A Maitland business that suffered $500,000 in damages in the April super storm wants assurances the same will not happen again.
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David and Bronwyn Emmerson opened their John Street business, Rutherford Mechanical Repairs, about 20 years ago.
It took two decades to build and less than 10 minutes to be destroyed as flood water rose to claim the business.
“In the 20 years we have been here we have never seen water like that,” Mr Emmerson said.
“The water was lapping at the car park, but then within six to eight minutes it was up over the car port.
“We had to run to the gate at the corner of the block to get out, we were just there in time.
“By the time Bronwyn reached the gate the water was already up near her waist and I looked back at the office and the furniture was floating around the ceiling.”
The mechanical business is near a basin which collects much of the run-off from the Telarah area.
It heads downstream and into a railway culvert which runs under the Telarah Station and then comes out on the Maitland Bunnings site.
On Tuesday, April 21, something went wrong with the drainage system and the water quickly started coming back out of the culvert, filled the basin and engulfed the Emmerson’s business.
“When we came back to the yard it was destroyed,” he said.
“Debris went all the way up to the train fence and stuff had floated out of the office and onto the road.
“The work ute was done, we had customers cars in the shop.
“The damage came to $500,000 for building and contents, but we also had a loss of income and we have only been able to reopen this month.
“I want an assurance this is not going to happen again. This is our business and it’s our retirement.”
Mr Emmerson believed the failure in the stormwater pipes at Bunnings could have been the cause of the sudden backwash of water.
The couple wrote to Maitland City Council to ask if something was being done to fix the problem before another storm, but the council said the railway culvert was to blame for the problem.
“The Bunnings pipe system is not owned and maintained by council, and it could not be determined without considerable investigation if this pipeline was the cause of flooding at your property,” the letter from council said.
“Such an investigation would be at your expense.”
Mr Emmerson said there was no way a small business like his could take on that cost.
The Bunnings site is owned by BWP Management Limited and leased by the hardware giant.
BWP managing director Michael Wedgwood said the site was developed by a third party and the drainage system was built to the council requirements at the time.
“Since April, our priority has been on reinstating the drainage system, which was damaged by the volume of water flowing through it at the time, and which did not stop flowing during the flood,” he said.
“We are scheduled to complete the work on the drainage system by Christmas.
“We have recently revisited the flood study to ensure that the repaired drainage system will have an appropriate level of capacity.”
While this was good news for Mr Emmerson, he wants council to also re-evaluate the flood study of the Bunnings site and the neighbouring property where the hardware giant plans to build an bigger warehouse.
The Australian Rail Track Corporation has confirmed it has investigated the capacity of the railway culvert to deal with flood water. But a fix could take some time as study found the work would cost about $1 million.
“It is a complex environment and surrounding development has had significant impacts on the water flow around the area, so it has taken some time to work through this assessment and modelling,” an ARTC spokesman said.
“We are currently looking at possible engineering solutions, which is likely to cost in the order of one million dollars as well as potential funding options.
“It will also require some further design work as well as engaging with council and other local stakeholders which we expect to commence shortly.”
In the meantime the Emmerson’s fear even the smallest storm could be the end of their business.
“How much more rain is it going to take to take me out of business for good?” Mr Emmerson said.
Thank you
The Emmersons wanted to say a big thank you to all of the friends, family and business people who helped them through the storm and have supported the past seven months.
