Federal Member for Farrer Sussan Ley today joined with Griffith City Mayor John Dal Broi to inspect the site for $1.2m in works to help protect the Yenda community from future major flooding events.

Funded as part of a Commonwealth/NSW National Partnership Agreement on National Disaster Resilience, Griffith City will receive funding for two projects to help with local flood mitigation.

According to Ms Ley “a key priority for Council has been restoring the decommissioned flood gates at Yenda’s East Mirrool Regulator; this three-way contribution of around $400k from all three levels of government can now make this happen”.

NSW Member for Murray Austin Evans said “the project will provide additional discharge capacity to move and manage floodwaters, as well as providing relief for upstream farmers from damage to their land and crops”.

Welcoming the funding, Murrumbidgee Irrigation (MI) CEO Brett Jones said “the flood management works at the Regulator would enable MI to support the Council during flood events and enable a quicker return to normal operations”.

Ms Ley also announced $120,000 in funding for upgrade design work on Hanwood’s pump and levee storm water system to prevent water from flowing back and flooding into the village. Griffith City Council will contribute a further third of the total project cost ($180,000).

Another Farrer project ($211,000) will fund a study aimed at raising the North Deniliquin levee to the same level as the South levee, while also addressing local amenity and access concerns. Edward River Council is contributing $31k of the costs.

This local funding is among $1.7 million allocated to NSW councils to better understand or manage flood risks – a complete list all Floodplain Management grants for 2017-18 is at the NSW Office of Environment & Heritage.