Council & Business
8 August, 2022
Feedback wanted for Maryborough flood study
Residents are being invited to provide feedback on the Central Goldfields Shire Council’s draft flood study of Maryborough, which it’s hoped will help mitigate possible future flood events. Council received funding from the Australian Government...
Residents are being invited to provide feedback on the Central Goldfields Shire Council’s draft flood study of Maryborough, which it’s hoped will help mitigate possible future flood events.
Council received funding from the Australian Government in 2020 to undertake the study and alongside the North Central Catchment Management Authority and Victorian SES, have recently completed the draft.
It marks the first detailed flood study ever completed for Maryborough and will provide better flood information for the town, with the outputs of the study to manage future growth and emergency flood response.
Central Goldfields Shire manager infrastructure assets and planning Matthew Irving said the study would help organisations and also residents better mitigate possible future flood events.
“The work has come about because we’ve been looking at the municipal areas subject to flooding and in the past, Maryborough has been subject to flooding and potentially could be in the future,” he said.
“We wanted to do some more work to understand the risks associated with this flooding and what this work is going to do is provide better information for the community, our emergency services and council so we can potentially mitigate flooding in some locations where it’s possible.
“It also allows for emergency services and community members to make sure they’re well prepared and are able to respond to flood emergencies should they occur in the future.”
The study follows on from similar works undertaken in Carisbrook and Dunolly in recent years and Mr Irving said Maryborough’s flood study would be an “important tool”.
“This is really an information tool we will have at our disposal to understand what the risks will be and for our community to understand those risks as well,” he said.
“We can’t necessarily stop flooding but the more information we have the better prepared we can all be.
“We’ve finalised the draft version of the study and are now seeking community feedback and input into it and I would certainly encourage residents to give their feedback if they have any.”
Feedback can be provided through council’s website or at a community consultation session taking place tomorrow, Wednesday, August 10 from 5 until 7 pm at the Maryborough Resource Centre.