With a local council election fast approaching in flood-prone Lismore, the issue of how we prepare for and manage floods has been taken up by a number of election candidates, including Patrick Healy, Steve Krieg and Elly Bird.

This week, Lismore City Council’s Flood Mitigation Plan received criticism from independent Mayoral candidates Patrick Healey and Steve Krieg – who both say that the

current plan which includes ‘nature based solutions’ is not enough to protect Lismore against future floods.

Their criticism was refuted by current Lismore Councilor Elly Bird, who said their comments were based on incorrect assumptions.

Engineering solutions

Mr Healy criticised Council’s plan saying “we need a flood mitigation plan that is based on more than planting trees which is what our Council wants to do”.

“All options should be on the table, including modern engineering solutions, otherwise, our community will once again be devastated by flooding,” he said.

“To take engineering solutions off the table will inhibit our chances of gaining State Government grants and delay any flood protection for another 10 to 15 years.

“South and North Lismore will be left particularly vulnerable, as will our industrial zones. We need to protect these areas to ensure that we can attract businesses that will create jobs in our community.

“We believe that all Council decisions should be supported by logical, practical and non-ideological decision making."

More criticism

Mayoral candidate Steve Krieg joined in with criticism of the Lismore Floodplain Committee and the Flood Mitigation Plan, saying “our town deserves a real plan, not an ideological driven agenda”.

“Lismore is the most flood affected community in Australia, with over 130 floods in 150 years of official records,” Mr Krieg said.

“Flooding is a very emotional topic for me, my business and my family’s livelihood were thrown into complete disarray because of the 2017 flood.”

“It is close to five years since the flood, and nothing of value has been achieved by the Floodplain Committee.

“After all this time, they are now saying the answer is to plant more trees up the river – it is simply ridiculous.”

“We need a comprehensive, independent plan for flood mitigation across the whole catchment.”

“Misinformed”

Current Lismore City Councillor Elly Bird said Mr Healy and Mr Krieg were misinformed about the current status of the flood mitigation plan, saying that engineered mitigation solutions are not “off the table”.

“The Lismore Floodplain Management Plan is not finalised and is still open for community comment and consultation,” Ms Bird said.

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Raise the levy wall

Ms Bird said while nature based solutions, including planting trees are part of the solution – she sees raising the levy wall as “the only option that will have significant impact in a major flood”.

“However, doing so will greatly disadvantage North and South Lismore and may also have significant impacts downstream,” she said.

“What nature based solutions can do is slow the water by holding it in the upper catchments for longer and giving more time for evacuations.

“What they can also do is bring catchment wide environmental benefits in a changing climate. 

“These benefits include preventing significant loss of soil during our regular, moderate floods which will provide ongoing resilience and benefits for our agricultural industries.

All flood events

“The plan is not just about major flood events – we get moderate floods and too.

“Each time we get minor or moderate floods we get silt coming through the waterways and need to manage this and include environmental sustainable nature options on the plan.”

Flood modelling

Ms Bird said Council’s Floodplain plan is based on a modelling study that demonstrates the possible impacts of engineering solutions using accurate data.

“Council is now moving into the preparation of the plan using the information that has been gathered during the study,” she said.

Community consultation

“Community consultation will occur in the next few months, which will highlight community preparedness and flood literacy, but it will also include the mitigation options that have been modelled.

“The final plan will then be further developed and brought to the new Council for adoption sometime in 2023.

“Council has prioritised improving community awareness and preparedness in the development of the plan which is absolutely fundamental.

“Engineering alone is not the answer to flooding in Lismore.”

“We are a flood city and as a community above all else we should know what that means and what to do when it floods. 

“Council has also decided to thoroughly investigate the potential of nature based solutions which have had significant uptake throughout Europe.

“There is no suggestion that nature based solutions will ‘protect’ Lismore from a catastrophic flood. Nothing can do that, we live on a floodplain.”