Northern Grampians Shire: Infrastructure Recovery After Natural Disaster

Mar 31, 2014 by vic@ipwea.org.au    Comments Off    Posted under: Innovation

Northern Grampians Shire is situated at Western Victoria around 230 km from Melbourne along western highway. It consists of Stawell and St Arnaud as its major town ships. It has a total population of 13,000 people.

More than 90% of the shire’s infrastructure was badly affected by the consecutive floods in September 2010 and January 2011 severe Floods.  The devastation was mainly caused by the over spilling of the main rivers and streams which are running across the shire.

The catastrophe was considered as urgent, so immediate and long term plans and actions have been taken to mitigate the effects of the damages to the community and the shire as a whole.

1. Use of Best Practice Engineering Principles and Technology

The remedial works have been carried out with the careful planning and design while taking into account of various issues such as Level of Service of the damaged assets, Community requirements, Cost, Time, Safety, and Quality and Safeguard the assets from future catastrophes.  however, incorporation of best engineering practices and modern technologies led to the successful achievements of the targets in the following ways:

• Most of the road restoration works were in rural areas especially on gravel roads where the speed limit was generally 80km/h or 100km/h. In some of the areas, roads are winding. So it is difficult for drivers to understand the obstructions on the roads. So, careful consideration was given to the response time of the drivers for the approaching obstructions on the road. So, excellent traffic management plans were implemented with proper speed limits at intended locations.
• The rain water might cause deterioration to the road pavements if it is let to stagnate on or along the roads especially on gravel roads. On the other hand, the slopes are the key factors for the smooth ride of vehicles. The cross fall and longitudinal slopes were adhered to according to the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) standards especially when the gravel roads were resheeted and regraded.
• The slope, shape and size of the table drains were also taken into consideration complying with the ARRB guidelines when reconstructing the gravel roads. This is one of the main drainage features especially on the gravel road to take away the rain water from the roads in gravel roads.
• Under flood recovery jobs, some of the tennis courts were reconstructed with concrete courts and durable acrylic paintings. New construction techniques were incorporated in the design and reconstruction of tennis courts such as flood gates on the surrounding fence, dowel expansion joints and fabulous drainage design. Considerations were given to the effects of future flood and the long lasting and safety of the structures.
• Safety aspects of the culvert crossings were taken in to account while building the culvert crossings at Stawell Golf Club under flood recovery projects. Considering the adverse effects of the reflecting golf ball if it is hit against the concrete end walls, a curved shape of the end wall was incorporated in the design and construction of the culverts.
• Most of the restoration works involved excavations. So it is always a good practice to get the existing underground service information through a Dial Before You Dig (DBYD) application and that was followed strictly by all of our contractors before commencing any excavation works. The requirements of the Plumbing and Drainage (Part 3-Storm Water Drainage-AS/NZS 3500.3:2003) Standard were abide to during the installation of new culvert structures besides the existing underground services such as power, telecom, gas and water. Consultant and sometimes asset owners’ advice were also sought when the issues were very complicated.
• Well advanced technological equipment and machines were used in the restoration works in order to complete the jobs in time with greater efficiency.  Total Stations, Laser guided Graders, GPS enabled inspection and data collection mobile devices, and underground service detection equipment are among the few to me mentioned.
• Some best engineering solutions were made in some constructions activities when the construction crews faced unexpected issues. One of the incidents was during the construction of Marnoo tennis courts where they couldn’t achieve the desired CBR values for the base at couple of spots due to loose underlying soil extended up to a deep depth which was not anticipated. So an excellent engineering method was used to reinstate the subgrade to achieve the required CBR.
• The other example was the installation of larger diameter (Ø 1050mm) drainage pipes at 3m depths below the natural ground level at Tandara Road, Halls Gap. The underlying soil was very slumpy at those depths and it was very hard for the contractors to install them at the required depth; once it had been installed it started to sink. By normal soil stabilisation methods, the contractors couldn’t overcome the issue. So, special engineering techniques were incorporated in the construction process to install the pipes in the correct alignments.
• The other area where the best engineering principle was applied was the energy dissipater end walls, installed at the end of the culverts where the impulse of the water tends to be very high and it tends to make huge scouring at the stream or lake beds where it meets with stream or lake.

2. Degree of Originality and Ingenuity of Solution

The Northern Grampians Shire was severely impacted  during September 2010 flood due to the major rivers which are running across the shire such as Wimmera, Avon, Avoca and Richardson brought huge amount of water into the NGSC region. The second flood on January 2011 flood, brought 270 mm (10.8 inches) of rain, recorded at the Mt William weather station over the 72 hours of 12-14 January 2011. Council’s road infrastructure network was severely impacted by the floods, with damage recorded at 1,707 individual locations.

The community experienced huge difficulties in travelling around because of the poor conditions of the road networks. Moreover they were pushed into an untold grievance because most of them lost the services and recreations from those affected infrastructures and even their valuable properties.

So it was the council responsibility to repair the damages and facilitate the traumatised community to bring them back to their usual stress free and happier life. So, council took immediate and inventive measures to arrange work programs in order to rectify those damages.

The council took immediate actions to repair the most critical road segments for the general use by utilising the council resources i.e. the shire depot staff, machineries and materials. However the damages scattered around 5918 Sq.km. and they were under different categories and criticalities.

So an inspection team was formed to do an initial assessment of the damages. There were four groups involved in the inspection and data collection at each part of the shire to expedite the process and the areas were compared regularly to avoid duplication and overlapping of the inspections. These day to do inspections were assessed and updated in an excel spread sheet and GIS details were updated into GIS mapping system periodically. The initial assessment was completed within four week time because of the use of advanced devices and the team spirit and dedication of the shire employees.

A new Flood recovery team was created through the interview process in order to coordinate the work programs.  And five contractors were selected through a successful tendering process to carry out the restoration works. The assessment process, interview process and tendering process were all undertaken almost simultaneously which make the restoration works to start quickly.

When the restoration works were being carried out, two rounds of community breakfast/workshops were undertaken each at nine locations to understand the real issues of the people and to get the first hand feedback and concerns from the community. This innovative process made a way to provide the community with what they really want rather than doing something irrelevant to their requirement.

Local farmers’ or people’s advices and their knowledge about the behaviours of the local streams or creeks during flood were also taken into consideration before carrying out the remedial works in the rural areas. This was immense help in renovating the affected infrastructures to last long even under a future catastrophe of this kind.

3. Program and Project Management

Northern Grampians Shire Council consist of approximately 3,374 km length of road network. According to Council’s Road Management Plan, the road network contains 786 km length of sealed roads, 2,182 km length of unsealed roads, and 406 km length of formed roads. All of the road infrastructures were affected by the last two consecutive disasters on September 2010 and January 2011. The total damaged was estimated around $ 20 Million from the initial assessment.

National Disaster Relief Funding (NDRF) was requested by council in order to carry out the restoration works through an application process from federal government. Once funding has been committed, council formed a flood recovery team consisting of Manager, Projects Engineer, Civil Works Supervisor, and two Administrative staff, through an interview process. Fresh tenders also were called in September 2011 and as a result, two more contractors were selected and appointed in order to expedite the restoration work program.

The work programs were carefully planned according to the severity of the damages and urgency of the area for the public use. The funds were skilfully allocated to rectify the damages and bring the assets to its previous conditions; not to renew or enhance their functions or capacity.

Nearly $30.6 Million was received from Federal Government bodies including $30.3 Million alone through NDRF. More funds were received from State government agencies ($1.8 Million) such as DPCD, DSE, DPI, DSDBI, RDV and etc. as well as from Community ($20,000) as Donations.

The NDRF is used to restore the shire road networks and the rest of the grants were mainly utilised to repair the shire halls like Navarre, Kooreh, Great western and etc. And some of the recreation facilities also were rejuvenated by these grants like Stawell Golf Club, Stawell Speed Way, Tennis courts at Dadswells Bridge, Banyena, Marnoo and etc.

Major and critical work programs e.g. Tennis court constructions and the works those required deep excavations, were decided to be undertaken in dry weather season by management in order to prevent the hassles and hiccups induced from wet weather.

Level 2 Bridge inspections and Road inspections were also completed under the flood recovery program which were generally happened every four years according to the council Asset Management Plan. In collaboration with the Flood recovery team, Councils infrastructure team were able to complete around 90% of the Council capital works program for the last three consecutive years under an excellent management system.

At the end of the work activities, inspection and audit programs were undertaken by a third party, Neil Mahr from VIC Roads, in order to confirm that the funding and grants were utilised appropriately.

The work programs were carefully planned and implemented by the flood recovery team which in turn, led to the successful completion of the projects within the given time (December 2013) frame and budget ($32.6 Million) with required quality standards and with the satisfaction of the all parties concerned.

4. Benefit of the Project or Service to the Community

The community achieved a number benefits by these restoration works. The benefits they gained are listed below.

• The community was provided with an excellent infrastructure facility ever they dreamt for such as newly sealed road networks, sealed or concrete flood ways, repaired bridges and culverts, dams, well repaired and facilitated shire halls, recreation facilities and etc.
• The repaired assets provided the required level of service to the community and thus community has the chance to get the intended service from those assets again after the disaster.
• The people around the shire were given the opportunity to raise their concern and issues in regards to the flood damage during the community breakfast/ consultation program. The representatives from Catchment Management Authority (CMA), Department of Primary Industries (DPI), Grampians Community Health/East Wimmera Health, and Rural Financial Counselling were also invited to the breakfast in order to share their views and advised to the community and thus to provide an emotional support for the affected community.
• The contractors worked in the projects are locals and they understand the community and their requirements very well. So most of the time, they have the interaction with community especially in rural areas and carry out the jobs in consultation with people around the area.  So the community got the satisfaction of their involvement in the projects and got really what they want.
• Some social events/gatherings like morning or afternoon tea with BBQ fire ups, recreation events like Adams Brand Music programs, and Interaction events with Business Professionals were arranged by Flood Recovery Department for the traumatised community.

5. Presentation of the Awards Submissions

• Northern Grampians Shire is 5918 Sq.km in area and two consecutive natural disasters in September 2010 and January 2011 affected 90% of the Shire.
• Innovative planning and recording process and management procedures guided the investigation of the Shire’s infrastructure within a four week timeframe and set the foundation for repair works over the ensuing 3 years.
• A standalone project management team was then able to engage 7 contractors to carry out over $20 million of repairs on 1800 damaged road sections and 187 bridges & major culverts.
• Repairs were easily tracked and rectified as per customer complaints and defect severity.