The last of the 42 culverts and floodways that were severely impacted by the Southern Queensland Heavy Rainfall and Flooding event during February 2020 have now been replaced by Toowoomba Regional Council.

Infrastructure Committee Chair Cr Carol Taylor said progress in the Flood Recovery Program for the 2020 flooding event had been plagued with successive flood events impeding access for repairs and compounding damage, coupled with the difficulty in securing construction materials due to large demand from other regions also impacted by flooding.

“It’s great to see the completion of these projects, which will provide improved road infrastructure into the future,” Cr Taylor said.

Works related to the Flood Recovery Program for the 2020 flooding event included more than 330 kilometres of gravel road treatments, silt and material removal of 80,000m³, and more than 120 culvert repairs, including some replacements across about 3400 locations.

These works totalled more than $30 million across the full program and were jointly funded by the Australian Government and Queensland Government under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

“Closing out the February 2020 Flood Recovery Works Program means that our teams can now turn all their attention to the Flood Recovery Program from the more recent flooding events,” Cr Taylor said.

“Council recently fast-tracked more than $6 million in priority flood repairs for the recent flood events, and the Flood Recovery Team is working closely with Queensland Reconstruction Authority to ensure funding for these works can be recovered at a later date.”

Works most recently completed include at Carroll Road, Hodgson Vale.

Priority repairs have now kicked off across the Region with the first roads being addressed including Ted Mengel Road at Nobby.

This article appeared in On Our Selection News, 29 September 2022.