Is this the biggest pothole in Australia? Thirty-foot-deep chasm on a road finally fixed after the council removed the fish, built an entire dam to pump out the floodwater, and filled it with 7,000 cubic meters of clay
- A nine meter deep pothole has been filled
- The crater was filled with water and fish.
- It was caused by flooding in November.
A massive 30-foot-deep pothole in a rural road has finally been patched after fish and crustaceans settled inside during five months of flooding.
Five months after it first appeared on the Booligal-Gunbar Road in far south-west New South Wales during a flood, Hay Shire Council contractors and workers finally filled in the yawning chasm.
To do so, council workers had to create a makeshift dam to drain floodwater from the crater, which was home to a number of fish and babblers when repair work began.
The crater was 40 meters long and 15 meters wide, and required 7,000 cubic meters of clay to fill once the water was drained.
Western New South Wales is the flattest place in the southern hemisphere, creating a headache for workers trying to drain the pool.
Crews needed to create a makeshift dam to drain the ditch before they could start repairing the road.
The pothole was 45 meters long, 15 meters wide and nine meters deep.
The council needed several trucks and three hired crews to clear the area that had been inundated by an adjacent river since November.
A month ago, the waters had finally settled enough for the Council’s operations manager, Greg Stewart, to survey the area with crews and begin repair work.
“The council was unable to reduce the flow over a period of five months so that repairs could be made,” Mr Stewart told Daily Mail Australia.
‘To be honest, the community, particularly the village of Booligal, was very patient and understanding throughout the works.’
Speaking to ABC, Stewart said the strange job caught the attention of his entire team.
“We posted an inspection crew and it went down eight feet initially, so we knew it was going to be big,” Mr Stewart said.
“All the guys wanted to work on that project because it was so unique, something we’re not used to.”
After building the dam at the site to begin pumping out the water, Stewart said sea creatures were seen escaping the waters.
‘The guys were reporting how long it was taking and how much water was coming out.
‘The amount of fish and chatterboxes swimming, coming out.’
Once the pumps had done their job and cleared the ravine, the workers kept the cannon.
It took more than 7,000 cubic meters of clay to fill the chasm.
The flat plains of New South Wales, the flattest in the southern hemisphere, looked like oceans after the 2022 floods
It took two bulldozers and five dump trucks to get the 7,000 cubic meters of clay into the hole, as Mr. Stewart’s trucks only had nine cubic meters per load.
‘We had trucks lining up and [the clay] it had to be layered and compacted.
“It was just a case of pouring 7,000 cubic meters into a hole, so it took a little bit of time,” Stewart said.
Despite a series of road washouts, Hay Shire council hope to be able to reopen it to four-wheelers before Easter.