Lismore City Council has funded and installed two new flood gauges at Rocky Creek Dam and on Ballina Street Bridge to enhance real-time flood-data collection and emergency response across the region.
The installations follow ongoing calls for better local flood intelligence, particularly after the 2022 flood disaster highlighted major gaps in real-time information.
Council invested in and installed both gauges to improve access to live, up-to-date flood data for emergency responders, Council teams and the wider community.
Mayor Steve Krieg said the new gauges are part of Council's ongoing commitment to making Lismore more disaster ready.
"This is about giving people better warning, better data and ultimately, better safety," he said.
"It's why Council stepped in to deliver these upgrades quickly, in the locations where they're needed most."
Council led the installation of a new gauge at Ballina Street Bridge, which now serves as a secondary river monitoring station for the Lismore catchment.
A second gauge was delivered at Rocky Creek Dam, installed on the wharf at the Nightcap Water Treatment Plant with permission from Rous County Council. This project was delivered in close collaboration with Rous, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, and supported by Lismore MP Janelle Saffin and local advocate Annie Kia, Coordinator of the Terania–Keerong Flood Safety Project.
Lismore City Council Acting Chief Operating and Financial Officer Joshua Smith said both installations were carefully chosen for their importance in local flood forecasting.
"These gauges will soon be feeding real-time data into emergency systems and helping improve decisions in flood events," he said.
"We're grateful to Rous County Council and the Bureau of Meteorology for their support during installation."
Mr Smith also said the transition to the Bureau of Meteorology under the national Flood Warning Infrastructure Network (FWIN) program will benefit our community.
"By transferring ownership to the BOM, we're securing expert maintenance, full integration into national forecasting and long-term reliability," he said.
"This is a more appropriate and fit for purpose approach, while giving emergency services and the public faster, more accurate data during critical events."
The new gauges will be feeding data into Council's internal monitoring system by the end of this week, giving Lismore City Council, the SES and local emergency officers immediate access to real-time readings.
Council is also working to make this data available to the public through the Disaster Dashboard on the Lismore City Council website. The community will be notified as soon as it goes live.
National integration will take longer. It's expected to be up to 18 months before the data appears on the Bureau of Meteorology's public website, as part of its national flood warning system.
The FWIN program is a national initiative to simplify, standardise and upgrade flood warning systems across Australia. BoM currently owns only a third of the nation's 8,000+ gauges. The transition of Lismore's network will help ensure consistency, resilience and faster response times in future disasters.
