MYALL Coast towns were spared the worst of the recent rain and flooding event, due mainly to their topography, but the connections to surrounding townships are proving as important as ever.
North Arm Cove and Bundabah benefited from their hilly, rocky terrain, providing natural drainage for the heavy downpours last week, although fallen tree and leaf debris have ended up clogging gutters, and the waters of Port Stephens grew a murky brown with the runoff.
Pindimar, both north and south, surrounded by swampy forest, suffered from much poorer drainage, left with large lakes of standing water that will take a while to evaporate away.
In many cases, entire low-lying properties and homes suffered inundation, resulting in the arrival of the Rural Fire Service (RFS) to sandbag front doors.
Along South Pindimar beach, an emergency diversion ditch was dug to prevent high tides mixing with flash flooding backing into the houses, but the hastily dug channel has since caved in, with locals pondering a more permanent solution.
Once again, the only roads in and out of Pindimar, Bundabah and North Arm Cove all suffered temporary flash flooding at their lowest points during the heaviest rains last week, but they inevitably drained away soon after the downpour finally ended.
Many businesses in Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest were left short-staffed as their workers, several of whom normally drive in from North Arm Cove, Bulahdelah and Maitland, were cut off by the floods.
“We called staff who live out of town and told them to stay safe with their families – even if you think you can get into work without an accident, we don’t want you to get stuck unable to get back home,” Gaye at Mema’s Bakery in Tea Gardens told NOTA.
Both Bennetts and Jimmys beaches suffered alarming erosion events.
Sustained two-metre waves and heavy rain at Bennetts Beach saw carved the normally wide sandy shore into a dangerous four-and-a half-metre high cliff that Tea Gardens Hawks Nest Surf Life Saving Club members temporarily cordoned off. .
Winda Woppa’s infamous erosion zone was hammered for the fifth time since last month’s sand renourishment, leaving the whole front of the road support underlay exposed.
Deep rivulets also carved themselves out of the edges of The Boulevarde, causing further erosion from the other side.
The Bureau of Meteorology is warning of an 80 percent chance of showers returning by the following week.
By Thomas O’KEEFE
