Why the weather has been a disaster for South Gippsland

SINCE 2021, South Gippsland has been heavily impacted by adverse weather with a total of six declared disaster events in that time.

The result – more 100 landslips have been recorded, with 50 of those fixed to date.

Over $13 million worth of works have been approved by Emergency Management Victoria and to date in excess of $9.8 million worth of works have been completed.

At the moment, seven slips are of the greatest concern to Council. These landslips are located on:

• Popes Road, Wonga;
• Nippards Track, Foster;
• Clarkes Road, Hallston;
• Grand Ridge Road, Hallston (Site 1);
• Grand Ridge Road, Trida (Site 2);
• Sanders Road, Korumburra (two slip sites); and
• Main South Road, Poowong.

Council is in the process of finalising the contracts for the Design and Construction of the major slips and encourages our local contractors to make a submission once the contracts are released.

Until these works are completed, Council will endeavour to keep the roads open for as long as they remain safe.

For the more complicated slips, works are likely to progress well into 2023. This means that the load restrictions on these roads will need to stay in place.

“Applications to receive essential services where the load limit will need to be temporarily lifted will be considered. Please contact Council if this is required at any point,” said the shire in a statement this week.

The remaining slips are smaller and have not affected traffic on these roads, however they will also need to be addressed as resources permit.

As further information and updates come to hand regarding the landslips, Council will let residents and the community know. For more detailed information on each slip, please visit xhttp://www.southgippsland.vic.gov.au/roadhazards

Chief Executive Officer of South Gippsland Shire Council, Kerryn Ellis, said the shire was well aware of how disruptive these incidents have been, while also acknowledging the additional workload for council.

“Each event has added to the workload of our Operations team. These slips continue to be a threat to the safety of our community and others who use these roads to get from A-to-B,” Ms Ellis said.

“As our teams continue to work closely with other organisations to get this work completed. Please be patient and obey the signage at each of these sites. We only have our community’s best interest at heart when we make these decisions.”