A typical river height and rainfall station in the Ipswich area
Residents and businesses in flood prone areas of Ipswich have been placed at additional risk by senseless vandalism of automatic river height and rainfall stations.
Ipswich City Council’s head of emergency management Bryce Hines said the weather stations provided vital data to council and the Bureau of Meteorology during rainfall events.
“There have been four instances of vandalism since last December targeting two stations in the Rosewood area.
“The important point to make here is that if these river height stations are out of action during flooding then accurate information about river heights and flows cannot be provided as part of weather and flood warnings.
“This poses a significant public and property risk downstream of these stations.
“There is also a cost burden to ratepayers each time damage occurs.
“Thousands of dollars in damage has been caused.”
Anyone with information about damage to automatic river height and rainfall stations is urged to contact Policelink on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
