RECOVERY AFTER A NATURAL DISASTER 04 April 2014

FMA Conference-May 2014

“Of Utes and Flooding Rains”

RECOVERY AFTER A NATURAL DISASTER

Executive Summary

Northern Shire is situated at Western around 230 km from along western highway. Geographically, it covers around 5,918 Sq.km of area. It consists of Stawell and St Arnaud as its major town ships and Great Western, Halls Gap, Navarre, Marnoo and Stuart Mill as its sub towns. It has a total population of 11,942 people. Stawell itself accommodates around 6000 people and St. Arnaud houses for nearly 3500 people and rest of population is spread all over the shire.

Recently, there were a couple of successive major storms swept through most of the areas of the shire. More than 90% of the shire’s infrastructure was badly affected by the consecutive floods in September 2010 and January 2011 Floods. The devastations were mainly caused by the over spilling of the main rivers and streams which are running across the shire. (Refer Fig. 01)

The catastrophe was considered as urgent, so immediate and long term plans and actions have been taken to mitigate the effects of the damages to the community and the shire as a whole.

Fig.01- Major Streams & Rivers Running Across the Shire

Origin of the Disaster

The Northern Grampians Shire was severely impacted during September 2010 flood. Major rivers which are running across the shire such as , Avon, Avoca and Richardson brought huge amount of water into the Northern Grampians region. The second flood on January 2011 was caused by around 270 mm (10.8 inches) of rain, recorded at the Mt William weather station over the 72 hours of 12-14 January 2011. So the intensity of the storm is very high. This was due to the fact that the entire shire terrain was already saturated with rain water due to the September 2010 flood and the terrain itself has low permeability at most of the areas in the shire. Lower permeability of the terrain coupled with high intensity of the rain, made it worse for the rain water to infiltrate through the ground surface which in turn created many flash floods in several areas of the shire. So that, Council’s road infrastructure network was severely impacted by the floods, with damage recorded at 1,707 individual locations. (Refer Fig.02).

Fig.02-Locations Depicting the Flood Damages

Areas of Damage

All most all parts of the shire were affected by the devastating flood. The initial estimate showed that the flood caused around 20 Million worth of damage for the entire shire infrastructure. The damages shall be divided into following categories. 1. Shire Infrastructure 2. Private Properties 3. Areas belongs to other Authorities

Shire Infrastructure

The flood swept away most of the shire infrastructure and caused severe deterioration to them. The followings were the common infrastructures impacted by the catastrophe.

Road Networks

The Roads asset group, totalling 3,481 km of roads under council jurisdiction based on the Council’s Road Management Plan 2013. It contains 738 km of bitumen sealed pavements; 2,203 km of unsealed pavement; 470 km of formed roads (no gravelling or sealing); 157 km of kerb & channel; and 105 km of footpaths. Council Roads are further classified into Urban and Rural under the sub classification of Link Roads, Collector Roads, Residential Access Roads and Property Access Roads. Nearly 90 % of the road network was damaged due to the flood. Gravel roads with form tracks were the major prey for the flood waters. Most of the gravel roads were eaten away and the table drains with cut off drains were also ruined by the flood water. So the drainage structures for the roads were very badly damaged and the water started to stagnate everywhere on the roads and thus made them impassable by the public. Sealed roads were also undermined by the flood water and the bitumen seal were lifted off in several locations along the roads due to the high velocity of flood water.

Bridges and Culverts

According to the Council Service Asset Management Plan for Bridges and Major Culverts, Council has the responsibility to maintain around 533 Bridge & Major Culvert Structures. Most of the Bridges and Flood ways across the major rivers and creeks had gone under the water. The batters and water ways of most of the water way structures were scoured very badly. Water ways were blocked by debris and silt which were brought by the flood and thus reduced the capacity of the water way area across the road; this in turn inundates the roads across those Bridges. Decking and abutments

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were undermined and scoured severely. In some locations, culvert pipes were pulled apart due to the huge force of the flood water.

Drainage Pipes and Pits

Council is accounted for the maintenance of around 59km of drainage pipes and 2,296 numbers of drainage based on the Council Asset Management Plan. Drainage pipes and pits over flowed because of the incapacity of those structures to cater for that big storm event. Pit Lids were lifted off and taken away by the massive force of flood water. In some of the locations, pipes and pits were undermined and pulled apart and thus made the structures to lose their key functionality.

Buildings

Council holds the responsibility for around 149 nos of building according to the Council Asset Management Service Plan for Buildings including halls, libraries, community centres, public toilets and community hubs. Some of the halls in the rural area were flooded with water. The dampness decayed the timber structures of the buildings and made the foundation weak. Once the flood water had receded, most of the buildings were found, filling with debris and silts. And for the worse case, some of them swayed aside to a certain degree which in turn prevented the buildings from using them for their intended purpose.

Kerb & Channel (K&C) and Foot path

There are around 145km of K&C and 102 km of Foot Paths under the Council Asset Register. Foot paths are again classified based on the construction material such as concrete, seal and gravel. Some of the concrete footpaths were undermined and sealed foot paths were lifted off and gravel foot paths were scoured and washed away by the roaring flood waters. K&C were undermined and lifted off in some of the area where the flood action was very severe.

Parks & Garden

It includes Parks, Recreation Reserves, Playgrounds and Trees. Some of the soft fall areas were scoured and washed off by the flood. Even in some areas, park furniture and garden beds were washed away. Trees were uprooted in several locations especially in urban areas. Because of that, the general transport through the areas or roads was temporarily ceased and it was cost a lot to remove those fallen trees across

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the transport routes immediately in order to implement the immediate flood recovery activities.

Private Properties

The damage to the private properties are analysed in to two categories such as Households & Farm Lands and Life Stocks.

Households and Farm Lands

These properties mainly include farm lands, fences, crops, houses and sheds of private people not owned by the Council. Even after the flood, it was observable in most of the farm lands that the fences were leaned to one side due to the debris trapped between barbed wires and fence posts were scoured and uprooted. In some areas, fences were totally washed away from the properties. Crops were uprooted and washed away which made immense lost to the farmers. Houses and sheds were inundated and the properties inside the houses were damped, rotted and even in some areas those were washed away.

Live Stocks

Sheep, Cattles, Poultries and Piggeries were affected by flood under this category. Their shelters were damaged or washed away and their staple food like hay bales and stock foods were washed away and grazing land were covered by flood water. Most of them were left unattended as refugees. They suffered from starvation and diseases and most of them eventually died. Even, some of them were washed away by the flood. This one made a great impact on the farmers’ economy.

Areas belongs to other authorities

Most of the river basin and creeks are belongs to Catchment Management Authority (CMA). So these stream beds and embankments were scoured severely and washed away by the flood water. And the water ways was blocked with debris in several locations.

Some of the Roads and Bridges or Culverts and channels in the shire are belongs to Vic Roads and Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWMW) Authority. These assets were also very badly affected by flood as to the same degree as for the shire’s infrastructure.

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Some of the roads through the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) land are belong to DSE. These were also badly affected by the flood.

Actions taken by Council

In order to mitigate the adverse impacts caused by the calamity, Council took immediate steps as well as long term actions with the careful planning and considerations.

Immediate Actions

• Worked in collaboration with State Emergency Services (SES) in order to save the people those who were surrounded by flood water especially in rural areas. • With the help of other Service Organisations, arranged temporary shelter facilities, food and other basic facilities for the community whose households were swept away or deluged by flood. • Deployed the depot crews to inspect the bridges, culverts and flood ways in the roads especially which are more prone to go under flood water and to install temporary signage for those impassable roads in a way to warn the community not to use those inundated roads for safety reasons. • Temporarily rectified the high traffic roads and bridges which were severely impacted by the flood and landslides with the available resources and let the community to utilise those roads. • Arranged sand bags for the commercial centres at major town centres like Stawell and Halls Gap in order to be used them as a temporary barrier to prevent the flood water from entering in to the shops.

Long term Actions

• Deployed the Council staff to inspect the entire shire infrastructure in teams according to the priority of its usage. • Arranged funding sources from different Government Agencies and Federal Government in order to reinstate the flood affected areas. • Formed a Community Flood Recovery Department as well as Infrastructure Flood Recovery Department in order to undertake the flood recovery process. • Defined work programs and designed & reinstated the affected infrastructures considering the longevity of them in a similar storm of this kind.

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Planning and Project Management

Most of the shire infrastructures were affected by the last two consecutive disasters on September 2010 and January 2011. The total damaged was estimated around $ 20 Million from the initial assessment. The following activities were undertaken by Council with careful planning and skilful management.

• National Disaster Relief Funding (NDRF) was requested by council in order to carry out the restoration works through an application process from Federal government. • Once funding has been committed, council formed a flood recovery team consisting of Manager, Projects Engineer, Civil Works Supervisor, and two Administrative staff, through an interview process. Fresh tenders also were called in September 2011 and as a result, two more contractors were selected and appointed in order to expedite the restoration work program. • A Community Flood Recovery Unit was also formed in order to understand the communities’ issues and concerns through interaction programs and to help to improve the flood damaged properties such as fences, private roads, community halls and recreation facilities other than those owned by the shire. • The work programs were carefully planned according to the severity of the damages and urgency of the area for the public use. The funds were skilfully allocated to rectify the damages and bring the assets to its previous conditions; not to renew or enhance their functions or capacity. • Nearly $30.6 Million was received from Federal Government bodies including $30.3 Million alone through NDRF. More funds were received from State government agencies ($1.8 Million) such as DPCD, DSE, DPI, DSDBI, RDV and etc. as well as from Community ($20,000) as Donations. (Refer Table 01 for the funding detail). • The NDRF is used to restore the shire road networks and the rest of the grants were mainly utilised to repair the shire halls like Navarre, Kooreh, Great western and etc. And some of the recreation facilities were also rejuvenated by these grants like Stawell Golf Club, Stawell Speed Way, Tennis courts at Dadswells Bridge, Banyena, Marnoo and etc. • Major and critical work programs e.g. Tennis court constructions and the works those required deep excavations, were decided to be undertaken in dry weather season by management in order to prevent the hassles and hiccups induced from wet weather. • During the work planning stage, especially in urban areas the affected community was informed through mail drops two weeks prior to the actual work programs commence. This is to make sure that the community is acknowledged well in advance regarding the work activities and the inconvenience they were going to face. • Prison Crews from Ararat were effectively deployed in order to reinstate the massive length of fencing in most part of the farm lands in the shire which were damaged by flood. This was reduced the labour cost to a great extent. • Level 2 Bridge inspections and Road inspections were also completed under the flood recovery program which were generally happened every four years according to the council Asset Management Plan. In collaboration with the Flood recovery team, Councils infrastructure team were able to complete around 90% of the Council

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capital works program for the last three consecutive years under an excellent management system. • At the end of the work activities, inspection and audit programs were undertaken by a third party, Neil Mahr from VIC Roads, in order to confirm that the funding and grants were appropriately utilised. • The work programs were carefully planned and implemented by the flood recovery team which in turn, led to the successful completion of the projects within the given time (December 2013) frame and budget ($32.6 Million) with required quality standards and with the satisfaction of the all parties concerned.

Funding Source / Description Amt. /($ 000) Community 19,699 Community Donation 18,828 Navarre Museum Contribution 871 Federal 30,610,765 Dept. of Infrastructure & Regional Development 229,741 Foundation of Rural & Regional Development 12,320 Natural Disaster Funding 30,368,704 State 1,874,587 Dept. of Health 9,500 Dept. of Human Services 68,500 Dept. of Justice 20,400 Dept. of Planning and Community Development (DPCD) 444,785 Dept. of Primary Industries (DPI) 60,000 Dept. of State Development, Business & Innovation 571,570 Dept. of Sustainability & Environment (DSE) 366,000 Regional Development Victoria (RDV) 333,832 Other 161,216 Insurance 139,034 Fees & charges 22,182 Grand Total 32,666,267

Table 01-Funding Details for Flood Recovery Jobs

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Best Engineering Practices & Technologies Incorporated

The remedial works have been carried out efficiently while taking into account of various issues such as Level of Service of the damaged assets, Community requirements, Cost, Time, Safety, and Quality and Safeguard the assets from future catastrophes. However, Incorporation of best engineering practices and modern technologies led to the successful achievement of the targets in the following ways. • Most of the road restoration works were in rural areas especially on gravel roads where the speed limit was generally 80km/h or 100km/h. In some of the areas, roads are winding. So it is difficult for drivers to understand the obstructions on the roads. So, careful consideration was given to the response time of the drivers for the approaching obstructions on the road. So, excellent traffic management plans were implemented with proper speed limits at intended locations. • The rain water might cause deterioration to the road pavements if it is let to stagnate on or along the roads especially on gravel roads. On the other hand, the slopes are the key factors for the smooth ride of vehicles. The cross fall and longitudinal slopes were adhered to according to the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) standards especially when the gravel roads were re-sheeted and regraded. • The slope, shape and size of the table drains were also taken into consideration complying with the ARRB guidelines when reconstructing the gravel roads. This is one of the main drainage features especially on the gravel road to take away the rain water from the roads in gravel roads. • Under flood recovery jobs, some of the tennis courts were reconstructed with concrete courts and durable acrylic paintings. New construction techniques were incorporated in the design and reconstruction of tennis courts such as flood gates on the surrounding fence, dowel expansion joints and an efficient drainage design. Considerations were given to the effects of future flood and the long lasting and safety of the structures. • Safety aspects of the culvert crossings were taken in to account while building the culvert crossings at Stawell Golf Club under flood recovery projects. Considering the adverse effects of the reflecting golf ball if it is hit against the concrete end walls, a curved shape of the end wall was incorporated in the design and construction of the culverts. • Most of the restoration works involved excavations. So it is always a good practice to get the existing underground service information through a Dial Before You Dig (DBYD) application. It was followed strictly by all of our contractors before commencing any excavation works. The requirements of the Plumbing and Drainage (Part 3-Storm Water Drainage-AS/NZS 3500.3:2003) Standard were abide to during the installation of new culvert structures besides the existing underground services such as power, telecom, gas and water. Consultant and sometimes asset owners’ advice were also sought when the issues were very complicated. • Well advanced technological equipment and machineries were used in the restoration works in order to complete the jobs in time with greater efficiency. Total Stations, Laser guided Graders, GPS enabled inspection and data collection mobile devices, and underground service detection equipment are among the few to me mentioned.

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• Some best engineering solutions were made in some constructions activities when the construction crews faced unexpected issues. The best example was the installation of larger diameter (Ø 1050mm) drainage pipes at 3m depths below the natural ground level at Tandara Road, Halls Gap. The underlying soil was very slumpy at those depths and it was very hard for the contractors to install them at the required depth; once it had been installed it started to sink. By normal soil stabilisation methods, the contractors couldn’t overcome the issue. So, special engineering techniques were incorporated in the construction process to install the pipes in the correct alignments. • The other area where the best engineering principle was applied was the energy dissipater end walls, installed at the end of the culverts where the impulse of the water tends to be very high and it tends to make huge scouring at the stream or lake beds where it meets with stream or lake. • Hold points of each and every phase of the construction activities were inspected before the construction moves to the next stage. Results of each test were recorded properly in the data sheets and kept for future reference. E.g. Proof Load test for Sub Grade, CBR for Base Course, Slump test during Concreting & Compression Test for Concrete. Refer Appendix A for evidence Photo Graphs.

Community Interaction

The community experienced huge difficulties in travelling around because of the poor conditions of the road networks. Moreover they were pushed into an untold grievance because most of them lost the services and recreations from those affected infrastructures and even their valuable properties.

So it was the council responsibility to repair the damages and facilitate the traumatised community to bring them back to their usual stress free and happier life.

• When the restoration works were being carried out, two rounds of community breakfast/consultation programs were undertaken at the main town centres. Refer Table 02 for the details. It was to understand the real issues of the people and to get the first hand feedback and concerns from the community. There were some standard forms used for these data collections. This innovative process made a way to provide the community with what they really want rather than doing something irrelevant to their requirement.

Feb. 2011 Campbells Bridge, Joel Joel, Kooreh, Mt.Dryden, Traynors Lagoon, Wallaloo

Banyena, Campbells Bridge, Carapooee, Goorac, Gre Gre, Great Western, Oct. 2011 Navarre, Stuart Mill, Wal Wal

Table 02- Community Breakfast Locations

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• The representatives from Catchment Management Authority (CMA), Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI), Grampians Community Health, East Wimmera Health, and Rural Financial Counselling were also invited to the breakfast in order to share their views and advised to the community and thus to provide an emotional support for the affected community. • Local farmers’ or people’s advices and their knowledge about the behaviours of the local streams or creeks during flood were also taken into consideration before carrying out the remedial works in the rural areas. This was immense help in renovating the affected infrastructures to last long even under a future catastrophe of this kind. So the community got the satisfaction of their involvement in the projects and got really what they want. • Some social events/gatherings like morning or afternoon tea with BBQ fire ups, recreation events like Adams Brand Music programs, and Interaction events with Business Professionals were arranged by Flood Recovery Department for the traumatised community.

Achievements

The community as well as the shire as a whole achieved a number benefits by these restoration works. The achievements reached are listed below.

• The community was provided with an excellent infrastructure facility ever they dreamt for such as newly sealed road networks, sealed or concrete flood ways, repaired bridges and culverts, dams, well repaired and facilitated shire halls, recreation facilities and etc. • The repaired assets provided the required level of service to the community and thus community has the chance to get the intended level of service from those assets again after the disaster. • Council has a planning policy for which was adopted back in September 2009 under DPCD planning scheme under Land Subject to Inundation Overlays (LSIO). It is to be referred with respect to the Schedule to Land Subject to Inundation Overlays in the DPCD Planning Scheme. It is mainly to ensure that development maintains the free passage and temporary storage of floodwaters, minimises flood damage compatible with the flood hazard and local drainage conditions and to identify the flood fringe area affected by 1 in 100 year flood. (DPCD 2009). • On the other hand, Council is in the process of developing a land use planning policy for flood prone zones which consists the details of flood plain overlays and the additional requirement needed to use the flood prone land for various purposes such as developing buildings, roads, recreation centres, etc. all over the catchments in the shire. Refer Appendix B for Halls Gap Flood Plain Overlay and Appendix C for Glenorchy Flood Plain Overlay for different Annual Recurrence Interval.(ARI) • In order to mitigate the effect of flood, council effectively maintain its drainage networks and the major structures such as dams and wetlands as flood storage areas which are also used for storm water harvesting and landscaping purposes. Development behind these defences is in the process of taken into consideration in the land use planning policy on the basis that defences may be over topped or

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breached. The council developed a plan to provide flood emergency services to community in partnership with State Emergency Services (SES).

Bibliography

• CT Management Group (Nov 2009), Service Asset Management Plan, Part A- General Information , Ver1.00, NGSC.

• NGSC (Nov 2013), Road Management Plan , Rev.2013

• CT Management Group (Nov 2009), Service Asset Management Plan, Part C- Bridges & Major Culverts , Ver1.00, NGSC.

• CT Management Group (Nov 2009), Service Asset Management Plan, Part D- Building & Facilities , Ver1.00, NGSC.

• Wimmera CMA (Jun 2008), Halls Gap Flood Study Report , Water Technology, Notting Hill VIC 3168

• Wimmera CMA (Apr 2006), Glenorchy Flood Study Report , Water Technology, Notting Hill VIC 3168

• DSCD (Sep 2009), Land Subject to Inundation Overlay, Northern Grampians Shire Planning Scheme , viewed on 20 March 2014. http://planningschemes.dpcd.vic.gov.au/schemes/vpps/44_04.pdf

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APPENDIX A

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Proof Rolling at Marnoo Tennis Courts

Proof Rolling Proof Rolling

Identification of Loose Spot Rectification of Loose Spot

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Compaction Test at Banyena Tennis Courts

Drilling Holes

Installation of the Instrument

Testing in Progress

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Slump Test & Casting of Cubes at Dadswell Bridge Tennis Courts

Preparation of Slump Cone

Measuring the Slump

Casting of cubes in the mould

Cubes for compression tests

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APPENDIX B

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Flood Plain Overlay -Halls Gap -20Yr ARI

Flood Plain Overlay -Halls Gap -50Yr ARI

Flood Plain Overlay -Halls Gap -100Yr ARI

Flood Plain Overlay -Halls Gap -20 0Yr ARI

APPENDIX C

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Flood Plain Overlay -Glenorchy -20Yr ARI

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Flood Plain Overlay -Glenorchy -100Yr ARI

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