Mayor Tom Tate reveals mammoth scale of destruction in city reserves from Christmas Day storm

Mayor Tom Tate has given an extraordinary update on the scale of storm damage to Gold Coast reserves, revealing council has still not been able to properly access some areas.

The scale of destruction caused to Gold Coast parks and reserves by the Christmas Day storm has been so severe that council have still not been able to fully assess the damage.

In an update to media about ongoing recovery efforts, Mayor Tom Tate on Tuesday revealed that 90 reserves across the worst affected areas had been “severely or highly impacted”, with many walking tracks left impassable.

“While we have been focusing on restoring our suburbs to normal, we have also had teams beginning the task of restoring hiking tracks, surveying the damage in our forests and looking out for injured wildlife,” Mayor Tate said.

“Over time, NaturallyGC will provide opportunities for the community to help recover our native forests and restore wildlife habitat, through tree planting and other environment initiatives.

“But unless you see it for yourselves it’s hard to comprehend. The debris across hiking tracks in one reserve was so significant that a whole team spent an entire shift to only clear 100m.

“This is going to take time, so please do not enter badly impacted natural areas and stay well clear of fallen debris and storm damaged trees.”

Mayor Tom Tate. Picture: Amaani Siddeek

Mayor Tate said the city, in partnership with Dr Patrick Norman from Griffith University’s Climate Action Beacon, is using satellite imagery to map the extent of the storm damage.

He said bushfire mitigation was also a top priority with council’s hazard reduction burn team conducting assessments and analysing the risks extra debris around the city as well as canopy loss in some areas might pose.

It was revealed that enormous work also remains to be done to clear debris from suburban streets, with crews working their way through a mountain of waste in kerbside collections at Upper Coomera, Helensvale, Coombabah, Runaway Bay, Hollywell, Paradise Point and Hope Island.

Mayor Tate said 35 per cent of pick-ups had been completed and more than 21,000 tonnes of green waste removed since Boxing Day, praising the work of crews in sweltering conditions.

“Despite the rain, heat and strong winds we’ve experienced since Christmas, our 50 crews have been out and about every day,” he said.

“So far they have cleaned up 570 streets and 215km of roads.”

Mayor Tate said the operation was solely for storm debris, warning that leaving other waste out could slow down clean-up crews.

“Residents are reminded that this is a disaster recovery operation, not a general kerbside clean up,” he said.

City of Gold Coast CEO Tim Baker also applauded the efforts of the crews.

“We have had City officers on the tools since Boxing Day working weekends and public holidays,” he said.

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Originally published as Mayor Tom Tate reveals mammoth scale of destruction in city reserves from Christmas Day storm