Sydney had its wettest August since 1998 and one of the wettest in 168 years as well as much higher than average rainfall in July. An inconvenient yet inevitable consequence of the endless deluge is potholes.

When water seeps into small cracks in the road surface and traffic continues to pass over it, larger cracks and potholes are created. Crews prioritise emergency temporary patching to make the potholes safe for drivers, however patching while the rain continues is not as effective as when the sun is shining and can cause them to open up once more as the rain continues.

Once the rain stops, crews monitor the temporary patching and use a range of techniques to better seal the road. This is complemented by an annual program of crack sealing, micro surfacing, heavy patching and full road resheeting on a priority basis.  

Between 1 July and 31 August 2025, 1,568 potholes were reported to Council, and we have been able to make safe 1,355 of these.

Additional funding from the recent Special Variation to rates has allowed Council to boost the number of road crews, speeding up repairs and reaching more problem areas sooner, ensuring our roads recovered more swiftly from the impact of severe weather.

As an example, over the weekend of 23 and 24 August our after-hours team received 33 emergency calls for dangerous potholes. Our crews were able to repair 249 potholes and lay more than 10 tonnes of asphalt material in those two days alone.

In addition to routine repairs, since the start of July our crews and contractors have completed 3,000 square metres of heavy patch pavement repairs at 15 different locations, targeting those areas most impacted by the wet weather.

The recent run of fine days is helping crews attend to every reported pothole. If you see one that needs repair, please be sure to report it so our crews can on top of it as quickly as possible.

The main arterial roads on the Northern Beaches are state-managed, which means the NSW Government is responsible for their maintenance, including repairing potholes. The state-managed roads are:

• Beach Road, Palm Beach
• Ocean Road, Palm Beach
• Barrenjoey Road 
• Pittwater Road, Manly Vale to Mona Vale 
• Warringah Road
• Condamine Street (Brookvale to Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation)
• Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation and Myrtle Street overpass
• Forest Way
• Wakehurst Parkway
• Mona Vale Road 
• McCarrs Creek Road (From Terrey Hills to McCarrs Creek Reserve) 
• Liberator General San Martin Drive
• Sydney Road, Manly 
• Belgrave Street, Manly
• Manly Road, Manly
• Frenchs Forest Road (in Seaforth)