A long-awaited report has confirmed M1 construction works did contribute to the flooding of up to 25 homes on the southern Gold Coast last year.
In response to major community concern, the State Government funded an independent hydraulics specialist to undertake a full analysis of the February 2022 flooding event and its impacts.
The report, released today following pressure from locals, found flooding may not have occurred if the construction works were not in place.
Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey says the contractors couldn’t have planned for the amount of rainfall that fell.
“The measures that we put in place in terms of potential flooding on the construction site were in line with industry best practice,” Minister Bailey says.
“So the contractors of the M1 upgrade did the right things in planning for a flooding event, but what we saw was an extremity in terms of the event, much beyond what was expected,
“In fact, a one-in-50-year flooding event which was well beyond the design of the temporary works there around the waterway. So while we did best practice by the contractors and by the department, the extremity of the vent certainly had an impact.”
The State government will be contacting the 25 impacted homeowners today to inform them of the report’s findings.
The majority of the homes affected are on Daffodil Street in Tallebudgera and Kentia Court in Elanora.
Of the 25 properties, only six houses have had their habitable floor levels accurately measured, with floor levels being estimated from other measurements for the remaining 19 houses.
According to the report, the next step “should probably involve determination of actual habitable floor levels from the 19 properties where that value has been indirectly estimated from other measurements”.
“We will be contacting those people today to talk to them and work with them in terms of helping them with any impacts that have been had,” Minister Bailey says.
“I take out my responsibility the Minister for Transport and Main Roads very seriously in terms of making sure we are looking after people who need to be assisted in this case, there’s 25 properties that may be potentially impacted,
“Now, this is modelling, so it may be that there may be less properties in actuality that are impacted.”
A $740 million Resilient Home Fund, jointly funded by the State Government and the Commonwealth, is in place which is designed to help those who have been flooded.
A link to the full report can be found here.
