Cost to clean up Bunbury freak weather events totals more than $1.4m

The clean-up from Bunbury’s two freak weather events in May will cost the city about $1.4 million, according to chief executive officer Alan Ferris. It has been nearly three months since the weather events — which first saw a tornado rip through Bunbury’s southern suburbs followed by a severe storm three weeks later which damaged multiple businesses in East Bunbury. Mr Ferris confirmed the city was confident the seven-figure bill would be covered by the Federal Government as part of the disaster recovery funding. He also confirmed about 4200 hours of staff time had been put into cleaning up and repairing the city. This number did not reflect the true amount time spent by the city staff because it only included the “outside of office” hours, omitting hours worked by teams such as communications and the executive. Mr Ferris said the clean up was an immense project. “It’s a significant undertaking and we’re really proud of what the city staff have done, often outside of hours and on weekends and there’s still more to do,” he said. Combined, the two weather events damaged more than 300 properties, leaving 19 properties destroyed, however, damage to city infrastructure was minimal. The biggest damage sustained for the city was the number of trees destroyed with areas such as East Bunbury and Eelup Rotary hit particularly hard in the second storm. Mr Ferris predicts some of the trees damaged were up to 100 years old and said while replacing them was unlikely to be covered by the Commonwealth, talks would be had with the State Government. “That’s one of the things we’ll probably need to work with the State Government on because we will need to replace a large number of those trees and they may not be covered by the funding arrangement with the Commonwealth,” he said. “We think they’re pretty important to the infrastructure and the look and feel of the town so there’s still work to do to assess some of those trees and then ultimately potentially remove some of those trees.” Bunbury MLA Don Punch said he would be happy to support a re-greening project. “The City of Bunbury has a fantastic greening policy and is to be commended for its commitment to expanding our urban canopy,” he said. “Trees make a huge difference to the liveability of our suburbs and I am committed to making sure Bunbury is a great place to live. “If I receive a request from the city to assist with procurement of replacement trees, I will certainly do what I can to support to the project.” Six people remain in emergency accommodation supplied by the State Government’s Department of Communities, according to Mr Ferris. While the accommodation is State-run, the city’s community recovery officer has remained active in connecting impacted families with support services. Mr Ferris said one of his big takeaways from the incidents was how the community banded together. “There’s a couple of things — how proud I was of our staff and the response, but also the State Government support was immense,” he said. “But also the community and the community groups, and how the City of Bunbury have shown its spirit in supporting each other. “The PCYC, they’ve had significant offers around some of their programs and where can they be held and there’s people reaching out and other groups reaching out saying ‘you can use our space’. “It’s that typical country spirit and you can see it’s alive and well in Bunbury.”