Flooded towns brace for 270mm deluge as devastating clean-up begins
The defence force has been brought into rebuild parts of the decimated Bruce Hwy as the Prime Minister has jetted into the north Queensland flood disaster zone.
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Defence Force members have been flown to north Queensland to rebuild parts of the Bruce Hwy as the Prime Minister prepares to visit residents in disaster zones.
Monsoonal rain has forced the evacuation of more homes, washed away headstones, left towns with no power or water and continued to hamper recovery efforts.
Ingham, one of the hardest-hit towns and where two people have died, had a slight reprieve of sunshine for half of Wednesday, but by the afternoon heavy rain had returned and there is more to come.
The weather bureau is forecasting up to 90mm of rain on Thursday for the Townsville region, up to 90mm on Friday and up to 40mm on Saturday.
The rain has also moved further south with areas from Ayr to Mackay copping massive falls over Tuesday and Wednesday, flooding low-lying areas and closing roads.
A Qantas plane was forced to abort its landing on Hamilton Island on Tuesday as the island was hit with more than 300mm of rain in 24 hours – a 24-year record.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to fly into north Queensland on Wednesday night, before visiting flood-ravaged communities on Thursday morning.
Premier David Crisafulli has promised flood-ravaged North Queenslanders authorities will not stop until power, water, phone, food and transport services are restored after a devastating one in 100 year flood.
“I am here to deliver what this community needs,’’ the Premier said after arriving in Ingham.
It comes after police launched a search and rescue operation in Ingham after a man was seen in floodwaters near Cooper Street on Tuesday night.
The man entered flood waters around 5.15pm and remains unaccounted for, despite water and aerial searches on Wednesday morning.
Mr Crisafulli said monsoonal rain, which had seen homes evacuated overnight and headstones washed away from a cemetery, was continuing to hamper the recovery efforts.
“It just shows this system continues to have some might in it,” he said.
“There remains the possibility of more rainfall.
“What happened overnight at Mission Beach proves that.’’
At Georgetown he said there “were headstones washed away from the local cemetery”.
“It gives you an indication of how ferocious this system is and how it continues to pack a punch.’’
He said the Herbert River remained at major flood levels.
“The level of damage will be immense. There is no doubt about that.’’
“We remain in an emergency,’’ he said, urging people to remain vigilant amid forecasts of more rain.
“This community has already lost two of its own and we don’t want to see any more loss of life.’’
The Premier paid tribute to emergency services who had left their own flooded homes to help others.
He outlined efforts to restore basic services, saying generators had been flown into the community to get water running again.
Generators had also been bought onto a barge at Lucinda with the hope to get services restored on Thursday. They were also being flown into service stations.
“We have brought back the hospital and other assets in the past 48 hours.’’
Mr Crisafulli said workers had been flown to look at the flooded Ingham power substation to assess damage and what is needed to get it repaired.
An engineer had been brought in from Townsville to get it operational.
About 2000 litres of diesel had been brought into Lucinda.
While supermarkets had enough non perishable items, authorities were working to get perishable items into the area.
He said 47 schools remained closed with half having been reopened.
“Roads remain a massive challenge,’’ Mr Crisafulli said.
“We are here, we have lots to do, we are not going anywhere until it is done.’’
“Power, water, phone, cleanliness, getting you back on your feet. I say that to all the communities ’’
“We are going to be there for the long haul.
“What has been thrown at North Queenslanders has been truly a one in 100 maybe more but people in this part of the world are one in 100s and are truly tough.’’
Senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said 318mm was recorded on Hamilton Island over the past 20 hours while South Mission Beach recorded 287mm.
Deputy Leader for the Katter’s Australian Party and member for Hinchinbrook Nick Dametto said Ingham was “in trouble right now” with hundreds of homes inundated, while the local disaster management group issued an alert advising that the town’s water system has failed.
After flying in by chopper on Monday afternoon, Mr Dametto said the town was going to need a lending hand after being cut off for several days.
“(There are) hundreds of houses inundated. Plus we’ve lost electricity to at least 6000 houses across the Hinchinbrook Shire, and we’ve lost telecommunications.
“It’s pretty dire out there at the moment,” he said.
Mr Dametto said while water began to recede on Monday night, it seemed to be holding during the day and not dropping at a fast pace.
The ADF are set to fly in a generator to run the town’s water supply on Tuesday – if weather permits – however there is no timeline for the power to be restored to the town which has already been out for two and a half days.
Hinchinbrook Shire Local Disaster Management Group on Wednesday morning issued an urgent warning that the water system has failed and residents will not have any access to water.
Restoration is under way, however no time frame has been given for repairs.
Widespread showers and storms are set to continue across northern Queensland on Wednesday, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning a flood watch is still in place for many parts of the coast.
“Major flooding is ongoing across the Herbert River catchment, but through parts of this catchment flood levels are now holding steady or have begun to gradually fall, although they are still well above the major flood level,” Ms Bradbury said.
“Moderate flood warnings are still in place for numerous other catchments, including the Ross and Haughton Rivers, the lower Burdekin, the Connors and Isaac Rivers, and further north, the Tully and Murray Rivers.”
An emergency alert for a “dangerous, fast-moving flood” that was issued for people in the Georgetown area, northwest of Townsville, has been cancelled.
It comes as an elderly woman has died in the flood-ravaged community of Ingham – the second death to rock the regional town since the disaster began.
The tight-knit community is facing one of its greatest battles as receding flood waters reveal a trail of devastation and uncertainty when basic amenities will be restored.
An 82-year-old woman was located in floodwaters at Bemerside near Ingham shortly after 11am.
According to police the woman’s body was found in a cane paddock at Fulton Drive.
Initial investigations indicate the woman was last seen by a nearby resident at about 6pm on Monday night inside a two-storey house.
Her death follows that of another woman after the SES boat she was in crashed Sunday morning, and part of a bridge was swept away by floodwaters.
Police confirmed the 63-year-old woman was assisting members of the public through flood waters at Rutledge Street when it struck a tree and flipped.
Further along the decimated Bruce Highway Townsville residents were yesterday returning to their homes after a major flood warning was downgraded to moderate with Premier David Crisafulli declaring the city had “dodged a bullet”.
However, devastating scenes in Ingham saw the town reduced to an Island as flood waters inundated hundreds of homes and businesses, cut power and telecommunications and left supplies of food and fuel scarce.
Diesel ran out completely on Tuesday with huge lines for fuel as desperate locals tried to power their generators as more than 7000 residents were left without power.
In unprecedented scenes, police were standing guard at the entrance to the local Woolworths on Tuesday after more than 200 battered residents turned up for supplies, with police only allowing 20 customers in at a time.
The situation has become so dire members of the Australian Defence Force have mobilised to move into the North Queensland township.
Federal Emergency Management Minister Jenny McAllister told Today additional disaster funds will be made available this afternoon.
“We have opened up the disaster recovery allowance, this is a payment that is made available to people who have lost income,” she said.
“If you’re a person who hasn’t been able to go to work because your place of work has been closed or because the roads are not open to get between your place and work you’ll be able to apply.
“We do really encourage people from 2.00pm this afternoon to get onto that services Australia website and see if you’re eligible for that additional support.”
Residents in the small town of Giru, south of Townsville, have started the clean-up after severe flooding lashed their community at the weekend.
Giru, which sits by the Haughton River, was completely cut off by floodwater for multiple days and power was cut after the river spilled its banks and inundated the town.
Fast-moving floodwaters raged down the main street and through the homes of residents, including Linda Drysdale who said it was the worst flood she’d ever seen.
“I woke up and I swung my legs out of bed and – water, everywhere,” Mrs Drysdale said.
“I’ve lived here 19 years … worst I’ve ever seen.”
More than 30cm of water came through the back of her home and damaged furniture worth about $12,000.
The resilient resident lost her husband to a heart attack in November, saying it would be a difficult clean-up.
“It’s been very hard, very challenging, but I’m getting there.”
Another Giru local Gary Gudge still had water in his backyard days after the flooding started.
“It was about 2am in the morning and I thought ‘I wonder if that’s rain water or river water’, and it was coming up, running,” Mr Gudge said.
“It just came roaring through the back fence.”
Mr Crisafulli said Townsville had been spared amid warnings of a flood that could have rivalled that in 2019.
“There is no doubt that the city has dodged a bullet, and if you reflect that nearly six years ago to the day, people were picking up the pieces, and to think that in many cases, has been spared is certainly a relief,” Mr Crisafulli said in Townsville on Tuesday.
Townsville disaster group chairman Councillor Andrew Robinson said “the weather has gone in our favour” and the advice was now all residents could return home, including those in Hermit Park, Rosslea and Railway Estate who were earlier advised to hold off on returning.
Telstra regional general manager Rachel Cliffe said the telco had made significant progress restoring services yesterday, with nearly 85 per cent of its mobile sites now back online.
“With support from the Australian Defence Force, we were able to chopper to a region inaccessible by road and restore numerous mobile sites this afternoon, including in Cardwell, Cooktown and in the Torres Strait,” she said.
“Our teams across the region are also continuing to do all they can to access other affected sites when it’s safe to do so, particularly in and around Ingham, and bring services back online as quickly as possible.
Woolworths confirmed that all North Queensland stores were now open.
A spokesman said several truckloads of stock had arrived at the Townsville Distribution Centre to restock local stores between Townsville and Mackay.
However, truck access to stores to the north via Ingham and up to Mossman remains cut-off.
“We are working with local suppliers across milk, fruit, veg and meat to co-ordinate deliveries direct to our stores where possible, and we remain in constant contact with the state government and emergency services to prioritise deliveries for the impacted areas,” the spokesman said.
said there has been a call to action for interstate help, with assistance expected to arrive up north by the end of the week.
“Obviously, the road situation makes it really, really difficult, but they are at the ready, and what they will do is provide a break.
“In the last little while, since I’ve been here, I’ve just looked into the eyes of some of the people, whether they’re in the in the headquarters here, or police at the front line, or the fireys, or the SES, or the ambos, and you can tell they’re getting tired,” he said.
Ingham remains the biggest challenge, Mr Crisafulli reiterated, with just one supermarket back online.
He said the attention right now was on aerial support, with key assets such as the hospital coming back online on Monday night. “There is a handful of key services like the supermarket and fuel stations, but our immediate focus is on airlifting generators, and we’re most grateful for the support of the Australian Defence Force to be able to get into there and provide power to some of those critical issues, things like additional fuel supply, things like the water treatment plant which is going to be going to be really, really key part of the recovery.
“The second element is the substation, and the substation that has been offline is the reason why nearly 7000 households have been without power, and have been for some time.
“Workers are getting in on the ground to have a look at what the extent of that damage is, and then an assessment will be made about how quickly that can be repaired, or if there needs to be an alternate in that place as well.”
Ergon Energy says it is focusing their energy on Ingham, as customers in Giru and Cardwell begin to see power restored.
An Ergon spokesman said crews left Townsville on Tuesday morning to begin aerial fault-finding patrols over Ingham and surrounding areas, but were forced to pause due to poor weather conditions.
Accurate restoration timelines cannot be provided until Ergon teams are able to assess the damage.
It comes after the Bruce Highway was washed away at Ollera Creek, north of Townsville, inhibiting any access to vital food and supplies.
When asked about repairs to the Bruce Highway, the Premier said this disaster is an example about how “ridiculous” the state of the Bruce Highway is.
Mr Crisafulli did not go into detail on the timeline of fixing the cut off section of the Bruce Highway.
“You’ve got so many thousands of people at the mercy of one road. It’s one road that hasn’t had the investment in for generations,” he said.
Originally published as Flooded towns brace for 270mm deluge as devastating clean-up begins
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