Middleton Storm Event Updates

Dear Middleton Community,

The following has been done since the Middleton Flood Event Meeting;

• Met with a representative from the National Emergency Management Agency to advocate for this event to be linked to the Murray event.
• Met with Michelle and Michael Jones and others, 27/2/23 to look at the railway near their place, review culverts and walk the streets to gain a greater understanding of what they witnessed. The General Manager Community and Asset Manager were also in attendance along with Councillor Lou Nicholson.
  • A budget submission will be done for 2023/24 for identified drainage work.
• The CEO has been discussing the event with the SES as lead agency, they have been in discussions with the DEW Flood Unit.
  • They work closely together.
  • They have been mapping the catchment area and have indicated that the volume of water that came down was greater than that estimated by Councillor Michael Scott and detailed at the public meeting.
    • They are talking about this being a 1 in 300 or 1 in 500 year event (however this needs to be confirmed through a Hydrologist report).
  • They are working to see if based on parameters earlier warning can be provided in the future.
  • Although SES and DEW are working together, the CEO has requested through the SES lead agency to access to the team working from DEW Flood Unit and await feedback.
  • A timetable for this work has been unable to be provided at this stage.
• The CEO has had a discussion with the SA Police Zone Coordinator for Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu and KI and have confirmed that the Middleton Event did not escalate to their level.
• The CEO has been told that the number of register triple 0 calls lodged for the Middleton area on the 12 November 2022 was restricted to the caravan park area.
  • With 5,500 people being on hold to triple 0 and only 30 operators it is assumed many calls did not get through
  • It is also understood that many people were not home.
  • It is also acknowledged that many calls were made to known SES volunteers but these were not recorded in the triple 0 register and therefore did not trigger additional escalations.
• The CEO has been in discussions with a company that is able to provide Hydrologist services.
  • The Principal Engineer has already toured the caravan park and Middleton area soon after the event and understands the water flow.
  • They are familiar with the 12 November event in not only Middleton but across the whole state.
  • A quote has now been received to
    • Determine the catchment area.
    • Investigate the flow that occurred.
    • Model future rainfall, the effect, and the likelihood of it occurring.
    • Determine what mitigation measures can be put in place by Council and other agencies.
      • Provide budget estimates for any future work to occur.
      • They have however stated that up stream catchment area treatments are going to prove difficult being on private land.
  • A budget variance has been presented to the 20 March 2023 Council meeting by Councillor Nicholson for Council’s consideration.
  • Resulting works will be presented to Council for their budget consideration.
• Attended the March Township and Foreshore Association to provided updates of progress.
• Determined the ownership of the Middleton Creek.
• Worked with Council Members on questions and motions to the 20 March 2023 Council Meeting.

Council Meeting – 20 March 2023

• At the Council Meeting the following items relate to the Middleton Stormwater Event
  • Questions on Notice – Councillor Nicholson – (Download here)
    • Answers have been provided for the following:

1. 'What clean-up has Council done in Middleton Creek?

2. What additional work does Council need to do in the Creek and what is the timeline for completion of this work?

3. Who owns the various segments of the creek line in the catchment area?

4. For all creeks in Alexandrina:

4.1 What are the roles and responsibilities of individual owners of the land?

4.2 What activity requires authorisation to complete, and what agency provides this?

4.3 What authority does Council have to enforce required action in the creek line?'

• Motion on Notice – Councillor Nicholson – (Download here)
  • Motion relates to
    • Hydrologist Services
    • Disaster Response Plan
    • Sending a letter to each known Alexandrina resident and business impacted by the 12 November 2022 storm event, to acknowledge the ongoing impact of the event.
    • Financial relief to flood affected residents
    • Free Waste Dumping Vouchers
    • Encourage and support residents across Alexandrina to establish personal household disaster plans
• Motion on Notice – Councillor Scott – Middleton Rates – (Download here)
  • Motion relates to
    • Middleton Storm Event - Council Rates relief
• Motion on Notice – Councillor Scott – Storm Event Roads – (Download here)
  • Motion requests
    • That roads damaged in the Storm Event of 12 November 2022, that have sections which pose a threat to road safety, receive remedial attention as soon as possible

Regards,

Nigel Morris

Chief Executive Officer

On behalf of the Middleton Storm Disaster Group - Janis Haynes

ATTENTION all those who attended the Storm Disaster Meeting on 21 February 2023.

This entry is from the Middleton Storm Disaster Group which initiated the meeting on 21 February but currently do not have access to your contact details.

We are Rose Kentish, Janis Haynes, Anna Vincent & John Taylor, all Middleton storm disaster affected residents.

Many thanks for attending and speaking up on 21 February for those affected by our local disaster.

Please consider the responses below from Nigel, CEO, Alexandrina Council, including the answers provided to the 19 questions that were asked formally of Council on December 9, 2022.

Please forward to us via tvan@adam.com.au any comments or further questions that you would want responded to.

This is just the first outcome from 21 February and we expect more information to be post onto you in the coming weeks.

Please return email to tvan@adam.com.au asap to indicate you want to continue to be receive information from the Middleton Storm Disaster Group which is independent of Alexandrina Council.

OR

To indicate that you no loner need information from our group.

Kind regards

Janis Haynes

Middleton Storm Disaster Group

tvan@adam.com.au

Dear Middleton Community,

I wanted to reflect on the Community meeting held tonight on the Middleton Stormwater event of 12 November 2022.

Firstly, I can see the hurt and angst in the room, the stormwater event came without warning and destroyed property, livelihoods and left an emotional scar. I want to provide greater assistance where I can as a Middleton Community Member and as the CEO of Alexandrina Council.

Following the event Council focused on the Council infrastructure and clean up, opening up roads, clearing away debris, and making the place safe. We still have much more to do. I acknowledge that our initial focus has been on the infrastructure with over $3 million in damages and clean up. After tonight’s meeting I feel Council’s focus now needs to shift from Infrastructure to the People, the community we serve.

The Community want to know what happened, what can be done to prevent it from occurring again and what lessons were learned from the experience to better prepare for future events.

There were multiple entities involved in the event and aftermath including the lead agency State Emergency Services (SES), Police, State Department of Infrastructure and Transport (Road, Rail and Bridges), Department of Environment and Water, Private Landowners and Alexandrina Council.

I have committed to coordinating a response from the various entities on the questions raised and will provide a response within the next seven days. Following that I will ensure the communication continues to flow throughout the recovery process.

There were frustrations from the Community with multiple government agencies all discussing their own and each other’s various components that they are responsible for including roads, bridges, creek lines, railway lines, housing, wellbeing and clean up. I felt there was a need for one community leader to take responsibility for coordinating all components regardless of ownership. With Council being the closest tier of government to the Community, I want myself and Alexandrina Council to be at the forefront of that Community Leadership.

Alexandrina Council is part of the Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island Zone Emergency Management Committee. As the Chair of this Committee, the next meeting will be dedicated to better defining the roles and responsibilities of each of these entities, the Middleton event and how working together we can make improvements for the future.

There was talk about Councils that have exceled at disaster recovery, I want Alexandrina Council to be one of those Councils.

I listened and learned tonight and now it is the time for recovery action. I look forward to working closely with the Community on this process and thank them for driving this meeting to occur.

Regards,

Nigel Morris

Chief Executive Officer

Listen & Document

2. When will this council official and/or committee be engaging with all of those affected [see list above] to complete the study?

Last week’s meeting provided an opportunity for Council to engage with the Community to learn more about the impact of the storm event. Council has also been responding to individual requests for site meetings and to provide further information.

Mitigation

3. Will Council engage a hydrologist to assess & make recommendations about what happened as part of a broader climate resilience study as our town and others are at risk of this happening again and we want mitigation actions to begin now.

Council has a draft Climate Emergency Action Plan (CEAP) that we will consult the Community on later this year. Council is in the process of recruiting a Climate Change Officer that will be responsible for actioning the CEAP in relation to Council’s response to climate change. Council will seek advice from companies engaging in flood mitigations to determine the best studies that could be conducted to benefit the community and presenting these to Council for consideration.

Provide follow up answers

SES

7. We applaud the efforts of the SES volunteers. Does the SES believe they had the command structure, authority, equipment and training to manage our flood? What was the response of the SES? What was the SES unable to do?

SES will need to respond to these questions.

Police

Council

• Fallen Tree removals, inspections, and tree assessments.
• Stormwater, culvert, road, and road shoulder damage assessments.
• Clearing of debris from sealed road network, works prioritised by DIT detour requirements of Goolwa Road via Flagstaff Hill Road and Airport Road.
• Clearing of debris from Crows Nest Road to reopen road to public.
• Inspection and maintaining road closures and installation of additional road closures to maintain road user safety.
• Initial footbridge and road bridges inspections to ascertain structural defects and damage.
• Street sweeping of sealed road network where rubble & debris was disposed from flood waters.
• The crew was stood down by 5pm on 13/11/2022, and returned on the Monday (designated RDO leave day) to recommence storm/flood recovery actions.

By 8am on 14/11/2022, all patrol graders had commenced patrol grading and side drain clearing across our region, aimed to removed excess silt and storm debris from unsealed roads.

In the weeks following the storm event, Council’s Field Services Team have completed immediate repairs, short term rectification works and documented damaged infrastructure lists for further technical assessments and budget funding.

On reflection and staff briefings following the storm event, there are little improvements identified to our processes for future responses.

A Council Member went door knocking on identified flood affected properties to see if assistance could be provided.

Team Members and Council Members assisted with clean-up.

The Chief Executive Officer (located at Middleton), General Manager Infrastructure and Mayor continued communication with team members, Council Members, community members, the Middleton Town and Foreshore Committee and local State Member, David Basham assisting with flooding issues. All issues raised were triaged in priority order. This included organising free waste drop off for affected property owners, organising street cleaning and coordinating the removal of the tree leaning next to the bridge (even though it was not on Council infrastructure).

Middleton Creek, Storm Water & Culverts

14. How and when will Council review the lack of culverts along the railway line from both entrances to Middleton i.e., from the Goolwa end to the current train station?

The Railway line is owned by the Department for Environment and Water and is leased to Steam Ranger. The relevant culverts are State Government infrastructure, however it is noted that the culverts do form part of an overall stormwater management system, which is managed by Council.

Council’s Chief Executive Officer, General Manager Community and Assets Manager met with residents 27 February 2023 to walk the railway line and investigate culverts. The State Government will be approached to discuss what can be done along the railway line and a budget submission will be provided to Council on other improvements.

Rate relief

Flood dumping

Community infrastructure

• Procurement of a Design Engineer
• Feature / Level & Geo-Technical survey
• Detailed Design
• Procurement of a suitably qualified contractor
• Removal of existing damaged infrastructure
• Construction commences.

We are currently preparing a tender package for design works.

Land loss