$500K worth of soil washed away in Carnarvon floods

It could be six weeks before Carnarvon growers see the landslide 38,000 tonne of topsoil washed away in last month’s once-in-a-decade flood replaced, with funding for the earth tied up until Saturday’s State election results. While some are willing to wait, others have levelled out what soil they have left in order to prepare for the season ahead. When a tropical weather system unleashed a 200mm deluge on the food bowl region last month, many horticultural properties were flooded as the Gascoyne River swelled — peaking at 7.7m — and surged. It halted the planting of many crops — particularly tomatoes — and for those who did have crops in the ground, they watched as they were heartbreakingly inundated and washed away. Early estimates of damage to the region sat at $8.5million, however the final bill is expected to be much higher. It was a week before a team of Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development assessors could access many properties, with access roads washed out or under water. Impacting about 30 per cent of the region’s 200 growers, they visited 64 horticulturalists and one pastoralist who requested assessments. And while there was road damage and fence damage for many, the amount of soil lost was immense, calculated at 38,000 tonnes, worth about $500,000. Those in the Shires of Carnarvon, Upper Gascoyne and Derby-West Kimberley have been approved as eligible for joint Federal-State disaster relief funding. However, soil loss and restoration is not covered. WA Agriculture minister Alannah MacTiernan said the State Government had committed an extra $1 million to the recovery if re-elected, which would cover the soil and more. She said if they were re-elected, it would be four to six weeks before the soil could be replaced, which she said was far sooner than after the last flood a decade ago. “I think we’ve worked very very quickly — I think we’ve gone above and beyond,” Ms MacTiernan said. “It’s nowhere near as severe as the last flood. “I think it’s important for context that during the last flood in 2010, the flood was in January and then the payment was in May. “As we’re in caretaker mode, legally we’re not able to approve extra funding until we get back into Government. “The Department is working on finding the location to source that soil... you do have to go through the native title and environmental approvals and processes.” Not everyone has been willing to wait, with some growers levelling what soil they have left to get moving on the upcoming season, Ms MacTiernan said. She said if re-elected, once the soil issue had been dealt with, they would conduct a thorough assessment of the region’s $65 million levee system which has drawn mixed opinions from growers. “A lot of people are expressing concerns over the integrity of the system,” Ms MacTiernan said. “During the past two times there’s been floods, the Governments of the day have said, ‘this won’t happen again’. “We’ve got to make sure it’s not a ground hog day situation and that there’s robust and rigorous plans at the farm level and catchment level.”