It is six months since Mayor Amanda Findley launched Resilient KV. At that time the long-term weather prognosis was that it would be a drier than normal summer. How wrong was that! Nonetheless, at the start of summer because of that prediction, Resilient KV took particular care to remind residents through their Neighbourhood Group Coordinators to check their bushfire plans and prepare their properties for any potential fire.
As a result of the launch two more neighbourhood groups were established covering parts of Tourist Rd and Tallowa Dam Rd. This brings the total to 34, each with around a dozen residences. However,
there are still a number of neighbourhoods that haven’t yet set themselves up in a group to work together to help each other be prepared as possible for any disaster. If you are not in a neighbourhood group, and are unaware as to whether or not there is one in your vicinity please contact Cathy Gorman on 0438 651 540 or Rosie Johnson on 0438 151 105. They will be able to advise who to contact if there is one. If there isn’t one, they can discuss how to best to establish one.
Despite the soaking rains the Valley experienced in April, and again in May, what flooding there was subsided pretty quickly and water ingress into houses was pretty limited, although there has been significant damage to infrastructure such as roads and fences. Nonetheless, it was a time when residents were probably more alert to a potential disaster, so we thought it a good opportunity to obtain feedback from Neighbourhood Groups as to what role Resilient KV might have played before, during and after those heavy rains and could perform at a time of any future floods. The committee will have considered the responses before the end of May but not in time to include in this article.
One specific piece of feedback received was that at the far end of Upper River Road the culvert near the junction with Parrish’s Rd is in a very bad state of repair due to erosion and undercutting, and getting worse. The residents likely to be affected were having difficulty eliciting any response from Council about what plans there were to remediate the problem and prevent the road being cut, which is perceived as a distinct possibility in its current state. Resilient KV raised the issue with Council, just before the early May downpours but, at the time this article was submitted, had received no advice on what, if anything, was planned. Council has formally acknowledged receipt of the letter, and some cleaning up in the vicinity was undertaken shortly thereafter, but there is still much to be done to ensure the road isn’t cut.
We are setting up a web presence on the Kangaroo Valley Community Web Site (https://kangaroovalley.nsw.au/resilientkv/ ). It has taken a bit longer than was anticipated. Once populated it will contain information about Resilient KV as well as providing a consolidated source of
authoritative information relating to mitigating the effect of disasters.
Resilient KV will be having its first Annual General Meeting on the 28th of October. We are keen to see some new faces on the committee.
Please think about becoming involved. The committee meets monthly at the moment. We all have individual commitments between those meetings, but the involvement is not overly onerous. If you can
contribute please contact me on 0418 280 181.
Simon Harrington
Chair, Resilient KV
resilientkv@kangaroovalley.nsw.au
