Flood response and clean-up continues
Severe weather events and flooding continue to challenge our communities with a new focus on Central Western NSW while the clean-up in Northern NSW continues.
CEO Tony Chappel and local EPA officer inspect flood clean up sites
When our CEO Tony Chappel first joined the EPA in August, his first trip was to Lismore to see first-hand the devastating impacts of the floods.
Tony returned to Lismore in November with Executive Director Carmen Dwyer to announce an important flood recovery program worth up to $5 million to help residents and small businesses impacted in February and March to manage contaminated land in the Northern Rivers area.
“Our people have been here from day one and seen first-hand the impact - many live in the Northern Rivers and have been personally impacted too,” Mr Chappel said.
“Today, is about giving people confidence that their home is safe.
“We have been here from day one and we will be here until the job is done.”
The announcement is one part of the broader recovery effort. The funding is available to help residents and small businesses have the soil on their property assessed and tested for flood generated contamination, as well as supporting remediation works.
“We know flooding can cause asbestos and other chemical contamination and we want to reduce the risk and ensure remediation works can get underway,” Mr Chappel said.
“The program will also provide training and educational resources to local council to support them respond to future contamination events caused by natural disasters such as flooding.”
Find more information including how to apply on our website here
Carmen Dwyer comments on the impact of flood events to community in this short video:
Snapshot
- Since April 2021, the EPA has cleared over 22,000 cubic metres of debris across the state which is more than five Olympic pools or more than 165 semi-trailers.
- Over average, three semi-trailers worth of debris is removed each week.
EPA now assisting flood-impacted Central Western NSW region
The EPA’s Incident Management Team was called into action again last month as recovery and clean-up work commenced in the Central West of NSW.
We are supporting State Emergency Services (SES) in their flood response and providing advice to impacted communities on:
- Flood damaged properties containing asbestos materials
- Water safety around flood waters
- Water supply quality – for example, rainwater tanks and wastewater supply
- Household and hazardous chemicals, and
- Flood risk from debris build-up in rivers.