Devastating floods in 2006 caused $900,000 damage and then in 2007 there was a further $200,000 damage to the town.

The Northern Areas Council wants to protect the town from further events and is building a flood levee, costing at least $1 million.

Technical services manager David Cowin said they would build the levee on the western side of the town. “We are working with local landowners My Longmeyer and Mr Bruce to acquire some of their property,” he said.

“The levee will help protect the assets of the town.”

He said a drain would be built to catch the water on the western side and channel it to the south across the Spalding-Clare Road.

Mr Cowin said it would go into the wetlands.

“We will look at recycling the water down the track,” he said.

The State Government has funded $800,000 of the project, and the council will put in in-kind work.

Design work is almost completed and construction will begin when the final design is completed.

The flood in 2006 was a 1-in-100 year flood and Mr Cowin said quite a few homes and businesses were damaged. “With climate change, we seem to have more regular occurrences of these events,” he said.

“For a town like Spalding, that damage is huge.”

He said community member had been getting anxious about the problem. A water reuse project could be on the cards for the town, but Mr Cowin said it would be further down the track.