Tomorrow, 1 October, brings the official launch of the 2022-23 ACT storm season, and the ACT State Emergency Service (ACTSES) is warning Canberrans to be prepared for potentially wet and wild weather ahead.
ACTSES is asking Canberrans to be prepared during this flood and storm season because although they don’t know what the weather is going to bring, ACTSES Chief Officer Anthony Draheim is “expecting the worst”.
He said the third continuous La Niña event has made it feel like the storm season has been never-ending for the past couple of years.
For Canberrans, this means we will continue to see above average rainfall.
“We have already seen over the last two years that the soils are saturated, the dams are full, and the waterways are high and above average,” Mr Draheim said.
“What we’ll see now in our third year of consistent rain above average, is that it only takes a little bit of water, a little bit of rain, for the extent to actually be worse than it has been in the past.
“We are asking all Canberrans to be prepared.”
– ACTSES Chief Officer Anthony Draheim
Over the last six months, ACT emergency services have been preparing themselves for the storm season, and Mr Draheim said “we are ready, we are prepared to support you, but we can only do that with your support in you preparing yourselves”.
“Our focus this year is on floods, due to the high rate of rains we’ve seen over the past two years. We expect there to be a high probability of floods. As we saw just this week, in fact in the last couple of days, we had a rain event come through Canberra, quite a bit of hail… and we had anywhere from five to 10-12ml of rain.
“Just on that small amount of rain itself we had a number of road closures. The Oaks Estate, for example, was closed – it usually takes a lot more rain before that closes. Because the water table is so high it’s taken a lot less rain for that to affect.”
Mr Draheim said the focus this season is “be ready, be emergency ready” by preparing houses, preparing families, downloading a survival plan, cleaning gutters and roofs, fixing any roof damage before the weather period hits – and do not walk, play, or drive through any floodwaters.
Visit esa.act.gov.au for more information, and if you are in need of ESA support, call 132 500. If your life is in danger, call 000.
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