Caravan and water ski parks were hard hit by the Hawkesbury River flooding in March with extensive damage caused and some operators saying warnings were inadequate, Risk Frontiers says.

Many of the owners and managers reported flood insurance was either unaffordable or not available, reflecting the exposure of the locations, and for a few parks the damage bill may prevent their reopening.

Risk Frontiers visited nine parks, investigating warnings, evacuation and flood emergency plans, and examining damage and building resilience.

One park estimated the uninsured damage bill would likely exceed $400,000 while another put the damages “far in excess” of $1 million.

At the worst-hit park, the flooding deposited roofing, garden furniture and other refuse, while enormous tree stumps caused secondary damage by colliding with structures and dislodging them into the waters.

A number of caravans from other parks were also deposited at the location, including one from over 40km upstream.

The lowest loss figure estimate was between $5000 and $10,000, uninsured, for a park that lost only the power boxes servicing each site, after intervening early to allow the safe relocation of all the park’s vans.

Most other parks estimated damages from $100,000-200,000, with likely closure times estimated at between two or three weeks to four months.

Some operators reported flood warnings with unclear instructions received by several different methods including email, text message and social media, while difficulty obtaining information about spilling from the Warragamba Dam was also raised as an issue.

Some perceived that the Windsor Bridge was closed too early, preventing some caravan owners attending parks to secure their possessions.

“Those park managers who had lived in the Hawkesbury area for longer periods highlighted a reluctance to rely on warnings of flooding and evacuation alone in activating their flood plans,” the report says.

The research was supported by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre.