Leaking oil containers, refrigerators, a spa and a shipping container are among the debris floating on the Hawkesbury River and appearing on the beaches of northern Sydney.
Key points:
- The ruins have swept the Hawkesbury River from west Sydney to northern Sydney communities
- A container of oil stranded on Dangar Island was leaking into a protected reef before being tidied up by community members
- More debris is expected to be wiped off the more remote beaches, including the central coast
While flooding has been reduced in western Sydney, residents of places like Dangar Island are discovering material that has potentially traveled more than 100 kilometers downstream.
The beaches of the island are lined with piles of mostly wooden debris filled with plastics and polystyrene foam, with some occasional large elements.
A 1,000-liter container that was washed away on Dangar Island leaked hydraulic oil near a protected reef.
New South Wales Fire and Rescue Hazardous Equipment crews were called to the scene to insulate the leaking oil container.
A container of washed hydraulic oil on Dangar Island. (Provided by: Richard Stockley)
Fortunately, community members were able to tidy up the container before firefighters arrived.
Graham ‘Jono’ Johnston, founder of the environmental group Clean4Shore, said chemicals traveling down the river in containers were one of the main concerns for communities in the wake of the floods.
“They [residents upriver] they are storing chemicals on flood-prone terrain, and that flood has picked up the chemicals and drums and put them back in the river, ”Johnston said.
The inhabitants of the island usually wash material as a result of great floods.
The beaches of Dangar Island were covered in rubble, mostly pieces of wood. (Provided by: Clean4Shore)
The president of the Dangar Island Community Association, Stephen Boyle, said he was concerned about the houses being built on the floodplain above the river.
“We’re seeing the results of people’s destroyed houses,” Boyle said.
“It catches your eye every time you see it that there should be no housing in such vulnerable places.”
A Hornsby Council spokesman said they were aware of large debris in the water around Dangar Island and Parsley Bay in Brooklyn, and that they were in contact with state agencies to resolve the issue.
The ferry from Dangar Island was forced to suspend services as a fridge and other debris crawled against the pier. (Provided by: Richard Stockley)
Ferry services have been disrupted
Logs and debris protruding from under the Dangar Island pier forced the island’s ferry service to be suspended all day Wednesday.
Ferry operator Richard Stockley described the beach on the south side of the island as a “total carnage”.
Although services were able to resume the next day, after locals were able to remove the clogging logs, the debris floating down the river made the trip still too dangerous to make at night.
“Once it gets dark, you know, we don’t have streetlights or flood lights in the water like a road,” Stockley said.
“You just have to hit a trunk with a strong impact and that could cause damage to the ferry or leave it out of service.”
There are fears that floating wood debris could pose a potentially lethal danger to people on ships. (Provided by: Clean4Shore)
Although Mr. Stockley appreciated the efforts to clean up the non-organic debris, saying it was not doing enough to remove the organic debris, such as logs threatening boats in the river.
“Trunks and things that can sink ships or kill people if they are in the night, they are left behind only to float at the next tide,” Stockley said.
“The danger of the ruins continues for a much longer period after the actual flood.”
Thousands of cubic meters have already been cleaned this year
The New South Wales Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has not yet begun cleaning up the Hawkesbury after the recent event, citing the current dangerous water conditions.
Household items regularly appear on the beaches in the area after the great Hawkesbury floods. (Provided by: Richard Stockley)
However, the EPA said that this year they have already collected more than 6,000 cubic meters of the Hawkesbury River and Central Coast waterways.
This represents the lion’s share of the nearly 9,000 cubic meters withdrawn statewide since late February.
The EPA warns residents of flood-affected areas to move away from beaches and waterways because of the impact the floods have had on water quality.
Central coast beaches preparing for impact
Johnston, of Clean4Shore, said the debris posed a significant risk to people in the area who used the waters to navigate, but also to surf, which is usually done on beaches further away from the Brooklyn area.
Waste was being reported in communities as far away as MacMasters Beach on the central coast. Two water tanks and five car tires were among the debris found Thursday on the beach.
More debris is expected to be collected on the beaches of the central coast. (Supplied: Clean4Shore)
“I hope more beaches on the central coast will feel the effects of the ruins fading beyond Patonga into the ocean, and then the wind and swell that will put it all back on the beaches,” he said. dir Johnston.