Family hit with parking fine during floods
A family who moved their car to save it from rising floodwaters has been slapped with a $283 fine from the local council.
On July 6, as the floods in the New South Wales region turned roads into torrents of water, Amber Evans and her husband were among many faced with their homes and belongings being inundated.
With their backyard completely flooded, her husband moved their car to higher ground.
“It was like two inches from coming inside the house,” Evans told 9news.com.au.
“We didn’t feel safe moving our car back into the gutter as it was full of water, the driveway was full of water.”
Though they were still under a flood warning, the couple received a $283 fine from Cessnock City Council the following day for illegally parking on the median strip.
“Any other day of the week I could understand but we were parked there to save our car from being flooded,” Evans said.
On top of their backyard being underwater, the septic tank was also submerged - meaning the toilets couldn’t be used - and their children had been evacuated to their grandparents’ house.
“My seven-year-old was at his grandmother’s home crying about whether he was going to come back to a house,” Evans said.
“I found it’s stressful enough going through flooding, even though we were lucky for (floodwaters) not to go inside, without needing to add on the next day the rangers are out fining us for having our cars parked safely.
“It’s very disheartening to see Cessnock City Council fining residents for saving their possessions.”
In a statement, the council said fines were issued to cars “illegally parked in areas that had been, but were no longer, subject to flooding”.
“The ranger who issued the tickets was unaware that the street had flooded the previous day as there was no evidence such as floodwater, flood debris or road closed signage,” the statement read.
“Council has written to Revenue NSW advising it would support a caution being issued instead of a fine.”
However, Evans said reducing the fine to a caution wasn’t enough and called for the council to apologise to residents who were fined.
“It is still a mark on my husband’s licence, in return, that can affect his job,” she said.
"It's not about getting the fine taken away, it is the fact this shouldn't be happening.
"During a flood event, a natural disaster, it wasn't the time to be out fining people whose cars were on higher ground."
Ian Olsen, one of the councillors for Cessnock, said the fines made the council look like “fools” and undermined the support the council was trying to provide for flood victims.
“It is a bad look for council to be fining people during the floods,” he said.
"Why the ranger went down there and did that, I don't understand. It's bad enough having your house flood."
He defended Evans and her family, adding that their car wasn’t parked in a dangerous position and describing rangers as a “power to themselves”.
"Our rangers need to be more lenient, just allow residents to be able to keep their cars safe," he said.
Images: 9News