Maitland City Council says it is facing a long road to recovery, following last month’s natural disaster which brought significant rain and flooding to the region.
While many local roads have now reopened, the Council says it is only beginning to assess the damage to Maitland’s road network and it could take some months before the full impact is known.
Maitland Mayor, Philip Penfold says “community safety is our top priority.”
“Over the coming weeks, we are increasing the number of road crews who will be out repairing potholes and assessing roads to ensure drivers remain safe,” Mayor Penfold said.
“I would like to thank the community for their patience during this time and we’ll continue to update residents as our recovery continues.”
Council’s General Manager, Jeff Smith said it was important the community understands “recovery from a severe weather event takes time.”
“While many roads have now reopened, it could be months before major repairs can begin,” Mr Smith said.
“This is due to the level of investigation needed to understand the full impact to our road network, before we can seek funding support for repairs and then commence work.
“To put things into perspective, we only recently completed repairs to the final road damaged in the 2022 flood event and we anticipate many of these roads have been impacted again.”
It is also likely some roads have been damaged by the increase in traffic they’ve experienced while other major thoroughfares were closed, the Council warned.
It is asking motorists to continue using caution on the roads and report any damage via mait.city/MyCouncil.
