March 2021 floods: Council faced with enormous flood clean up challenges; Defence Force support confirmed

The bill is expected to run into the millions.

A meeting of council will be held at 4pm today (Wednesday) to discuss a recovery strategy, and a report on relief measures for flood and storm impacted residents.

Federal Member for Cowper Pat Conaghan has also confirmed the Australian Defence Force (ADF) will send crews to the Mid North Coast to assist with the flood clean-up.

Council's director of infrastructure Dan Bylsma said council has commenced the planning around recovery and what can be brought back online as soon as possible so emergency services can regain access to isolated parts of the community.

Council has already faced water supply issues at Comboyne and Telegraph Point while many of the roads and bridges to the local government area's smaller villages have been severely impacted by floodwaters and land slips making them unsafe for motorists.

"We are only now identifying even more significant major road damage across our network. We are making the call as we speak about getting additional support through Public Works to come up and assess and respond to some of these large scale jobs that will require significant geo-tech, significant experience in road rebuilds and ultimately it will support the existing council team who are out there doing that on a daily basis," Mr Bylsma said.

Mr Bylsma said council is active in the Rollands Plains and Telegraph Point area where residents have been shut off from essential services.

"We're looking at ways to give them access through private roads where we are able to provide some dry access for vehicles to get through so people can replenish stocks," he said.

The Settlement Point ferry is also out of action. The Hibbard ferry is in dry dock for regular maintenance.

Tugs will need to be brought in the assist with the re-positioning and re-attachment of the Settlement Point ferry but that will depend on river flows and safety.

Council's waste management facilities are all open for debris disposal.

"We are working more broadly on a total waste management strategy and plan for what will be a significant waste component to the clean up exercise. That will include such things as kerbside pick-ups, that people have facilities where they can take their green and general waste but also building and construction waste as well," Mr Bylsma said.

Council will also work closely with NSW Health on water and sewerage overflows in areas where residents have been evacuated due to extensive inundation.

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