General News
10 August, 2023
Carisbrook Levee Project now complete
More than a decade in the making, Carisbrook’s flood levee project is finally complete — and has already proved its worth, tested out before it was finished by the 2022 floods. The Carisbrook community has been following the progress of the...
More than a decade in the making, Carisbrook’s flood levee project is finally complete — and has already proved its worth, tested out before it was finished by the 2022 floods.
The Carisbrook community has been following the progress of the levee since the project was designed by specialists Entura in response to the 2010/2011 floods that caused a town-wide evacuation and left more than 200 homes inundated.
Works on the fourth and final stage of the levee, south of the Pyrenees Highway, began last year and were scheduled to be finished by November 2022 — however delays meant the project didn’t wrap up until June this year.
The project hasn’t come without tension, with some community members voicing their displeasure with the slow progress over the years.
Stage one works were completed six years ago in early 2017 including a levee built at Pleasant Street, and drainage works along Wills Street and within the racecourse.
Since then other staged works have included a Williams Road levee, the installation of twin cell box culverts across the Pyrenees Highway, drainage works within the rail reserve, and the reinstatement of the road surface on the Pyrenees Highway and final site clean-up.
The project has received council, state and federal government funding totalling $1.8 million and Central Goldfields Shire mayor Grace La Vella said council is already working to ensure the levee’s sustainability into the future.
“This project delivers much needed flood mitigation infrastructure to Carisbrook and sees completion of an asset that has been subject to years of ongoing discussions and engagement with the local community,” she said.
“Whilst this work provides flood mitigation, due to the nature of the landscape and function of creek system in Carisbrook, full protection cannot be guaranteed from this work, and people should make themselves aware with the local flood management plan.
“Council remains committed to doing everything it can to support the Carisbrook community in managing flood mitigation and the work that has recently been commissioned to establish a levee management plan will seek to maintain this asset’s sustainability into the future.”
The levee has already been put to the test — fears of a repeat 2010/11 flood event rose in October last year when river levels swelled, prompting another emergency evacuation of the town.
While rainfall and damage done was less extensive in 2022, with water levels affecting some riverside homes, the partially finished levee did provide support during that flood event, credited by local emergency services and residents with diverting overland water flow around the town.
Carisbrook resident and fire brigade captain Ian Boucher has been vocal on the need for the levee since its inception and said it was a relief to see it completed.
“It does give a lot of people a lot of peace of mind that there is something there now,” he said.
“I wasn’t sure about it to be quite honest. I attended every levee meeting that was had in the lead up.
“It’s taken a lot longer than it should have, but it is finished, and even though it wasn’t completely finished during the 2022 floods it certainly protected Carisbrook from the overland flow.
“The amount of water that the levee directed around Carisbrook was amazing. We monitored it throughout the whole 24 hours of the flood situation, and I don’t think it got to 2011 levels but it certainly saved a lot of water from coming into Carisbrook.”
According to council, stage three of the project recently reached the end of its defect period and a final inspection has identified defects in the crossroad culverts on the Pyrenees Highway.
Council confirmed the contractor will be returning to repair the defects at the site. The final stage of the levee will also be subject to a 12-month defect period.
