Following yesterday’s torrential downpour that caused flash flooding in Lismore and surrounding areas, Lismore City Council received a number of media enquiries as well as social media questions about what they are doing to fix the Lismore CBD basin drainage issues.

In a statement released late today, Lismore City Council said they will continue to actively address the need for regular drainage maintenance.

Since the February 2022 flooding natural disaster, drainage programs have transitioned from flood repair response to full steam ahead with drainage maintenance and clearing.

Recently Drainage Teams have been hard at work clearing drains as part of the ongoing maintenance schedule and focus on our drainage system. 

Council Acting Chief Operating Officer Joshua Smith said yesterday's event was extreme in terms of what the system can handle and that project opportunities have been identified to assist in the matter. 

“Given the amount of water that we received in an hour, it is certainly above the current design capacity of our system in the Lismore Basin for that much water to get away that quickly,” he said.

“There are projects identified for flood mitigation in the Lismore Basin, which we're working through with our funding agencies to identify and recommend, so we can deal with the bottlenecking to remove water out of that basin and into the river system more effectively”.

“Additionally, the Council is midway through a review of its Urban Stormwater Management Plan with several projects already budgeted for completion this year.”

Further, Council is collaborating closely with the NEMA-led Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program, which is funding a number of flood mitigation projects including the revitalisation of South and East Lismore drains, a submission made by the Lismore Drainage Action Group. 

Council has also requested funding to undertake further clearing of the stormwater drainage system throughout the CBD to remove debris from the 2022 flooding events.

In the meantime, Council encourages the community to report any known drainage blockages to assist with mapping out blockages for upcoming drainage maintenance schedules and flood mitigation projects. 

To report a drainage issue relating to Council drainage infrastructure, please report the issue (including any videos or photos from yesterday's event) on Council’s Online Services portal by selecting ‘Road Maintenance’ at Council’s online customer request system.