Dam fears: backyard 'bogey' in Bulli still a threat

These are the first detailed photos of the site that sparked a flood emergency and evacuation of 120 Bulli homes last month.Repeated Mercury requests to access the Bulli Upper Railway Basin site, located off Sandhurst St, have been knocked back by site owner Brookfield Multiplex, with a spokeswoman citing safety concerns and company policy."It's our policy not to allow media access to any of our sites," she said.The public were only given their first look at the site after this newspaper obtained a development application, lodged more than a year ago with Wollongong City Council by Brookfield Multiplex.The photos, taken in late March this year, show a concrete culvert, designed to regulate water flow from behind the embankment, along with a section of concrete retaining wall.Both are overrun with vegetation and in an obvious state of disrepair.Fears heavy rains could block the culvert and cause a 15m embankment on the site of the old Bulli mine to give way led to hundreds of residents being evacuated by SES and police on May 26.Residents' already frayed nerves were tested again on May 30, after the SES warned predicted heavy rainfall could force a second evacuation.Brookfield Multiplex had commenced work to remove the embankment just days earlier, though company engineers said the work had not impacted on the embankment's integrity.Bulli was spared from disaster, but the incidents highlighted a lack of public knowledge when it came to the so-called bogey in Bulli's backyard.NSW Dam Safety Committee executive engineer Paul Heinrichs reiterated comments he made at the height of the flood emergency, labelling it "dumb luck" that an incident hadn't occurred sooner."It's (the site) probably been dangerous since it was built. It's an embankment, it was never meant to act as a dam," he said.The Brookfield Multiplex spokeswoman indicated work to remove the embankment was on schedule to be completed by next month, weather permitting.Until then, the risk of embankment failure remains a possibility.But mother nature is predicted to give weary residents a break, with little rain forecast for the next week.Weatherzone.com.au meteorologist Sam Terry said the region could look forward to a relatively mild week, with wild weather expected to batter the state's North Coast.SES Illawarra regional controller Peter Higgins said his organisation would continue to monitor work at the old mine site, as well as keep a wary eye on weather predictions.