Balonne Shire Council Mayor, Samantha O’Toole says she is deeply disappointed that five of the Shire’s 19 remote flood cameras have been vandalised in recent days, causing significant damage to the local $250,000 camera network.
The cameras are located in remote areas of local river systems on roadways throughout the
Shire and are essential for providing real-time information about rising water levels and
potential flood risks to the local community, the Mayor said.
The cameras are also used by emergency services to coordinate rescue efforts during flood
events.
“We urge anyone with information about this vandalism to come forward and contact the police. This type of behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Mayor O’Toole said.
“We installed these cameras with the help of a government grant to help protect the safety of our community during times of emergency and to see this senseless vandalism is just heartbreaking.
“We do not use these cameras to monitor people, just flood levels at roadways via
intermittent still shots of known flood-prone roadways throughout the Shire.”
The cameras take still images only and are not used for monitoring vehicles or people.
Council was made aware of the vandalism following routine maintenance checks on the
cameras and were dismayed to find that the cameras had been deliberately damaged,
making them unusable.
The cameras were funded from a Federal/State government grant and the cost of replacing the vandalised ones will be a significant burden to the ratepayers in a Council with a very limited funding capacity, the Mayor said.
The Council is working with local police to investigate the incident and increase security measures around the remaining cameras.
