Farmers have warned roads and bridges across the Northern Rivers will require urgent repair as the full extent of flood damage from ex-tropical Cyclone Alfred is revealed.
NSW Farmers Dorrigo Branch Chair David Gibson said the huge deluges that had fallen in the Northern Rivers recently had wreaked serious havoc on the region's road networks."This flooding has sent a sea of water into the community, washing over roads and cutting many of us off from the outside world," Mr Gibson said.
"It's a serious safety risk for anyone traveling by road and this problem just won't go away once the floodwater resides."
"We're uncovering new potholes, missing bitumen, and all sorts of other serious damage to our roads and bridges, and we're only just getting started on the cleanup here in NSW."
As recovery efforts commenced, NSW Farmers President Xavier Martin said regional and rural road repairs and upgrades must be a priority for state and federal governments to ensure farm communities could get back on track after years of damage."It's been flood after flood just here in the Northern Rivers, and across the state, we're now looking a really serious, ongoing road damage and repair bill," Mr Martin said.
"Repairing our local, state, and national roads will be essential to keeping our rural communities alive and connected, but also to moving the food and fiber that fuels our nation.
"We can't get fresh food on tables if we can't move it off our farms."
For more information:
NSW Farmers
Tel: +61 0427 411 220
Email: fesseye@nswfarmers.org.au
www.nswfarmers.org.au