.
For more information on the Nattai Ponds and Whites Creek Floodplain Risk Management Studies and Plans, contact Council’s Floodplain Engineer on phone 4868 0888 or via email at sha.prodhan@wsc.nsw.gov.au.