This week sees the tenth anniversary of major flooding that seriously impacted the city of Wollongong on August 17th, 1998.
Wollongong is a coastal city located approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney. It is bounded by a steep escarpment to the west on a narrow coastal strip ranging in width from less than a kilometre in the north to around 20 kilometres in the south.
On Monday 17th August, intense rainfall caused major flash flooding to the city and the suburbs. Several rainfall stations recorded up to 400mm in a three hour period. Once quiet streets became fast flowing rivers and water flowed through hundreds of homes and businesses. Cars were washed away and tragically one life was lost.
The State Emergency Service as the response agency, supported by the Police, NSW Fire Brigades and other agencies, quickly swung into action. In the fast rising waters heroic rescues were undertaken and the Wollongong SES Unit’s floodboat crew was quickly called in as many roads became blocked by rising waters.
At the peak of the storm the Wollongong SES Unit headquarters was threatened by rising waters, causing the phone systems to fail, which meant the State and Regional Headquarters of the SES (both also located in Wollongong) and the triple-zero emergency number systems were swamped with calls for assistance. SES personnel were initially evacuated by 4WD, became further victims of the building floods and needed to be rescued by their Unit's floodboat. Police vehicles that had responded to calls for assistance were also calling for assistance themselves as they were being forced off the road by floodwater.
In the worst affected areas damage was significant with houses washed off their foundations, boulders washed down streets, vehicles washed away by the force of the water and wedged under bridges and stacked on top of each other, and whole streets covered with black sludge..
To commemorate the10th anniversary of this devastating event, Wollongong City SES volunteers, supported by Wollongong City Council, are holding a public awareness campaign. The campaign's main objective is to educate the community on simple steps they can undertake to prepare themselves for floods and storms.
The SES will have a static display at the Wollongong City Council chambers from the 11th to the 15th of August, and will have a staffed display at Westfield Figtree on Friday the 15th and at Stocklands Corrimal on Saturday the 16th of August.
