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Council crews have been busy cleaning up after persistent strong winds over the past three days. 

Mayor Cr Ben Blain said a section of Viaduct Road had been severely damaged over the weekend. 

“We have made a decision to close the pedestrian bridge connecting Viaduct Rd to the Pickering Point pathway.

“The undermining of the shoreline extends almost to the bridge abutment so we’ve closed the bridge as a precautionary measure. 

“This erosion also undermined several car parking spaces along Viaduct Rd near the amenities building so we’ve closed those until our engineers can properly assess the risk.”

Cr Blain said given the severity storm it was fortunate that damage to Council buildings and assets elsewhere was relatively minimal.

“We’ll be assessing damage over coming days but early indications are that we’ve come through reasonably well, although we understand there are some homes and businesses that have been without power at times,” Cr Blain said.

“Overnight we had some sections of fence blown over at two kindergartens and the botanic gardens.

“We’ve also close the boat ramp because of an accumulation of seaweed and storm debris.

“We will have to wait until after the next expected tidal surge has passed before we can clear the ramp.

“Now is not the time to be launching boats anyway.”

Cr Blain also thanked State Emergency Service volunteers for helping those who had experienced storm damage to homes and private property.

Council’s Director City Infrastructure David Leahy praised the work of the outdoor crews.

“These are unpleasant conditions to work in but staff do a great job clearing roads and paths so that people can move about safely,” Mr Leahy said.