IT has been four months since floods wreaked havoc on the State’s south coast and there’s still a long road to recovery for the shires of Ravensthorpe and Lake Grace.
Several roads remain closed and under water, with others still severely damaged as affected shires await approval from Main Roads WA to start repair work.
Under the WA Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (WANDRRA), local governments are unable to claim most of the costs associated with using their own workforce to repair and reconstruct roads and infrastructure.
However, last month the Federal government announced it would allow local councils affected by the summer flooding to use their own workforce and equipment under WANDRRA.
Lake Grace Shire president Jeanette De Landgrafft said the damage bill to roads within the shire was $11.7 million.
She said all applications for repair works that were able to be assessed had been submitted to Main Roads WA, but expected it would take several months for the repairs to begin.
“Once the approval has been ticked off then we have to get contractors, we need to do tenders,” Ms De Landgrafft said.
“By the time we get the tenders out, the tenders back and the assessments done, not much is going to be done before August.
“It depends how many contractors we get, but it could take 12 months to fix the roads.”
Ravensthorpe Shire chief executive officer Ian Fitzgerald said it had already spent $400,000 making roads temporarily accessible and estimated the total damage bill would exceed $18m.
He said the extent of the damage across the shire meant applying for repair works was a long process.
“We have to record every little bit of damage on the road, so if there’s five lots of damage on one road, that’s five claims, they all have to be recorded and they all have to be photographed.
“It’s all time consuming, especially when you’ve got 2100 to 2200 jobs.”
Mr Fitzgerald said all claims were lodged with Main Roads WA this week and the Shire was hoping to start repair work within three weeks.
The poor state of several flood-affected roads meant farmers had faced difficulties moving machinery during seeding.
