Christmas and New Year closure details

Council's Customer Service will be closed from 4:30pm Tuesday 23 December and will reopen at 8:30am Monday 6 January 2025. For urgent matters please call Council on 6655 7300 to be connected to our After Hours service.
Council will continue to provide services for our community over the Christmas period with some changes to operating hours of our facilities.

For more information on changes to our services

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Water Alert 16/12/24

Water samples taken on 16/12/24 at Arthur Keough Reserve showed “Poor” water quality. This means that at the time of sampling bacterial levels indicate a substantially increased risk of illness to bathers. NSW Office of Environment and Heritage’s advice after heavy rain, is to avoid ocean swimming for 24 hours and rivers, lagoons and estuaries for 3 days

More information on the Beachwatch program

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Disaster and Emergency Information

The Bellingen Shire Council Disaster and Emergency Information webpage aims to assist in connecting community members with information and support services throughout the various stages of a disaster.

Council updates will be provided on this page. However, for live updates from emergency response agencies during a disaster, please access this through the respective agency's channel.

Download the Hazards Near Me app

Hazards Near Me shows current information about local emergencies, including flood, bushfire and tsunamis, and advice on what to do to stay safe. The app can send you push notifications when there are new incidents or when information changes.

Live Traffic NSW

Live Traffic NSW provides real-time information about roads and changed traffic conditions that affect your journey on roads throughout NSW.

Bridge Flood Camera Network

Monitor river levels and flood impacts on local bridges through Council's network of Bridge Flood Cameras

Stages of a disaster

Council has collated information relating to each stage of a disaster, including key contacts and resources. Use the links below to navigate to the relevant information and resources based on the stage of the emergency.

Before a disaster

By following five simple steps in preparing for a disaster, you can help protect yourself, your family, your pets and your property.

During a disaster

Know how to stay updated with any alerts and find out more about how emergency services respond during a disaster.

After a disaster

Find latest recovery information, grants and support after a disaster.

Our role during a disaster

Emergencies or declared disaster events are controlled by either a Combat Agency or an Emergency Operations Controller (if requested by a Combat Agency or a Combat Agency is not specified). The Combat Agency will vary, depending on the type of emergency.

The following is a summary of potential types of emergencies which may affect out community and the identified lead Combat Agency.

Type of Emergency	Combat Agency
Animal, plant disease, rodent or insect plague	Department of Primary Industries
Fire	In a rural fire district: NSW Rural Fire Service In an urban fire district: Fire and Rescue NSW
Flood	NSW State Emergency Service
Pandemic	NSW Health
Severe Storm	NSW State Emergency Service
Tsunami	NSW State Emergency Service

Whilst Bellingen Shire Council is not a lead Combat Agency, in a disaster or emergency event, as a member of the Local Emergency Management Committee (LEMC) we work to:

Advise of any interruptions to the services we provide, including the status of roads and bridges, water and waste services and more
Restore any services which impact on the welfare and safety of our community in a timely manner
Support emergency lead agencies and/or combat agencies in assisting our community.

For the latest nearby fire, flood and traffic incidents, power and water outages, radio and social feeds, visit the Disaster Dashboard.