Flood free despite heavy rain

It’s almost back to blue skies now but for the past seven days it has hardly stopped raining across the south west, just as it has on the entire state of NSW.

Conversations have been punctuated with phrases such as “well, we need the rain’’ and so on, but it’s also true that not only is it inconvenient, it can cause serious flooding.

We don’t mind too much that the annual Sydney cricket Test has been washed out – even if you had tickets to it like we did – but just getting about is arduous when it’s raining so much.

You need, for starters, to cart an umbrella around with you wherever you go, and then you try very hard to avoid leaving it at places where you sit such as a coffee shop or hairdresser’s salon.

I’ve lost count how many umbrellas I have left behind in those places as well as on trains and buses.

But what I marvel about in the south west, especially in Campbelltown, is how little, if any, serious flooding occurs when it rains heavily.

For that we must thank councillors of the 1980s who had the vision to spend a lot of money on major flood mitigation work.

Most locals would have seen the flood channel that runs alongside the railway line on the western side and which starts to look like a mighty river when the skies open up.

It was ratepayers’ money well spent and we are reaping the benefits of flood free roads across the town.

This is a case of getting the basic infrastructure – roads, footpaths, etc – done first before the fancy stuff.

It’s blue skies now but there may be a lesson or two here for our councils as we head to local government elections in September.