THANK YOU! Thank you to all those people stepping up to give others a break at the moment. Your efforts mean that lots of important work can continue to be done including cleaning, providing food, shelter, clothing, and emotional support to those impacted by the flood event. The generosity of the Byron Shire community and businesses has been phenomenal.
We had a few visitors at the Mullumbimby Recovery Centre at the Civic Hall today!
Byron Shire Mayor, Michael Lyon, Council's General Manager, Mark Arnold, and Tamara Smith MP met this afternoon with the Premier, Hon Dominic Perrottet and Deputy Premier Hon Paul Toole, Minister for Regional Transport and Roads.
Mayor Michael Lyon spoke to the Premier about the impacts the flood event has had on the community and our needs for the future, in particular housing.
Tamara Smith MP and the Hon Sam Farraway, Minister for Regional Roads, also came to Mullumbimby this morning to speak to us and hear about our experiences first-hand.
Council's major clean-up of the outbound lane of Argyle Street Mullumbimby continued in force today with a convoy of Australian Defence Force trucks and personnel lining the street and helping. You will notice a huge difference when you drive into Mullumbimby tomorrow as the first clean-up of this street is now complete!
We now have around 250 Australian Defence Force personnel in the Byron Shire assisting Council with a range of assignments including clean-up, road and bridge repairs.
In other good news, Council started repairs on Williams Bridge in Main Arm today! It is expected that it will take 2-3 weeks (pending no unforeseen delays) before restricted access is provided. A 10 tonne load limit will be in place initially while the bridge performance is monitored but it means that access will be restored for residents.
Please note: organisers have asked us to let the community know that unfortunately there is no Mullumbimby Farmers Market this week (Friday 9 March).
Mullumbimby Recovery Centre
If you, or anyone you know has been impacted by the floods, please go and find out about the range of services and help available to you Resilience NSW's dedicated Flood Recovery Centre at the Mullumbimby Civic Hall in Dalley Street. Face-to-face support is available from around 15 different agencies and the centre is open 7 days from 8.30am until 5pm.
The Mullumbimby District Neighbourhood Centre (next door to the Civic Hall) is continuing to deliver incredible service to our community, working collaboratively with Council and other organisations and adjusting its services according to community needs. Current services include food, sanitary items, laundry facilities, legal advice, specialist domestic violence services, trauma counselling, community service emergency relief and more. They have worked unwaveringly alongside the community for years and will continue to do so through this flood crisis.
The 'Community Op Shop Of Love' is still operating out of the Civic Hall front room, and coordinated community efforts are still operating in adjacent buildings.
Waste and Clean-up Information and Schedule
A reminder to keep cars off the streets as much as possible, or the trucks can't pick up your waste.
Please put small items and any food waste in your bins to make the clean-up process quicker. Bins are getting collected as per normal unless access is restricted.
On Thursday 10th March additional skip bins will be placed at:
- Kohinur Hall – Upper Main Arm
- Palmwoods Rd – at the junction of Main Arm Rd (as far as access goes)
- Upper Wilsons Creek – near the 'three ways' at Lilium Café
- Left Bank Rd Mullumbimby
Cleaning crews will be collecting bulky, flood-damaged waste in the following areas on Thursday 10th March:
- Main Arm Rd (town end). There will be an inbound traffic diversion through Pine Ave, Garden Ave and Chinbible Ave from 7am.
- Mullumbimby – Rush Ct, Industrial Estate, streets off Argyle,
- North Ocean Shores
- The Pocket
- South Golden Beach
Roads
Our roadworks teams are out in force today, accompanied by the Australian Defence Force, inspecting damaged roads and road assets to gather information to assist with the programming of works. An area of focus is Huonbrook Valley. It is expected that the ADF will be deployed to assist on works sites tomorrow. Crews are also continuing to work onsite to progress maintenance activities and facilitate access to damaged road networks.
Thank you to everyone who has been able to report road damage via the ReportIt tab on Council's website. Every piece of information has made a big difference. Please continue reporting any road damage you see – be as specific a as possible. Pin-point the locality or provide a street address, and provide a photo if you can.
Please remember that smaller-scale damage reports will be lower down the repair priority list than those posing significant safety and access issues, so will take longer for the crews to get to.
Please avoid sight-seeing as it has been hampering operations.
People should continue to be cautious driving around the Shire and check Livetraffic or the map on Council's emergency dashboard.
Offers of help for road building
