Ian Brown is a plumber who has lived in Coraki for 55 years.

He presented his flood levee proposal at the Richmond Valley Council meeting on Tuesday, April 15.

He reckons his proposal will reduce the backwater from floods at Coraki.

“A levee bank should go from the council owned Peterson’s Quarry driveway, across the swamp towards the NBN tower on Henderson Street, a distance of approximately 850–900 metres long and 3-4 metres high with an auger or axial flow pump and floodgate if needed,” Mr Brown said.

The Coraki plumber has thought through the details of how the levee bank would work.

“This would be designed by engineers and hydrologists.

“The council could build the levee out of a product called overburden (there is over 1 million tonnes out at the quarry already).”

Mr Brown said about 40-50,000 tonnes would be needed and could be trucked straight out the front gate and across the swamp.

“So, transport and material costs would be at the lowest end of the cost scale,” he said.

“It could be capped with dirt and grassed over to allow cattle to graze on it when completed.

“This levee bank would stop all the backwater from entering the town and flooding the sewers in Grenfell, Martin and Alwood streets, which then becomes a potential health issue for council.”

Mr Brown said Coraki floods easily, and he isn’t talking about the 2002 flood. He said there would be more investment in the town if people knew that they were not going to be flooded by every river rise.

Mr Brown said he spoke to the head engineer of the CSIRO after the 2022 flood about his levee proposal and other forms of mitigation that were out of town.

He is keen, like many, to see the CSIRO flood mitigation paper due in July.

 “My question to the council is, if Coraki receives a non-favourable outcome because other parts of the Northern Rivers receive the bulk of the money, what is the council going to do for our community to stop the backwater continually flooding the lower part of town?

“To me it is a relatively easy fix. It just needs the council, Rous County Council and politicians to have the political will to do some important infrastructure work for our community,” he said.

He then presented the second part of his flood prevention proposal.

“It is to do with the Coraki town drain, which is a Rous County Council asset that passes under council roads,” he said.

“It starts at the RVC depot, runs down and around in front of the pod village, and out to the river under the Coraki-Woodburn Road.

“This drain is Coraki’s main drain to the river having Adam, Grenfell, Alwood and Minto streets, Richmond Terrace, Bridge and Martin streets all running underneath Queen Elizabeth drive and into this drain.

“Plus two-thirds of Coraki’s hill empties into it as well. The first half of the drain from the council depot to Union Street is 300mm lower than the pipe under road. That means 300mm of water continually lying in the drain 24/7.

“The pipe needs to be removed and drain dug to grade so the water can run out to the river, and a box culvert reinstated.

“The second half of the drain has two choke points. The first one is at a farmer’s crossing 100m from the road and the second choke point is the pipe under the road itself. The first choke point needs to be replaced with bigger pipes, more pipes, or a box culvert. The second choke point is the pipe under the road which is 1m in diameter and in my opinion undersized as it is draining 300 plus hectares or more of rainwater.”

Mr Brown said it needs to be replaced with a bigger box culvert and a new floodgate installed on the culvert.

“The pipe under the road enters the river 50mm higher than high tide, so when the river rises 1-1.5m the flood gate closes off preventing stormwater from getting into the river,” he said.

“When rain keeps falling and the gate is closed off, water then backs up into all the lower drains in town, potentially flooding sewers and under houses.

“I propose a pump be installed on the drain near the road so when the gate is closed off the drain can be emptied of rain water reducing stormwater flooding.”

Mr Brown believes Coraki could be saved from regular flooding if his proposal is enacted.

“These two pieces of infrastructure are a must to protect our community from future flooding events as they are predicted to become more frequent in this climate change era.”

This article appeared on indyNR.com on 20 April 2025.