On 27th August The Channon Resilience Inc hosted a flood safety meeting for our community. The well-attended meeting had people from across our sub-catchment…from the headwaters at Terania, Tuntable Falls and Whian Whian to the southern end of Keerrong valley. We thank everyone who presented and volunteered on the day.
We had presentations on Rocky Creek Dam (Rous County Council); the new SES warning system (Joanna Jones & Janet Petit); flood history (Ed Bennett Lismore SES); Anna Conley on our Flood Observations project; and Annie Kia on the Terania-Keerrong flood safety project. Lismore City Council had people on hand to provide information, including flood recovery officers Nikki Treanor and Justin Webb, and Strategic Planning Coordinator Andy Parks. You can view the presentations on The Channon Resilience YouTube channel.
One of the reasons we needed this meeting was widespread confusion about Rocky Creek Dam alerts. We need to be clear that these are not flood warnings.
We have just updated the Floods section on The Channon Hub webpage thechannonhub.org/disaster-response/floods/. We invite everyone to have a good look – you’ll find lots of useful information, including on the new capacity of SES to issue flood alerts for our community, using data from our excellent citizen rain and creek sentinels.
During the workshop some of those impacted by flood in Keerrong valley shared that they felt neglected in flood recovery efforts in our council area. We strongly encourage everyone who needs information and support to contact Nikki Treanor, Flood Recovery Officer at , phone 02 6625 0571. Nikki is very keen to work with people in our rural communities, so please contact her. Also check out links in the recovery section on our website.
We would like to thank the Northern Rivers Community Foundation for a grant that enabled our Flood Observation project, and this community event.
Storm season is coming people, and more rain. Did you know you can improve the range of your CB radio with the addition of an antenna? Check out this new information sheet by Greg Hall Improving your CB radio experience. It explains why CB can be tricky in our terrain, and simple things we can do to make it work better. It also explains how you can add a longer antenna to your hand-held device, or get an antenna to suspend from a tree, with links to where you can buy these additions to your CB radio kit. If you are in a radio dead-spot, don’t suffer in silence. Radio contact can be improved.
On 18th June we held a workshop Community safety during floods & fires with CB Radio. Communication is the foundation of community resilience. Going 10 days without phone, internet or functional roads taught us that and we’re never going to be caught out like that again! We’ve had fantastic guidance from Greg Hall (from Elands) and John Miller from the Summerland Amateur Radio Club (SARC) who educated us on CB radio, how it works and what we can do with it. Greg taught us how to build a simple power-backup system to keep our comms devices going during blackouts. Check out his information sheets on CB and back-up power on this resources page. Greg has a knack for explaining things as you can see in the short video. His information sheet on CB is very helpful. Check out Getting Started With Citizen Band (CB) Radio.
Evaluation showed the workshop was much appreciated, with participants keen to join the network. We now have one of the most developed CB radio networks in the Northern Rivers, with 65 people in the valleys and on high points from the village to Terania, Keerrong and Koonorigan to Tuntable Creek. We’re especially happy to have participation from the Keerrong valley where there is such vulnerability to flooding. Needless to say, this network is also going to be very useful in fire emergencies.
Many people are using inexpensive radios that need to be programmed to Australian frequencies. If you want one of these to participate in our Channon network please contact Martha Beasley 0401 514 641. Alternatively you can buy an Australian radio. When the current order arrives we will start with the next stage of network development. This will involve:
Establishing a base station in the village for better connectivity
Developing a simple protocol for emergencies
Establishing a regular ‘radio hour’
Further tests for radio coverage so that we can map connectivity
If you would like to join The Channon Emergency Radio Network email with your name, address and phone number.
Getting to know where each other is on the landscape. Topography is important.
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