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Mayor Tom Crook praised volunteers, emergency services and East Gippsland Shire Council staff for post-wild storm efforts

Commending the collective effort of volunteers, emergency services and council staff. Effective planning facilitated a swift response, including road clearance, community support, and free waste disposal.

By news@gippsland - 26th February 2024 - Back to News

As the clean-up from the 13 February storm event continues across East Gippsland, Mayor Cr Tom Crook has praised the collaborative effort of volunteers, emergency services agencies and the work of East Gippsland Shire Council staff and contractors. Cr Crook said the efforts to pull together and help each other during such events means that collectively we were back up and running as quickly as possible.

Mayor Cr Tom Crook lauded volunteers, emergency services, and council staff for their collaborative efforts in the ongoing 13 February storm clean-up

Telecom resilience advocacy

Cr Crook said, "We know there were challenges with power and telecommunications and many people were impacted for an extended period. There are lessons to be learnt from this event. On that note, to have the Minister for Local Government, the Hon. Melissa Horne, reaching out directly in the immediate aftermath of the storm was most welcome. We have kept the lines of communication open, and I have emphasised the need to have telecommunications identified as an essential service."

"We will also be raising this more broadly with a delegation of Gippsland Mayors and CEOs going to Canberra this week, in planned Ministerial meetings in early March and with telecommunication service providers directly."

"I have also highlighted our ongoing questioning of why, after directly experiencing the impacts of a changing climate and with the increasing intensity and frequency of extreme events, the electricity transmission network is still evidently lacking the degree of resilience by design our communities expect and need," Mayor Crook said.

Planning enables quick response

Council's response to the storm was enabled by good planning, including emergency management processes, contractor management and investment in technology. Acting Chief Executive Officer Fiona Weigall said staff rolled up their sleeves to support the community quickly, including:

• Teams were out early with many roads and high-traffic public spaces cleared and hazards removed before the start of normal workday
• Doors were open for normal business hours at most sites on Wednesday morning, and other sites were able to come online later that morning
• Completing more than 90 road assessments in quick time
• Opening without power at some locations to support the community
• Conducting secondary impact assessments and providing guidance to customers on financial assistance available
• Organising two-day meal packs to 40 households at Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust during power outage
• Organising showering, providing safe spaces and charging points

Disaster response infrastructure

Ms Weigall said, "This is just a snapshot of the effort. While we experience natural disasters regularly, the response is a result of good planning and investment. Generator backup and network infrastructure, and a willingness for our people to plan and support their community should not go unnoticed."

Ms Weigall also highlighted the infrastructure planning at recreation reserves and other facilities that allowed for generators to be plugged in, showers to be made available, and in some cases access to telecommunications. "Our STAND (Strengthening Telecommunications Against Natural Disasters) infrastructure, put in place after the Black Summer Bushfires."

"Also supported many communities' satellite communications when the network was down. This is a great example of where investment in critical infrastructure and telecommunications can benefit our communities in times of natural disaster," Ms Weigall said.

Free waste disposal support

Free waste disposal for those impacted by the storm was available immediately after the event, and continues until 30 April, and the number of customers attending our sites has tripled post-storm.

Acting General Manager Assets and Environment, Wayne Richards, said more than 400 customers attended the Bairnsdale Landfill on Friday and Saturday immediately after the storm - triple the usual number. "Customers across the Bairnsdale, Metung and Lakes Entrance sites continued to be more than double normal levels throughout last week and over the weekend."

"We had a customer every 1.19 minutes at Bairnsdale and 1.47 minutes at Metung. It has been busy and we appreciate the patience shown by people bringing in their waste," Mr Richards said.

Cost reimbursement concerns

Council will be attempting to claim the costs associated with the green waste and spoiled food disposal. "We are not yet clear on what will be reimbursed. Providing the clean-up and waste disposal is a significant financial burden with staff and machinery costs, processing, using additional airspace in our landfill, and no gate fees," Mr Richards said.

"Our decision to provide free waste disposal (before any government announcement) was to support the community in the clean-up and not place another burden on people. We will be working hard to ensure the costs of the storms do not indirectly impact ratepayers and government support will be crucial," Mr Richards said.

Debris collection update

Mr Richards said that people will notice that some debris has not yet been collected from roadsides and public spaces. "This clean-up will be ongoing for a few weeks as we prioritise the collection of debris, identify further work and get through the backlog of other parks and gardens maintenance tasks (such as mowing) that had to take a back seat during the storm response."

"Our crews and contractors have provided a great service in cleaning up debris, well into the hundreds of cubic metres. The inspection regime has been well organised to make sure that our crews and contractors are providing an efficient service as we continue the clean-up," he said.

Pictures from East Gippsland Shire Council website.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com