RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC NSW WEEKEND MORNINGS
SATURDAY, 6 APRIL 2024
SUBJECTS: Hawkesbury Floods
SIMONE MARNIE, HOST: Currently at the Richmond Club, which is also an evacuation place, is the member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman. I got a call around 5:00 giving me some information from Susan's camp. So you're out at the evacuation centre. What's it like there at the moment, Susan?
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MACQUARIE, SUSAN TEMPLEMAN: Well, the evacuation centre itself is well prepared for people to arrive, but at this stage they've not registered anybody. It's actually stopped raining out here and I can just hear the, cleaners busy vacuuming, so I'm just going to move away from the vacuum cleaner.
HOST: That vacuum cleaner sucks.
TEMPLEMAN: (Laughs) but what happened early this morning was I had a phone calls from people who had been looking at the amount of rain that had fallen and had drawn the conclusion that the dam was going to spill sooner than Monday morning, because when we went to sleep last night, that was the anticipated thing, knowing that things can change fast. But they were very concerned. So I spent the last few hours making sure we can get accurate information for them about this anticipated dam spill, which is now expected to be around 10:30 or 12:30 today. So that really is a game changer. And that means that there have been a lot of people for the last few hours moving horses, trying to really get their properties as prepared as they can. People at Pitt Town are moving things out. I've got someone who's waiting for one of the vegetable growers to come back from the market so that they can evacuate the family to higher ground. So there's a lot of activity. As I drove from Penrith, there are lights on all the way along there. There's water on the road and you can see people are awake and obviously busy planning what to do and where to move to.
HOST: But also things you don't expect. From what I gather, there are 700 polo horses on the lowlands at Richmond for a big competition between India and Australia. They won't be able to move those out.
TEMPLEMAN: Well, look, I can't confirm numbers, but there certainly is a polo match scheduled for tomorrow and you know, I think that is why it's so important that the information people get comes through as fast as possible. So there's as much time as possible - remembering that when the Warragamba spills, if that's what is likely to push the levels to that next flood level, that can still take several hours. So that still gives people time. I think people will be very relieved that the rain itself has abated, I don't know how long that will happen, it seems very coastal at the moment, but that will make the preparations a lot easier.
HOST: What's the mood like though? Because we know we've been through the recovery of one, two and three floods. Now, this fourth event, it must be wearing thin on the constituents?
TEMPLEMAN: Yeah, no one wanted to go through this weekend. There are frustrations. You know, everyone would like to have seen major changes as they have after every flood. We've got, for the people, turf farmers down at Cornwallis, there's a drain that council was unable to repair after the 2020 and 21 floods that has become such a big project. It's moved into state hands and has not been able to be repaired yet. So they flood much sooner there and much more profoundly. So there's lots of frustrations and while the Hawkesbury has been chosen by the New South Wales government to be the first place to have a disaster adaptation plan, it's still early days in that plan. So we're not seeing levees yet built. We're not seeing the practical things that might alleviate the flood risk in some way for some parts of the community. So there are lots of frustrations.
HOST: But are there many people at the evacuation point that centre that you're at now or is it just more preparation?
TEMPLEMAN: No, we've got the Department of Communities and Justice people here who will, you know, record people. And Anglicare as always, is here ready to provide really practical assistance to people.
HOST: That's what blows me away. We're going to talk after 7:00 with Linda Strickland from Hawkesbury Helping Hands. And it's those members of the community that rise to the occasion faster than the waters that just blow me away.
TEMPLEMAN: Indeed. And I was speaking with Linda late last night, just trying to work out you know, what was needed, knowing that probably today would be the day when there would be a need for support. You know, I think the last time the Richmond Centre, there's been a couple of floods where it's been quite late in the piece that evacuation centres have opened, this one's opened, and people have got plenty of advice and time to know where to go. Most people will go to family or friends, particularly if they have animals. And right now, as daylight is just starting to break, there'll be an absolute flurry of activity to try and do everything they can before the waters come, knowing that we don't really know exactly what will happen.
HOST: Susan Templeman is with us, MP for the Macquarie area. Susan, we know from last time that once bridges closed, it's a little while before people can criss cross through the area. What are the areas of concern that just for those, remind them which are the bridges that are pertinent to this?
TEMPLEMAN: People are just waking up and haven't had a chance to look online, Yarramundi closed overnight. North Richmond Bridge has closed. There’s water on the road as I was heading here, I came down from the Blue Mountains through Penrith. There's certainly water on the road. And I think as daylight breaks, the authorities will be looking to determine what's safe and what's not. Windsor Bridge is still open. The access to live traffic cameras has made a real difference for people being able to monitor those things. But of course things can change fast. So I just keep saying to people, the SES is your best source of advice for your specific area to know whether you should be just keeping alert, whether you should be preparing to evacuate or whether you should be actually evacuating.
HOST: Susan Templeman will stay in contact through the morning. Thanks for your time.
ENDS
