Homeowners' flood fears ring true
HOMEOWNERS say their fears about development in low-lying areas have come true after this week's floods left several construction projects knee-deep in water.
Residents from Gordonvale to Clifton Beach yesterday said the city's drainage system was unable to cope
with the run-off from new developments.
View flooding picture gallery.
Clifton Rd resident Jim Willoughby said Glencorp's Clifton Views development was just one example of approval gone wrong.
"They built right up against the creek," he said.
"That council is just not doing its job properly.
"They need to be tougher because too much is getting approved in the wrong places."
Developer Udo Jattke said the site had been dammed to stop sediment running into the nearby creek, which had caused the build-up of water.
The dam would be removed when construction was completed.
Meanwhile, Gordonvale flood victim Joanne Wilesmith said the development of a new subdivision near Draper Rd had caused a huge amount of run-off rushing into already over-full drains.
"They do need development but it needs to be with proper drainage," Ms Wilesmith said.
A Cairns City Council spokeswoman said development was required to be more than 150mm above the once-in-100-year flood mark.
"What we find is that sometimes we have concentrated sharp downfalls in an isolated catchment, where for a short period the intensity of rain can be above the Q100 readings," she said.
"Also where regular maintenance is not carried out either by council or the land owner, who may have a drainage path, then we find that the water can back up or flow in areas where it was not designed to go."
The Hedley Group's $50 million retirement village project, next to Caravonica State School, was approved in September 2007.
Half of the site was under water on Wednesday but development manager David Row said the soaked section would be a drainage reserve.
"The flood waters are doing exactly what the experts have advised us and the work that we are doing will actually improve the drainage through the centre of the site," he said.
"The village is located well above Q100 flood level."
The council spokeswoman said a drain on private land near the Redlynch Grove unit block, which was inundated with water on Wednesday, was acting "as it should".
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Dammed if they do: Workers were hard at work yesterday at Glencorp’s Clifton Views housing block despite the fact the site was flooded last week.
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