Council advocates for improved flood warnings after Texas flooding

Goondiwindi Regional Council will be pursuing residents’ concerns about insufficient communication of flood warnings following major flooding in the Texas area and upstream last week.

Speaking today, Mayor of the Goondiwindi region the Honourable Lawrence Springborg AM said farmers in the region depended on timely and accurate flood warnings and river height data from the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) to make informed decisions and best prepare their properties against a flood.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions requiring the Mayor to isolate this week, he has now organised a zoom meeting with affected property owners around Texas on Thursday to hear their experiences and concerns.

The Dumaresq River peaked in Texas at 8.43 metres Wednesday evening, significantly higher than the 7 metres BoM warning level. Local residents also reported that they were unable to access current BoM river height updates as the flooding unfolded.

“Our heartfelt thoughts are with every resident who has been affected by floodwaters and I think I can speak for our whole community when I say that we wish them a full and swift recovery,” Cr Springborg said today.

“Fortunately, we can at least say that we’ve managed to avoid the level of destruction seen in the 2011 floods. However, Council is extremely concerned that residents in Texas could not access the weather information they needed to make potentially life and property-saving decisions,” he said.

“I understand that this data shortage was also raised as a concern following the 2011 floods in our region, and it is extremely disappointing to learn that it has not been rectified. Residents can rest assured that Council will be advocating on behalf of its residents and will be taking these concerns directly to the appropriate agencies to request action.”

“The Goondiwindi region has now experienced two major flooding events - on either side of a worst in living memory drought - in just ten years,” Cr Springborg added. “However, I can confirm that Council’s recovery efforts and emergency roadworks are already well underway across the entire region, and I have every confidence on a swift return to normality. Council will be front and centre of advocating on behalf of residents with the various agencies through this recovery.”

There is still concern for residents west of Goondiwindi through to Talwood, who may be facing increased flood waters in the coming days. For flood emergency help, residents should call SES 132 500. In life-threatening emergencies, call 000.

• Residents are encouraged to check road conditions before they travel and remember: if it’s flooded, forget it. For official road closure information, please use the following:
  • Queensland - https://qldtraffic.qld.gov.au/ or phone 13 19 40
  • New South Wales – https://livetraffic.com or phone 13 27 01

For a one-stop shop of road conditions, river heights, weather warnings and more, Council encourages residents to use the region’s Disaster Dashboard at: http://dashboard.grc.qld.gov.au/