Motorist Terri-Lee Campion said there were a number of roads in and around the town that were damaged and required urgent attention. 

“A lot of the roads have very big potholes which are a hazard to drivers,” she said.

“There are many potholes in between Stawell and Ararat and often I see motorists swerving to avoid them which is extremely dangerous.

“It is great to see they will be repaired soon because they are in a very poor state and need to be fixed as soon as possible.”

Mayor Tony Driscoll said the works were laid out to ensure council was eligible for state government funding.

“Unfortunately, we are unable to undertake the works ourselves as we are required to hire contractors in order to claim emergency recovery funding,” he said.

“This is a large tender and it has taken some time to put in place, but once it is all finalised we can move ahead with what needs to be done.”

Cr Driscoll said the council had carried out emergency work on the roads since September to make them usable for motorists, but there was still widespread damage.

“Our unsealed road network showed immediate damage, but our sealed roads have also been impacted,” he said.

“While they may have looked okay after the floods, the seeping water, combined with increased traffic during harvest, have caused some breakage.”

More than double the average rainfall for September fell across parts of the Northern Grampians Shire during the floods.

Stawell collected 136 millimetres in September, compared to 42 millimetres in the same month in 2015. 

The huge amount of rainfall was Stawell’s biggest September total since Victorian Bureau of Meteorology records started in 1996. 

Cr Driscoll thanked Northern Grampians Shire residents for their patience during this time, and said they should take care on the roads while they were being repaired.

“Repair works will ramp up soon, but in the meantime we are asking people drive to the conditions and abide by the road signage we have out,” he said.

“If they find any hazards on our roads we would urge them to advise council who can issue appropriate warnings.”