Are You Emergency Ready?

There’s now a Climate Resilience Plan for Toronto to Teralba (T2T)

The Teralba to Toronto (T2T) Climate Resilience Plan is now available for review and feedback. Submissions can be made via Shape Lake Mac until 31 July 2025. 

Covering nine lakeside suburbs from Teralba to Toronto, the plan sets out how our community can build resilience by proactively preparing for, and adapting to, current and future climate-related hazards. These include familiar risks like bushfires, flooding and rising lake levels, as well as the growing impacts of heatwaves, urban heat and severe storms. The plan is structured around five themes.

Did the recent east coast low trigger any anxiety in your household? Do high winds and high tides make you wonder if you’re prepared and what can you do? Are you concerned about foreshore erosion or local flooding?

In early July a community workshop was held at The Hub where Council’s Climate team introduced the Teralba to Toronto Climate Resilience Plan and the Red Cross crew delivered an Emergency ‘RediPlan’ session exploring the contents of the guide ‘Emergencies Happen: Protect what matters’.

The RediPlan is a must read & do document offering practical tools to help households prepare for floods, storms, heatwaves and more. Being prepared for a climate emergency not only reduces the immediate stress but also greatly assists in recovery. The Red Cross’s experience is “The ‘what ifs’ hurt less afterwards when you’ve got a plan.”

With 111 years of experience supporting communities, the Red Cross knows that having a current emergency plan can make all the difference. Emergencies often strike fast. Knowing what to do, and who is doing it, can turn chaos into calm.

The Get Prepared app and downloadable RediPlan offer a simple start. Having a plan for your family household and other significant people in your life can take a lot of pressure off when it counts.

Knowing the emergency plans for organisations that care for your loved ones is also important. Where would they be evacuated to in an emergency? The Blue Mountains fires had parents in a panic as they got gridlocked for 3 hours trying to return home, not knowing where their kids were, and if they were safe.

Having an emergency grab-and-go bag in these situations can make all the difference in a crisis and in recovery. The Red Cross’s ‘Get Packing’ guide says there are two types of items to consider:

Survival items- things that will help if you have to evacuate your home quickly or if you have to stay in place without essential services. Items include light (torch & batteries), water, food, battery-operated radio, medications, phone charger, pet essentials, clothing, First Aid kit, toiletries, cash, hard copies of important phone numbers and ID.

Recovery items – things that will help limit disruption to your life after the emergency has passed e.g. key documents, insurance, ID, photos of memories and valuables (on a USB or in hard copy), your RediPlan.

When faced with 30 seconds to evacuate from your home your decision making is often not functioning optimally. The Red Cross team provided some anecdotes to drive home the importance of being prepared; the newlyweds response to having to evacuate as the Blue Mountains fires approached…wife was home, hubby was at work, she grabbed her wedding dress and a hair straightener, these were the most important things in the moment. The mum of four who grabbed two bananas and an electrical cord, it looked useful. Having a Grab & Go bag packed, having thought through your responses means you know you’re doing what you need to do.

The workshop also emphasised that evacuation centres are a last resort—like a life raft. It’s better to identify a meeting place, plan three ways to get there, and share this with your family or carers. Think about what the needs of your family and friends are, how your pets will cope or be transported, and what support networks you can rely on.

Neighbourly connections also matter. In most cases, it’s your neighbours who will be first on the scene—not emergency services. Strengthening our local networks now can save lives later. The RediPlan includes helpful tools like ‘Connecting to the Social Grid’ cards to start these connection conversations.

“Besides being fulfilling in many other ways, being a part of a community will help you in an emergency”

The importance of Apps was highlighted too. Resources like the “Hazards Near Me NSW” app, ABC Emergency (radio and Listen App), Live Traffic NSW, and the Bureau of Meteorology are excellent to stay informed, before, during, and after a disaster.

The CPPA is exploring how to support our community in times of need. Making the hall available in an emergency, fostering social connections, and ensuring our local environment can recover are all priorities.

Together, we can build a safer, stronger, more connected and climate-ready community.

Teralba to Toronto (T2T) Climate Resilience

LMCC’s Climate Resilience Crew are inviting interested locals to learn more about risk management in the context of their climate resilience work from Teralba to Toronto.

Join Steve O’Keefe for an interactive introduction to risk management, with a focus on climate change and disaster risk.

This session will explore the practical applications of risk management in strengthening climate resilience between the lakeside suburbs of Teralba and Toronto.

Steve is a logistics and project management specialist with a passion for implementing realistic risk mitigation strategies. He has previously lectured in Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainable Development at the University of Newcastle.

• Date: Thursday 28 September 2023
• Time: Please arrive at 4.45pm for a 5pm start
• Venue: Committee Room: Lake Macquarie City Council Administration Building, 126-138 Main Road, Speers Point, NSW, 2284 (or online by MS Teams – RSVP)
• RSVP by emailing nfarmer@lakemac.nsw.gov.au For further information on Teralba to Toronto Climate Resilience Planning visit: shape.lakemac.com.au/Teralba-to-Toronto

Are you ready for a long hot summer?

Attendees at a recent T2T Climate Resilience meeting had a strong focus on emergency management and disaster risk reduction – particularly with the summer bushfire and heatwave season approaching. Please see the following links and resources to assist:

o   See Emergency services | NSW Government for NSW emergency links including access to key NSW agencies and the Hazards Near Me App

o   See NSW RFS Get Ready site: Plan and prepare - NSW Rural Fire Service

o   NSW Health is a lead agency in response to extreme heat (heatwave) events. For further information see: Beat the heat (nsw.gov.au)

o   Visit NSW SES site for flood and storm preparedness and response: NSW State Emergency Service.  SES also has a local flood emergency sub-plan Local Flood Emergency Sub Plan

o   See Council’s Emergencies page to access key links and information: Emergencies - Lake Macquarie City Council,  especially:  Preparing for an emergency - Lake Macquarie City Council

o   Council’s Senior Bushfire Officer advised that the next Council EcoAdvocate Newsletter will include a story on preparing for summer bushfires.  If not already subscribed, visit: Get the latest environmental news from Council (confirmsubscription.com)

Why do Sustainable Neighbourhood Volunteers do what they do?

TASNG Update- July

The next meeting of the Toronto Area Sustainable Neighbourhood Group will be  9/8/23
2nd Wednesday of the Month
5-6:30pm 

The Hub, 97 The Boulevarde.
 All Welcome. 

Local initiatives of the Toronto Area Sustainable Neighbourhood Group (TASNG) include:

1. Advocating for Shared Pathways with priority Toronto to Booragul, but not forgetting Kilaben Bay to Rathmines;
2. Advocating to LMCC and Biraban Land Council about planning for a Biraban/Threlkeld memorial as part of the Toronto Foreshore Planning later this year;
   
3. Setting up a major display at the new Landcare and Sustainable Living Centre (umali barai-ku) for“Plastic Free July” to encourage people to reduce their purchase of all plastics, reuse of containers, and recycle plastics where available;
4. Maintaining the garden established on Awaba Road at the entrance to West Toronto and the wetlands opposite Lions Park;
5. Helping the Boomerang Bags group at Toronto Library, second Saturday of each month;
6. Supporting the Pamper Care project at the Woodrising Neighbourhood Centre by collecting food during the current rental crisis;
7. Advocating for the community against the overdevelopment proposal for apartments at Cary St adjacent to McDonalds;
8. Participating in resilience meetings about climate change preparation through Ausgrid and Toronto to Teralba area meetings;
9. Launching an anti-graffiti campaign in Toronto, acknowledging support from Toronto police and local businesses with Certificates of Appreciation and applying for a Clubs Grant to set up Awabakal mural displays at Goodsir St Toronto where graffiti was removed.

Pamper Care Report 

A HUGE, HUGE thank you to those who supported Pamper Care with cash and product. It is really appreciated.

Again, tin June we had a high turnover of clients needing support. Thirty one people, including those with cats, needed mainly food assistance.

Once again, Pamper Care funds subsidized some of the OZHarvest intake. At Woodrising Neighbourhood Centre’s OzHarvest day, held ona Thursday, at least 12 people have attended each week, coming in for fresh fruit and vegetables.

Ausgrid resilience workshops

About 30 residents from Lake Macquarie have attended three workshops since April (with one more in October) to assess options for Ausgrid to implementstrategies to improve the resilience of infrastructure and community responses during severe weather events.

Along with Port Stevens and Central Coast, Ausgrid is submitting a proposal to the Australian Energy Regulator to spend about $200M in support of these and other initiatives.

Current focus areas for Lake Macquarie are: protection of high vegetation areas from east coast lows, reduced outage time and frequency for most customers, development of a blackout plan, an Ausgrid liaison person shared between the three Councils, energy resilience, small mobile generators (also for mobile phone towers) and communications targeting vulnerable customers.

Sustainable House Day (SHD)- Sunday March 19

Did you know that you can take part in Sustainable House Day for free, from the comfort of your own home?

Eight free online sessions on March 19th, bring together SHD homeowners and experts to give you insights from lived experience as well as leading industry knowledge. 

It’s all part of the process to transform Australian homes for climate and energy resilience.

All the details are here.

You only need to register once to give you access to all sessions across the entire day. 

10AM Do it yourself: Owner-building

11AM Design for life: Accessibility and ageing in place

12PM Creating sustainable housing: Eco communities and co-housing

1PM Quick and easy? Exploring prefab and modular homes

2PM Running on sun: Using solar energy at home

3PM EVs and the grid: Understanding sustainable transport

4PM Maximum efficiency: Lowering your energy bills

5PM On the cheap: Sustainable design on a budget

Four reasons to explore some local bushland

21 March - International Day of Forests

A forest by definition is “a large area covered chiefly with trees and undergrowth” and that describes the amazing bigger bushy backyard we all share. We have a couple of different kinds of forest throughout our community, Spotted Gum Forest, Sugarloaf Lowlands Bloodwood-Apple Forest and a Swamp Oak- Rushland Forest, which is also an Endangered Ecological community to name a few.

Forests play a central role in combating the biggest health threat facing humanity: climate change. Healthy forests help keep global warming in check: forests contain 662 billion tonnes of carbon, which is more than half the global carbon stock in soils and vegetation. Forests and trees also help buffer exposure to heat and extreme weather events caused by climate change, which pose a major global health challenge. For example, trees properly placed around buildings cool the air and can cut air conditioning needs by up to 30 percent, also saving energy.

Forests boost our mental and physical health. Spending time in forests increases positive emotions and decreases stress, blood pressure, depression, fatigue, anxiety and tension. Trees in cities also absorb pollutant gases from traffic and industry and filter fine particulates such as dust, dirt and smoke, which help shield urban populations from respiratory diseases.

23 March - National Eucalyptus Day - Gums, gums, glorious gums

If you’ve seen one gum tree have you seen them all? Definitely not and there is handy guide to Gum Trees of Coal Point on the CPPA website that will help you to work out the difference between your Smooth-barked Apple (Corymbia costata) and your Swamp Mahogany (Eucalyptus robusta) and everything in between that lives in our area.

There are detailed pictures of bark, fruit and tree …all the important bits you need to work out which gum you’re gazing at.

25 March Earth Hour 8:30-9:30pm

The Earth Hour theme for 2023 is taking #TimeOutForNature. One of the most inspiring places to Time Out in our area is the well-formed track from the Hunter Water access road at the crest of Whitelocke Street to Rofe Street via Coal Point School’s Naturespace. The walk has some beautiful vistas, amazing trees, and glorious Gahnia groves. It’s about 1km one way.

Trees are the lungs of our planet, and we need them to help reverse the impacts of climate change. Now is the time to press pause and work together to protect nature and restore what we have lost.

So make the time - whether it’s 60 seconds, 60 minutes or beyond the hour - to reflect on the incredible benefits nature provides us and create a better future for people and planet.

Simulation summary

On Saturday morning 11th February, Council and Hunter Joint Councils staff demonstrated the Simtable 3D interactive tool that can simulate the impact of bushfire, storm and flooding events on a specific area.

We focussed on western Lake Macquarie and, in particular, on the wider Coal Point and Toronto areas, and considered flood and bushfire risk scenarios.

The main flood risk area is the low-lying land around Puntei Creek and wetland in Carey Bay bounded by Excelsior Parade. Further information is available at: https://shape.lakemac.com.au/lake-tributary-flood-studies

The scale and extent of bushfire risk, how far and how fast bushfires can travel, and why a plan is needed was clearly demonstrated, using the 2002 Killingworth fire as an example. Bushland and surrounds in the Coal Point area are only moderately at risk as there is not enough connectivity of bushland in our area for fires ’to run’. Major risk is for large bushland areas west of Fassifern.

Ember attack is likely to be the primary reason for spot fires developing in our area on severe and catastrophic fire days. The need for preparation plans to be in place were emphasized along with seasonal maintenance such as gutter cleaning and garden maintenance. (information available at https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/resources/bush-fire-survival-plan).

A take home message from the session was that a response to a catastrophic fire event in our community would likely require a significant community response addressing and containing controllable spot fires in our area of fragmented vegetation and small reserves. To prepare yourself and your property for the worst case scenario completing your bush fire survival plan is the best first step.

Some smartphone apps were recommended to inform what was happening locally and when travelling.

Red Cross Get Prepared : helps you access information and tools to complete an emergency plan, as well as their RediPlan template.

Hazards Near Me: keeps you updated on current/live bush fire and flood threats across the state.

More online resources to assist with the bush fire season:

RFS website: for information about your bush fire risk, creating a bush fire survival plan

1233 ABC Radio and news channel 24 ABC: are the designated emergency channels.

Are you prepared for fires and floods?

On Saturday 11 February there’s an opportunity to see how your property will stand up to a natural hazard using a ‘Simtable’, a sophisticated “digital sand table” that displays high quality models of natural hazards such as bushfires and floods.

The Simtable will be the conversation starter at the members morning tea sign-up being co-hosted by the Coal Point Progress Association (CPPA) and Toronto Area Sustainable Neighbourhood Group (TASNG) at Progress Hall, 197 Skye Point Rd Coal Point, 10am-noon.

The Simtable works by showing a simulation of how a hazard moves across and impacts a landscape. Because it uses local maps and data, the Simtable provides a highly realistic demonstration of how individual properties and the broader community may be affected, improving our community’s awareness of these hazards and how best to prepare and respond, in this climate changing world we’re in. If you want to do a deep dive into your property an RSVP is essential.

The event is also an opportunity to join your local community organisations CPPA and TASNG. Membership forms will be available and morning tea will be provided.

Please RSVP for catering purposes using the link or you can register by phone/SMS 0438 596 741 or email cppasecretary@gmail.com.

RSVP 

https://hub.givar.com/connect/org/coalpointprogress/campaigns/simtable-simulations-for-fire-and-flood-preparedness-members-morning-tea