The Derwent Valley Council is facing a significant clean-up and recovery effort following the recent heavy rainfall and flooding in the region.
Mayor Michelle Dracoulis says the municipality is still in the assessment phase, with debris scattered across various areas.
“Everything down on the Esplanade went underwater, including all of our sheds and our pontoons and our jetties and buildings in the caravan park,” she told Triple M.
“We do have permanent residents [in the caravan park] and they’re not going to be able to return to that space for a number of weeks … it’s been quite badly inundated.”
Despite the challenges, Dracoulis says the council is in a position to cope with the aftermath.
“It’s a flood-prone area, so it is something that we’re used to historically,” she said.
“But again, as I’ve said earlier in the last week or two, it was just moving very fast. There was a lot of water, it was continuous, that rain kept coming and we had the wind on top as well, so it was sort of the perfect storm.”
The mayor says the New Norfolk Bowls Club has also been heavily impacted by the floodwaters.
“They’ve lost all their mowers and equipment and things on the bottom,” she said.
“They said the last flood they had through was about 500mm, which they could handle, but this one was a metre through the bottom of the building, so they’ve lost quite a bit.”
“The elevator’s stuffed as well and they’ve got mainly an older membership, so that’s going to be a real concern for our local bowls club.”
The council is currently working with impacted residents and businesses to facilitate the recovery process.
