E&OE TRANSCRIPT
SKY NEWS AM AGENDA WITH KENNY HEATLEY
FRIDAY, JULY 1 2022
SUBJECT: Hawkesbury flood warning.
KENNY HEATLEY, PRESENTER: Thanks so much for your time, Susan, you were hearing that forecast there. We had two rounds of major flooding happen across the Hawkesbury Nepean and around the Windsor area in March and April this year, now there's the potential of another round coming through. What's the feeling on the ground like?
MEMBER FOR MACQUARIE SUSAN TEMPLEMAN: Well, it's not the forecast we want to be hearing. And there is everything from fear to frustration in the community, as well as some frenetic activity today, as people start to prepare. There's frustration that the dam is so high and that during June there wasn't any water spilled to allow that level to drop. That is a huge frustration that people express. There's also real fear that now that we have, the vegetable growers have full paddocks - in fact, one told me that they went to the markets for the first time last Saturday with a crop - and that that full paddock could now be subject to another big flood. So they're really fearful of that, and turf farmers tell me that they think their farms just finally after three months look like a turf farm again. So it's hard to describe the level of anxiety and just how, the response to this, I think people will act really fast over the next couple of days. But that is the last thing anyone wanted.
HEATLEY: Absolutely. I mean, they must be getting good at acting fast. Has there been enough of warning? And what are people doing? Are they getting out the sandbags once again?
TEMPLEMAN: Sandbags are already available at Wilberforce. And in fact, if anyone does need them, they need to take their own shovel. The council has provided sand and the bags but you've got to fill your own. We're waiting for advice for the other sandbag site that traditionally happens opposite the council chambers. And we're waiting to hear when that is available, because this is the job people will have today. I spoke with one homeowner last night, who still hasn't moved back into her home since the last flood, and she's at a point of going we're just going to let the water go in. So there'll be a whole lot of people who are going to let it do what it does. But those who can protect their property and are back in it will do everything they can with sandbags, moving furniture out, getting all the vehicles from low lying properties up to higher ground. There'll be a lot of traffic moving around places like Pitt Town, the Lowlands, and Freemans Reach.
HEATLEY: And I'm guessing there's been a bit of work that's been done to fix roads after the last flood event and general infrastructure around the area. And now there's a potential that that could be wasted.
TEMPLEMAN: Yeah, that's a real concern. There has been a significant amount of work, but there was still a lot more to do. And some of the very big problems from the 2021 flood have still not been repaired, or repairs are under way and they're obviously potentially impacted by the weather that we're going to get. I think one of the issues going forward we've got to look at is we don't just repair roads back to what they were, but we repair them better so they're better able to withstand repeat floods and repeat weather events.
HEATLEY: Federal Member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman, appreciate your time and good luck over the next couple of days. Our thoughts are with you, hopefully it doesn't pan out the way that the forecast is looking at the moment.
TEMPLEMAN: And Kenny can I just say, could people keep an eye on the Hawkesbury SES Facebook page and the Hawkesbury Council page for the latest information?
HEATLEY: Very good idea. Thank you Susan.
