THE Snowy Mountains Hwy on Brown Mountain has been damaged by a landslide after heavy rains and repairs to the site will take about six weeks to complete. 

A Roads and Maritime (RMS) spokesperson said the incident occurred at an embankment about halfway down the mountain on Monday, January 4 just before 3.30pm. 

“High rainfall and steep slopes increase the risk of landslip along the Snowy Mountains Highway,”  the spokesperson said.

While the highway was closed for a time, one lane was soon opened to allow traffic to pass through.  

The spokesperson said a geotechnical engineer assessed the site on Tuesday afternoon and work to repair the road will start as soon as weather conditions allow. 

“During work one lane closure will remain in place along with traffic control and reduced speed limits for the safety of workers and motorists,” they said. 

It is not the first time such an incident has occurred, as in early 2012 Brown Mountain was closed for a month when a landslide disintegrated parts of the highway. 

Member for Bega Andrew Constance said he would be urging the RMS to do whatever was possible to make the highway safer in the future to prevent more incidents such as this, but topographically it was a tough area to work on. 

“Any work that can be done to strengthen it needs to happen, but it is tough circumstances so you can’t give any guarantees,” he said. 

“But we will be able to keep the road open, fingers crossed, during the repairs.” 

He wanted to see stabilising works similar to those conducted last year on the Clyde Mountain, which also suffered from landslides.

Mr Constance urged people to go to the Live Traffic NSW website to get information before travelling.

Also, he expressed his disappointment that people continue to drive through flood waters despite the risks involved, such as the man who was fined after attempting to drive across the Murrah Bridge while it was flooded and became trapped. 

“I am disappointed that time and time again people do not heed the messages about flood waters,” Mr Constance said. 

“You are not only putting your own life at risk, but also too often a loved one and emergency services’ lives as well.

“It’s simple – don’t do it.” 

As far as Mr Constance was aware, this man was one of the first in the state to be fined for driving through flood waters.