Central Coast Council is responding to the severe weather event currently impacting the Central Coast, regularly communicating information with the community as needed and mobilising crews on the ground.

The NSW Government announced earlier this week that the Central Coast has been included in the Natural Disaster Declaration, which will allow people affected by this weather event to be eligible for flood assistance.

While recorded rainfall has been lower than Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) forecasts over the last few days, localised heavy downpours were experienced in Gosford on Monday and within the Coast’s catchments. That said, the NSW State Emergency Service (SES) flood evacuation order for residents around Tuggerah Lake and the surrounding areas has been cancelled due to receding Tuggerah Lake levels.

Council is continuing to work closely with the NSW SES and communities in impacted regions to ensure they can access support if needed. Council continues to fulfill its role in supporting the lead Emergency Service Provider, NSW SES, providing resources, people and equipment to assist their emergency and recovery plans.

For emergency help in floods and storms or urgent assistance for impacted properties, call the NSW SES on 132 500. In life threatening situations call triple zero (000) immediately.

Weather, waterways and beaches

At 9:15am this morning, Tuggerah Lake at Long Jetty was recorded at 1.05m, with minor flooding currently occurring. Slight rises of lake level are anticipated to occur with every high tide, however the lake is expected to slowly fall over the coming days, and recede below the minor flood level (0.9m) on Thursday.

At 8:15am today, the Hawkesbury River (at Wisemans Ferry) was recorded at 4.61m, which is above the major flood level (4.2m). Levels may reach around 4.70m around 1pm today on the high tide, with major flooding above the March 2021 event. Further rises are possible, and Council expects increased amounts of debris to pass through the Hawkesbury and arrive on Coast beaches over the coming days.

The Entrance Channel has experienced significant expansion as Council has progressively widened the channel since Monday 28 February in preparation for this severe weather event, while natural scouring has also occurred.

Although it is important that The Entrance Channel remains open during this weather event, it should be noted that channel conditions are not the key driver of peak flood levels: Tuggerah Lakes flood levels are driven by catchment rainfall, as well as affected by tides, wind conditions and wave action. We are experiencing significant flows coming down our creeks and rivers and with high tides expected to remain, water in our catchments will be slow to drain into the ocean. Maximum outflow through the channel occurs at low tide.

An increasing easterly (E) swell of 2.2m is forecast for today, however swell is expected to rise considerably to a 4.5m southerly (S) swell later tonight and into Wednesday. Dangerous surf conditions and winds of up to 25km per hour remain along the Central Coast region.

Council crews have noted significant beach erosion, particularly on some of the more northern beaches of the Coast such as Soldiers Beach, North Entrance Beach and Lakes Beaches. There has been no observed or reported impact to private properties, including in The Entrance North or Wamberal, from coastal erosion impacts during this weather event.

All 15 patrolled Central Coast beaches remain closed. The Grant McBride baths and the ferry at Wisemans Ferry also remain closed. With current large dangerous sea conditions and large tidal variations do not attempt to access rock platforms to observe sea conditions.

Pollution alerts are currently in place for a number of Central Coast beaches, head to the Beachwatch website for daily pollution forecasts.

Water and sewer services

The current extended weather event continues to impact some sections of our water and sewer network.

Upper Mooney Dam is at 100 percent and has minimal overflow during rain periods. For all current dam water levels please go to the Love Water website.

For all current water service interruptions please go to the Water outages page of our website.

Terrigal Lagoon, Wamberal Lagoon, Avoca Lagoon, Cochran Lagoon, Lake Macquarie near Koowong Road at Gwandalan, Avoca Beach near the SLSC and the outlet of Salt Water Creek have all been affected by sewer overflows and stormwater runoff – we strongly advise against swimming at these locations. Pollution signs have been placed at these locations.

Depending on the intensity and volume of rainfall over the coming days, we could see some more overflows from the sewer system. In addition, parts of our sewer system are still underwater. This includes parts of the sewer system impacted by the Tuggerah Lake flooding. These parts of the system will continue to be underwater until flooding recedes. Residents are reminded to stay out of the water and observe pollution signs which have been erected.

Residents in Davistown, St Huberts Island, Tacoma and South Tacoma may experience sewer service interruptions. If you are experiencing a sewer system disruption please call Council on 1300 463 954

In Davistown, port-a-loos are on Lintern Street, Mirreen Avenue, Illoura Reserve (corner of Pine Avenue) and Amy Street for customers impacted by system outages.

Residents are requested to continue to conserve water while water treatment plants at Mardi and Somersby work to process highly turbid source water that has entered our dams as a result of the rainfall.

Waste

Council’s waste management facilities remain open and weekly kerbside bin collections are continuing as normal, however please note, Council is experiencing minor delays due to high demand and severe weather impacts.

For properties located on sections of road currently closed to vehicles, kerbside services will resume as soon as the roads re-open and residents should keep their bins on the kerbside (if safe to do so) until they are collected.

If excess bulk household waste and debris from properties needs to be cleared, residents can book a standard bulk kerbside collection for both excess garden waste and normal bulk waste accepted by 1Coast. Please do not place waste on the kerbside until the booking date is confirmed. Up to six general or green waste bulk kerbside collections a year, reset annually on 1 February. For more information head to 1coast.com.au.

Residents impacted by this flood event can also dispose of flood impacted bulk waste directly at one of Council’s two waste management facilities at Woy Woy or Jilliby.

For sandbag disposal, split the bags to remove sand and place in your garden where it won’t wash away. Place bags in the red lid garbage bin.

Small volumes of seagrass and vegetation debris from lake and river flooding can be placed into your green waste bins. Larger volumes of uncontaminated seagrass and vegetation debris which is able to be manually handled and recycled through composting can be booked as a bulk kerbside collection through 1Coast.

Roads

Council crews have been on the ground all week and working overnight responding to trees town and flood impacts on roads in suburbs around Tuggerah Lake and into the valley region.

Over 80 road closures have occurred due to flooding during this weather event. While some have reopened, many are still closed, please check Council's website for up-to-date road closures.

Many parts of the Coast have experienced flooding, landslips and fallen trees. Road signs and barriers are in place to advise residents and motorists where storm impacts have occurred – please check Council’s website and avoid these areas where possible over the coming days.

At Brisbane Water, a large tidal anomaly is being experienced. The evening high tide is expected to be very high over the next two nights. This means that Woy Woy Town Centre, parts of Booker Bay, Davistown, Empire Bay will have some sea water flowing up the drains into the streets causing a nuisance. The main impact is likely to be Central Coast Highway West Gosford, at the Racecourse Road intersection, where the westbound traffic lanes may again be underwater.

Wisemans Ferry Road remains blocked in multiple locations due to landslips and fallen trees. With river levels not expected to peak until the middle of the week and the repair of electricity services needing to occur, it may be some time before Council crews can commence clean-up works and have the road fully opened.

During this weather event, Council has repaired over 4,200 potholes across the Coast. Council’s Emergency Incident Committee is continuing to liaise with Transport NSW to collectively address impacts on roads.

Community members are urged to report any potholes or road damage caused by weather events by calling Council on 1300 463 954 or contacting us online via ‘Report an issue’ page on Council’s website.

For information about road closures search ‘road closures’ at Council's website: centralcoast.nsw.gov.au. For road and traffic updates visit Live Traffic NSW www.livetraffic.com.

Recovery

The NSW Government has announced the Central Coast has been included in the Natural Disaster Declaration which will allow people affected by this weather event to be eligible for flood assistance. Council may be able to gain assistance to restore public infrastructure and assets that have been damaged as a result of this natural disaster.

The Disaster Relief Grant is administered by Resilience NSW, more information can be found at their website: nsw.gov.au/disaster-recovery/disaster-relief-and-support

Disaster affected people can be granted immediate assistance if they do not have the financial resources to meet their immediate needs. Financial assistance can be sourced from the Evacuation Centre who will assess and also refer to appropriate agencies such as Samaritans for support and material aid and Chaplaincy services.

As we transition from emergency response to recovery phase, Council will continue to provide updates to the community on the support that is available to them.

Council is continuing to send further construction crews out to impacted regions across the Coast to mobilise our combined flood and storm recovery efforts.

Council recognises the considerable community effort undertaken to get prepared, and thanks the community for their combined efforts and resilience while also looking out for one another during this weather event.

ENDS