To support community preparation ahead of the upcoming severe weather, Wollongong City Council has set up four sites across the city where people can fill their own sandbags.
The sand is available now from specific sites with more available from 10am tomorrow. Each site has approximately 10 tonnes of sand at it.
People will need to bring their own shovels, and approximately 1,000 bags for sand have been provided by the SES and distributed between the four sites.
Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM said the move to set up the additional collection sites was in response to community concern about the weather forecast.
"This morning Council's works depots had approximately 200 sandbags available at our three depot sites and we have seen a significant number of people turn up to collect these bags,'' he said.
"It was an unprecedented response and so we have looked at how we can make it easier for more people to be able to have access to sandbags. That's why we are bringing online four locations where people can fill their own rather than having people need to visit Council's depots which are busy worksites.
"I encourage people to be mindful of others if they are out filling bags, to keep a social distance and to only take what they need. The scenes from our northern neighbours in Lismore and around Brisbane can cause alarm and distress. What we need to do right now is support one another and while we have some challenging weather conditions forecast for us, Wollongong's geography is different to these other cities.''
The new collect-and-fill locations mean that community members no longer need to visit one of Council's three depot sites at Bulli, North Wollongong or Unanderra to pick up bags.
