A Springdale Heights resident says Albury Council needs to more regularly maintain a key road that sent rocks and dirt into downhill estates during Friday's storm event.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 500-metre Shaw Street is a primarily dirt road that leads up to One Tree Hill and is the primary access to the Andersons Clay Mine.
It became impassable on Friday when mud and rocks were sent down the road and into a new residential estate downhill.
Ross Wheeler took photos of the damage, which included rock that council installed uphill to stop erosion last year and added to the storm impacts.
"It works right up until you get a big rain event like we had and it can't handle it," he said.
"So all that rock they put there to reduce the erosion ended up washing down and filling up the drains.
"Of course once it's filled up the drains all that storm water now is going along the surface instead of down the drain and all the people down the bottom of the hill get their gardens washed away and their driveways."
Mr Wheeler said up to 40 B-double trucks ferrying clay from the mine could be using the road and believed the level of maintenance done by council was not enough.
"They seem to trivialise it by saying it's a low traffic road with two residents," he said.
"It is in fact an important road - it's the only road that leads to communications towers on One Tree Hill, so all of the emergency services and essential services need to navigate it.
"But it's currently dangerous due to the edges - if there were two vehicles trying to get up, one would be in a ditch."
Australia Post and couriers have advised they won't come up the road and Mr Wheeler, who has lived in the area for 20 years, believed an ambulance wouldn't have been able to pass it either.
"It's not the case of sour grapes because it's not a sealed road - it's the fact that it's not maintained," he said.
"I would think that we're entitled to at least a navigable road that we can drive on without damaging our vehicles.
"Occasionally council will run a grader over it ... but more often than not the mine actually bring their heavy machinery to fix it.
"But that's not for the residents' benefit - they've got commercial interests in wanting to get through."
Mr Wheeler said Friday's impacts was a repeat event; last time one of the locals took their grader to the road to at least get past, which is illegal.
Albury chief executive Frank Zaknich was asked if council would commit to more regular maintenance.
"The commitment we'll make is that we'll respond to any and all of the requests that we've had so far, so over 100 to date, and for Shaw Street in particular, our people have been out there and it's a matter of prioritising the work," he said.
"(It will be) how soon we can get our work crews out there to deal with the storm damage initially and then we look at what the future maintenance might be, but the commitment is to touch base with them which we've done and then schedule the works program as quickly as we can.
"COVID is impacting on all of us ... we'll do our best."
Mr Wheeler said a regular works program was needed to fix the issue.