Drainage trouble
HEAVY rain during the past few days in Yamba has continued to back up and over the western end of Coldstream St, creating what the locals now call "Lake Yamba".
"At this point in time the water will always be slow to drain from that area at the end of Coldstream St and near the Yamba Primary School because the drains are tidal," Clarence Valley Council deputy general manager Rob Donges said.
"By this I mean the drains actually flow into the Clarence River at the Angourie Rd roundabout and when there is a high tide the water is unable to escape because of the influence of a high tide in the drains.
"When it is low tide there is no problem of the rainwater escaping."
Mr Donges said council had recently installed new flood gates on the Angourie Rd roundabout to stop the flow of the river water into the drains during a high tide.
The reason for this new infrastructure was so that when the rain water runs off the area into the drain it had a higher capacity to fill up while not competing at the same time for the space with the river water.
The council has just approved $150,000 to be spent on clearing the tidal drains, how- ever, the community must realise these tidal drains are also fish habitat areas and are filled with mangroves and fish.
"We have applied to Fisheries to have the work done and are currently waiting to hear back from them," Mr Donges said.
