MAX Lamond has lived in the Terara area for close to 50 years.
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In that time he has seen some major floods.
He believes if Shoalhaven City Council isn’t careful the next major flood that hits the area could have some catastrophic problems especially for residents east towards the Terara village.
Mr Lamond dairy farmed on the southern side of Terara Road where the multi-million dollar upgrade of the Nowra sewerage treatment plant is currently being undertaken.
Mr Lamond has called on council to clear a flood mitigation drain to the river that crosses Terara Road which is full of water hyacinths.
“The drain is completely overgrown,” he said.
“That drain is designed to allow water, and in particular flood water, to drain into the river.
“There are big flood gates in the drain that can be activated when the water is high to allow it to escape.
“At the moment the drain is that overgrown with water hyacinth there would be no way for the water to escape.
“We can get floods at any time. I’ve seen floods in February. I’ve see them in June and July.
“I fear this weed would be all pushed towards the flood gates, causing a massive log jam and there would be no way possible the gates would open.
“That would mean the water would back up and take longer to get away, affecting a lot more people on the floodplain for a longer period of time.”
Mr Lamond said when he owned the property council would maintain the drain, including spraying the weeds, to ensure it couldn’t get blocked.
“This doesn’t seem to have happened of late,” he said.
“I contacted council several months ago to alert them to the problem but nothing has been done.
“Workers at the site and council officers who are in and out on the adjacent road all the time must surely be noticing the problem.
“It is right there in front of their eyes.
“They [the water hyacinth] are that thick I reckon you could walk on them.
“I have never seen them so bad.”
Council’s works and services manager Tony Fraser said there was a program to maintain the large number of open drains on the Shoalhaven River flood plain.
“The program is managed within available budgets, therefore works are done in priority order,” he said.
“A number of environmental assessments need to be considered before undertaking the works which can influence the scope and timing of the works.”
He said works have recently been completed in Nowra and further works in other drains in the area will be considered in the ongoing program.