Yandina business takes on council over flooding

A YANDINA family have resorted to sleeping at their business during rain to protect it from flooding which they blame on council streetscaping.

Yandina Hardware was flooded during a downpour on February 12, damaging stock worth about $4000 at cost.

Owner Gabrielle Pawson said the store had never flooded during her 16 years with the business until the Sunshine Coast Council completed streetscaping to calm traffic through the town.

She claims the streetscaping has increased the flow of water towards the shop and reduced her ability to clear water from the property by effectively “damming” further down the street.

Mrs Pawson said she and her husband, Wayne, now set up sandbags every time they left work and came back to the business if it started raining, even having “sleep overs” with their children at the shop to manage the flooding.

“We try and keep the kids in bed but when there’s a big deluge coming, we make sure at least one of is down here,” she said.

Mrs Pawson said that during heavy rain, drainage pits overflowed onto the footpath and road and a pedestrian refuge in Farrell Street blocked water from streaming away across the road.

She said the water had washed out the driveway to their storage shed and pooled in the carpark, unable to escape because water built up at a “build out” on the roadside and sucked back through stormwater drain pipes.

Mrs Pawson said the council refused to accept that the streetscaping was the problem when “everyone can see it”.

Kaye Deeley, of nearby business Lawn Espresso, supported Mrs Pawson’s claims that the streetscaping had caused the flooding.

She said the streetscaping had exacerbated problems caused by inadequate drainage infrastructure.

“It’s just been a mess. I just feel so sorry for Gabby and Wayne,” she said.

Division 10 councillor Greg Rogerson has backed the work of council staff who he said had completed modelling which showed the streetscaping was not the cause of the problem.

Mr Rogerson said council staff had been looking at the issues raised but it was possibly only an inspection during heavy rain which conclusively prove who was right and who was wrong.

However, he said he would be the first to admit he was wrong if it could be proven that the council’s works had caused the problem.

“If you convince me that what council’s done is wrong, I will back you to the hilt,” he said.

Mr Rogerson said the flooding had followed exceptionally heavy rain when some areas recorded more than 200mm but Mrs Pawson said the rain was nothing compared to past falls.

“These rains aren’t that heavy for us. They’re not what we’ve had,” she said.

Mrs Pawson has written to mayor Mark Jamieson seeking a peer review of the council’s streetscaping project.