Community Update - Stay Safe – 12:40pm 01 April 2021 Waterfall Way closed to all traffic – Myers Blu…

Work crews will continue to work across the Easter long weekend to clean up landslips caused by wild weather on Waterfall Way between Dorrigo and Bellingen to take advantage of the current favourable weather conditions.

Multiple worksites are being operated and managed in parallel, with five major slips and 12 minor slips along Waterfall Way, however restricted access is being provided to emergency services and those vehicles required to restore essential water, sewer and power services.

Transport for NSW has also advised that it expects that Waterfall Way will be reopened with some single-lane restrictions between Dorrigo and Bellingen by mid-to-late next week, with Transport for NSW to provide a further works update early next week.

Please note, with one way traffic time frames being bought significantly forward than was previously forecasted, Transport for NSW have taken the decision to NOT rollout a permit process that may only be in place for a couple of days.

Further, Council wishes to advise that geotechnical investigations have been undertaken at two significant road pavement failures on Kalang Road, the first of which is located approximately at the 12-kilometre mark.

The second road pavement failure is located approximately at the 14-kilometre mark and due to the severity of this failure, a 5-tonne load limit has been imposed, which will impact on the operation of the school bus after Easter, however Council is liaising with affected families regarding these arrangements.

Consequently, our community is strongly encouraged to continue to only travel when it is absolutely necessary to minimise impacts on our compromised roads, as there are limited resources available to address the significant number of defects across our entire road network to maintain essential access.

Accordingly, Council would like to thank you in advance for your cooperation and patience for avoiding all unnecessary travel during the roll-out of these prioritised road maintenance and repair activities, as it will prevent our limited resources from being diverted away from these priority projects.

Council also encourages our community to regularly access our Shire’s Disaster Dashboard, by simply clicking here (link is external)or by going to the Bellingen Shire Council’s website at www.bellingen.nsw.gov.au and click on the Disaster Dashboard link prominently located on the website’s Home Page.

Disaster Impacts Survey – Bellingen Shire – March/April 2021

Bellingen Shire Council is collating information from impacted individuals and businesses due to the recent disaster that has impacted our Shire. 

You may have been impacted by any or all of the following:  Direct flood damage, Road closures, Power outages, Telecommunications outages.

Council will use this information to gain a better understanding of impacts to our communities to support the recovery process.  This survey should take just 5 minutes to complete.  You can complete the survey here https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7JYNQS9 .

Council will use this data to capture the impacts to our Shire in order to seek/direct support to those that have been negatively impacted.  Some of this support has not been announced yet, and this data will provide a picture of our Shires impacts for state and federal governments to consider providing wider support. 

Council very much appreciates you providing us with this information and may use your responses to contact you should relevant future support become available.

IMPORTANT:  Some support is already available to those impacted.  The fastest and easiest way to claim disaster assistance is over the phone by calling 180 22 66. These Services Australia Disaster Assistance phone lines are open from 8am to 8pm local time, seven days a week.  We encourage everyone in our Shire that has been impacted to contact them and tell them how you have been impacted to see if support is available.  We have been advised that they are providing support on a case-by-case basis.

More information on current assistance available can also be found at https://www.bellingenshireconnects.com.au/assistance-available/