Flood assistance brings relief on roads to recovery

Disaster assistance is now available to help Gascoyne and Pilbara communities recover from flooding associated with a tropical low that lashed the Western Australian coastline last month.

Assistance is being provided through the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

Natural Disaster and Emergency Management minister David Littleproud said assistance would ensure impacted communities bounced back quickly from the effects of the heavy rain and damaging winds.

“Both the Commonwealth and the State will be picking up part of the bill to fix key local roads and community infrastructure,” he said.

“Reconnecting parts of the community by fixing roads helps speed up the overall recovery.

“We will continue to stand by these communities and will make more assistance available if needed.”

WA Emergency Services minister Fran Logan said rainfall during the event had caused significant damage to critical infrastructure across the Mid West, Gascoyne and Pilbara.

“The Gascoyne catchment was heavily impacted by this tropical low with 70 millimetres of rain falling in Gascoyne Junction in just 24 hours,” he said.

“This financial support will greatly assist those impacted communities who are faced with extensive costs to repair their local roads.”

The Commonwealth and Western Australian governments will continue to monitor the impacts of the weather event and will extend the funding to other local government areas if required.