Cyclone Zelia wreaked havoc on this WA school. Months later, it’s still rebuilding

It was the Valentine’s Day gift no one asked for. Cyclone Zelia tore through Western Australia’s far north, making landfall as a category 4 system and bringing destructive winds and significant rainfall.

A remote community school directly in the cyclone’s path is still suffering the consequences, with teachers’ accommodation destroyed, classrooms made unsafe, and no word yet from its insurance company on the total cost of the damage.

Pictures of the damage and evacuation, including flooding where the teacher’s accommodation is located.

The Strelley Community School operates two campuses at Warralong and Strelley Stations, between 150 kilometres and 60 kilometres from Port Hedland.

After the community was evacuated via helicopter, it became clear it would be almost impossible to return imminently, with all major roads flooding.

It was a unique situation, according to The Nomads Charitable and Educational Foundation managing director Ingrid Walkley, who said previously, one campus or the other was impacted by severe weather events – but never both.

The foundation provides grassroots relief to the Strelley community, and plays a huge role in keeping the school campuses running.

Within the week, the evacuation centre set up in Port Hedland cleared and was transformed into a temporary classroom for the displaced students.

While some students returned to their community via helicopter once it was safe, the majority stayed with friends and family in town to continue schooling.

But the teachers, many of whom had moved from afar to work, did not have anyone to stay with, and rentals proved impossible to come by.

Walkley said four of the teachers, with seven of their children and two dogs, were relegated to swags on the floor of the local Baptist church for more than a month.

Other teachers were placed in temporary accommodation, but were forced to move on multiple times per week based on availability.

Finally on March 28, all teachers were moved into discounted rental properties.

Meanwhile, Walkely said works were underway to make the school sites safe again.

The foundation organised for contractors to head out to the school sites once the roads cleared, to fix flood-damaged flooring in a primary school classroom and the roofing in a multipurpose secondary classroom.

At the start of term 2, teachers and students were finally able to return to their community but housing problems for teachers continued.

Even at the end of the term, their homes were not fixed, with the insurance company yet to provide a statement on the damages, or how much is covered, despite sending someone to survey the site in April.

Teachers are living in temporary accommodation vans on site, or sharing space with other staff in the homes not impacted by the storm.

Costs undertaken by the school

In Port Hedland:

• White goods and furniture for teacher accommodation. 
• Clothing and other essentials for teachers, which they had to leave behind during evacuation.
• Meals for staff. 
• Resources including stationary and books for students. 
• A bus to pick students up each day for school.
• All rental and temporary accommodation costs. 

Back in community: 

• Temporary accommodation vans at the Strelley site at a current cost of $11,200.00 (excluding GST) per 28 days.
• Temporary accommodation van at the Warralong site at a cost of $29,436 until August 26.
• A temporary hire generator is installed while the new generator is being purchased and installed.
• Repairs to the damaged floor in the Primary Classroom.
• Temporary repairs to the Multipurpose Classroom (initiated by a mining benefactor) to make the classroom safe, but more work is needed.  
• Safety compliance inspections.
• Repairs needed for two teacher homes at Warralong.
• Repair of three homes at Strelley. 

A position statement sent to the insurers stated the school was under “significant duress” and unaware of “how much is being allocated towards repairs and contents, and by whom and when”.

“Our already constrained budget is being seriously stretched to the limit while we wait for an insurance outcome,” it reads.

“The prolonged wait is affecting the mental health of our staff and the culture of our school.”

In mid-May, the school was given $350,000 by their insurer to cover initial costs.

“We are now hundreds of thousands of dollars past what the insurance company initially gave us,” Walkley said.

“Our budget is severely impacted.”

She also said several teachers had since chosen to leave, and the school was struggling more than ever to find replacements.

“It’s always a challenge to find teachers for remote schools, especially given there is a teacher shortage across Australia – applicants have more choice on where to go,” she said.

“Even so, we usually run successful recruitment campaigns but this time, with no certainty on accommodation, that has not been the case.”

Students from the Strelley School in the evacuation helicopter.

Walkley is calling on the insurance company to act faster and provide the school with the financial support it needs, but said it would also be a boon if the federal government to step in.

As an independent school, with parents of students unable to financially contribute to school fees, the majority of its funding comes from the federal government, but Walkley said it would be of huge benefit if they received a disaster relief payment of some kind.

But despite the struggles the school has faced since February, she said the upside was seeing how the Port Hedland community had rallied around them.

“We cannot thank them enough. There was so much support from so many different places, from accommodation, to help with organising excursions,” she said.

“And a huge shout-out to the families and the students for choosing to stay and prioritise education despite being away from their community.

“The resilience of the staff, students and families has been absolutely remarkable.”

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