Ed,
May I claim a right of reply to Councillor Debrah Novak’s informative letter of 9 October 2024 in answer to my previous Tamsen’s Territory column on the dangers of possible future flooding in our Clarence River region.
As a Council representative, Cr Novak rightly points out that the State Emergency Service and other Government instrumentalities have a good deal of computerised and leaflet information available to residents on such aspects as “Know Your Warnings” re storms, floods and tsunamis. By writing her letter, she has, in fact, met my suggestion for greater official publicity on the problems facing all of us.
As I pointed out in my article, the S.E.S. does a great job in keeping us safe after an event occurs but the problem is that Mr and Mrs Average have little practical knowledge of what to initially do and where they should go in the event of a sudden emergency.
As Cr Novak spells out in her letter, we are all sadly on our own should a major flood occur and all we have is our own homemade plan of escape. Once again, that was my message to your readers and could not in any way be considered “misleading.”
She rightly reminds us that the “only people who can mobilise quick enough after a natural disaster event are your neighbours (if they are around) and that only if they have a boat and heaven help you if you have a disability, mental health or medical diagnosis, are elderly or have kids and animals. “This is particularly the sad truth of most of Yamba and parts of Grafton and Ulmarra.
We need more information and specific recommendations if we are to survive the much-publicised 1/100-year flood should it ever happen. How many people, for instance, know the official level of Council’s highest flood level in Yamba and elsewhere in relation to their home or business — and how it would affect them and their assets?
That was exactly the point of my article as recently published in the Clarence Valley Independent. We, as ratepayers, are all very much on our own and need more direction from authority, whether it is Council or some other authoritative body.
It is all very well to say that everyone should be au fait with important official warnings either published in print or within computers but, in reality, there are many more localised questions to be answered, far more important to life than Council demolishing more buildings and planning new multi-million-dollar social infrastructures.
I have conducted research into this matter of devastating flooding over many years of living in Yamba and can assure our Council representatives that, although we are supposed to know the official mechanics of what may happen, we generally have very few ideas as to where, for instance, temporary meeting points or shelters may be created, where essential sandbags can be readily obtained and which road outlets are first expected to go under, and more.
A fairly large proportion of older Yamborians are not computer savvy or do not have computers at their finger tips. Many of them also suffer disabilities or medical conditions of some kind, just as Cr Novak sensibly pointed out.
People living in different parts of Yamba need to know just where flood waters are most likely to block their chosen escape route. They have to decide whether they should go to seek refuge on Yamba Hill or should they make a dash for leaving the town by way of our one and only exit road which all too often gets cut off?
I have previously lived and worked in foreign countries that experience the possibility of riverine or maritime flooding. There, the local municipal councils and organisations like the Red Cross hold regular annual events to educate their townspeople en masse as to how to deal with such severe emergencies.
Some overseas municipalities even have large public billboards carrying detailed essential information on flooding and fire hazards as a reminder for all to see, including tourists and visitors to their areas.
Instead, as Cr Novak now infers, flooding is not a high priority of Clarence Valley Council business, and we are individually very much on our own to save ourselves until the State Emergency Services can take over once the event has happened.
Oscar Tamsen, Yamba