“Until next time, we’ll do it all again” - Dan Powick
Published on 04 August 2021
Coordinating Council’s resources was a tricky job during the March floods, but someone had to tackle this task and Dan Powick was up for this challenge.
This week is Local Government Week, which is a week dedicated to the important work councils do for their communities.
To acknowledge our committed staff, we are sharing their stories from the March flood event and recovery.
Like many staff, Dan Powick wore many hats while coordinating Council’s resources during the flood response, monitoring river levels, organising road closures and arranging sandbagging for low lying areas.
“I was monitoring the rainfall and predicting possible flooding scenarios so that Council could act according to flood guides. Actions taken included the opening and closing flood relief structures, working with the State Emergency Service to provide sandbags to at-risk areas and once the immediate threat was over, coordinating clean up works.”
“I was basically on call 24/7 with many phone calls to my manager Dylan Reeves and the Local Emergency Management Officer Robert Fish, the phone just did not stop ringing but apart from that, it was all in a day’s work for me and putting in the extra work is just me doing my part for the residents of the Macleay.”
Stand-out moments for Dan were bittersweet, acknowledging that while seeing the floods from the air was a sight to behold, it also demonstrated the true extent of the damage and impact on the shire.
“While dropping medical and food supplies to the Hat Head community who were isolated put a big smile on my face, when we were flying over the flood structures to see how they were operating, we witnessed the massive amount of water inundating the flood plain and saw firsthand the destruction and devastation for the community, especially the farmers and the lower Macleay residents – that was tough.”
“Seeing how the works department pulled together to help the community with all they had to offer was fantastic. As they say, until next time, we’ll do it all again.”