Over the past 72 hours, Penrith has been battered by an extreme weather event resulting in floods of a magnitude not seen since 1961.
Large areas of our City have been affected by flood waters, a number of homes and businesses were cut off with some inundated, and many people have been asked to evacuate.
In the face of this disaster, our community has shown its trademark resilience and community spirit. On behalf of Council, I would like to express our concern for everyone impacted by the situation and thank them for their ongoing cooperation.
I would also like to commend the Council staff who have worked tirelessly over the past few days and the SES volunteers and staff for their outstanding commitment to keep our community safe.
Under the instruction of the SES, Council staff have been out on the ground during the emergency placing signage on closed roads, preparing residents for evacuations, helping with traffic control and providing the SES with 46 tonnes of sand for sandbagging.
The SES has been and will continue to be the lead agency for flooding supported by Council, other emergency services and a range of community organisations over the coming days, weeks and months as we head into what will be a massive clean-up operation.
I also wish to thank the many NSW Rural Fire Service volunteers who have been on the ground and ready to provide assistance, working closely with the SES under challenging circumstances.
Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Camden and Liverpool councils have been in touch to offer their help as we move forward, and we greatly appreciate their support. Our thoughts are with our neighbours in the Hawkesbury who are also experiencing major flooding. In line with this, our Animal Services team are currently helping Hawkesbury Council staff to evacuate the Companion Animal Shelter in Mulgrave.
Finally, I would like to urge caution to our community as they move around the City over the coming days and, once again, thank everyone involved in keeping our community safe and informed during this extraordinary event.
Councillor Karen McKeown OAM
Mayor
