Aquamonix Solutions and the Clarence Valley Council work towards flood resilience

Aquamonix Solutions has recently assisted the Clarence Valley Council with the installation of automatic signs controlled by water levels, as well as a camera aimed at the Bluff Bridge. The need for the project was identified by the Glenreagh community and was an action listed in the Glenreagh Floodplain Risk Management Plan (adopted by Council in 2018). The project was for the installation of remotely monitored flood gauge in the Orara River with automatic signs controlled by water levels in the Orara River, as well as a camera aimed at the Bluff Bridge with images streamed live so residents could see the bridge status in real time.

Flooding of the Orara River has caused the Orara Way to close on many occasions at this location. The closure causes isolation and inconvenience to the community of Glenreagh and surrounds as well as through traffic between Grafton and Coffs Harbour. The automatic signs will ensure that the residents of Glenreagh are informed regarding road closures in a safe manner, not requiring them to drive the 15km from the village to the bridge to determine whether the bridge is closed by flood waters. Often this drive is undertaken in poor weather conditions.

The Orara Way is also a main road between Grafton and Coffs Harbour and often travelled by tourists. The goal of this project is also to ensure that this road closure can be communicated in a timely manner to these motorists.

During normal conditions the camera images are updated every 1 hour and more frequently during potential flooding. Images are time and date stamped to enable people to tell when they were taken.  Please note that the time stamp for the camera images is related to Australian Eastern Standard Time (EST), and there will be a 1 hour difference during the period of daylight saving (Eastern Standard Daylight Time).

Please see Aquamonix Solutions Flood, Weather and Remote Monitoring applications more information.