Following the July floods, Cessnock City Council undertook a number of measures to assist residents with the recovery effort.
The council has conducted more than $1.5 million worth of make-good works to about 100 local roads since the July flood event. These emergency works opened up roads impacted by the natural disaster. However, the final cost of the flooding event is expected to run into several million dollars.
Council held 12 Recovery Access Points (RAPs) with other government agencies. These gave people impacted by the flood access to government agencies and support. Nine were held at Wollombi, with Cessnock, Greta and Weston each hosting one event.
Bulk waste skip bins have been provided to residents at Wollombi and surrounds to assist with the clean-up, and have so far collected over 142 tonnes of waste.
Additionally, council opened up Cessnock Waste Management Centre (CWMC) for free flood-waste disposal for communities impacted by the natural disaster.
This has seen over 72 tonnes of waste received.
Cessnock Mayor Jay Suvaal said the recovery effort was set to take several years with communities in and around Wollombi being most severely impacted.
“The impact of these floods has been enormous on our road networks,” Mayor Suvaal said.
“Council has a lot of work ahead and has reached out to both State and Federal Governments requesting additional support.
“We understand that recovery doesn’t happen immediately. I encourage anyone who requires support to reach out to Service NSW to find out what help is available to them.”
