THE ICONIC Wollumbin Mount Warning National Park will reopen on Monday, May 29, after being closed for the past two months due to the Tweed flood.
The Summit track and Lyrebird loop both suffered extensive storm damage resulting in unsafe conditions for public access, according to the National Parks and Wildlife Services.
Mount Warning Road also suffered extensive damage during the flood where a large section of the road collapsed causing it to be inaccessible.
Council said the road is now open but flood repair works on the road will continue for some time yet as only the critical safety repairs have been completed.
“At some time, the road may need to be closed again as additional repair work is scheduled,” Council said in a media release.
Motorists are advised to watch for traffic controllers on Mt Warning Road and other Tweed roads as flood repair works continue.
In particular, they are urged to take extra caution even after light rain as many roadside areas are still saturated and prone to slippage and rock falls in the wet.
“The road you travel on today may not be the same road tomorrow,” Manager of Infrastructure Delivery Tim Mackney said.
“Please expect the unexpected, especially after rain.”
Council’s road network sustained considerable damage in the floods, with more than 1500 individual road and bridge defects identified.
To date, Council staff and contractors have completed around 350 of the simpler and most urgent repairs.
Council is engaging more contractors to help continue the flood restoration works as Council staff must begin to return to Council’s normal program of construction works.
“Realistically, it will be 12 months before we have most of the damage fixed,” Mr Mackney said.
“Some more complicated or lower-priority jobs may take up to three years before they can be scheduled and completed.
“We ask Tweed motorists to be patient as we work through this significant list.”
Council said repairs are being prioritised based on a number of factors, including safety.
Please note that elders of the Bundjalung Nation request that visitors not climb the mountain as it is a sacred site. However, those that decide to climb are asked to be respectful, take their rubbish with them and respect the environment.
Information from Visit NSW states that: “Wollumbin is a sacred place of great significance to the people of the Bundjalung Nation. Under Bundjalung law, only certain people can climb Wollumbin, so consider choosing to respect their heritage.”
Wollumbin was stolen as the heritage and name of my families peak and applied as a fake aboriginal name to Mt Warning, fake Bundjalung Nation is a white mans fabrication, in Queensland the same language group is Yugambeh.