They have called a public meeting for Friday afternoon and asked the Lord Mayor and Wollongong City Council (WCC) staff to come.

Their properties now get flooded nearly every year. But residents say this did not used to happen.

Long-term residents say when they moved in, the area did not flood. Now they sandbag their homes whenever a big storm is forecast. Often the flood waters include sewage from when Sydney Water’s system overflows.

When council officers have dismissed their concerns by saying “you live in a flood zone”, they respond with “it wasn’t a flood zone when council gave me permission to build here”.

Opinions vary as to the cause, including building up the golf course and J.J.Kelly Park, the IRT Links development, or the causeway on the Gurungaty Waterway.

Ian Young, an activist on flood issues, asked Lord Mayor Bradbery and council staff to bring inspection reports from the flooding there on March 16 this year, and June last year.

But they will not show.

Mr Young said previous requests for a meeting had been dismissed by council.

“We do not want a meeting like in 2012 where WCC management did not want to hear from the residents, they mocked the residents, advised they had a solution which they said would prevent the flooding, the installation of it has only made the situation worse,” he said.

“The purpose of the meeting is to consult with the residents as to why they were flooded on March 16, 2017, understand the issues as they see them and consider what needs to be done to reduce the risk and when.”

Wollongong City Council sent a lengthy and detailed response to questions (see below).

The meeting is at 3.30pm on Friday, April 28 near the drain on Swan St.

COUNCIL RESPONDS:

Will council staff and the Lord Mayor be attending this meeting?

Wollongong City Council has undertaken extensive community engagement as part of the recently completed Wollongong City Floodplain Risk Management Study. The Lord Mayor and council officers have also spoken with residents in this zone since this study, and provided information in regards to flood management plans and planned works. The Lord Mayor and council officers will not be attending the meeting convened by Mr Young. The Lord Mayor and council officers are happy to meet with residents at a later date to discuss the results of studies as part of our ongoing commitment to engage with the community.

Can you give us an update on what is happening with the flood management plan for this area? Have flood mitigation works been funded for next year?

Wollongong City Council has investigated the flooding risk, flood levels and velocities in the Wollongong City catchment through a Flood Study and a Floodplain Risk Management Study. This catchment takes in the Swan, Kembla and Evans streets precincts in south Wollongong.

As a result of these studies, council identified a number of options that are being investigated to reduce the risk of flooding in this zone. These options are a proposal to lower Gurungaty Causeway, and an application for grant funding for a feasibility study for works in J.J. Kelly Park.

Both of these sites are challenging due to their environmental sensitivities – a lower causeway may cause sediments within the Gurungaty causeway to leach into the inner harbour, and JJ Kelly Park is known to have acid sulphate soils and is a former rubbish tip. These issues will be looked at during both proposal investigations.

Council is also investigating extending existing swales up to Swan St and removing kerb and gutter to the west of the roundabout at Kembla St.

In Council’s 2017/18 capital works program there is budget for the design of an upgrade upgrade to the culvert inlet on the trunk drainage line upstream of Allen St, near Rowland Avenue, including channel works and installation of a more efficient debris control structure will help minimise blockage of the inlet at Allan St.

With regard to the persistent problems with sewage overflow, have council and Sydney Water teamed up and fixed this problem?

Council understands that Sydney Water has undertaken upgrade works since 2014. You should seek confirmation from Sydney Water regarding this question.