French backpacker Lucas Chabreyroux pulled from torrential Ellis Beach landslide
A 23-year-old was told his life was in danger if he remained in Ellis Beach, and he should leave immediately; seconds later, he was trapped in a raging landslide.
Cairns
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A 23-year-old backpacker was told his life was in danger if he remained in Ellis Beach, and he should leave immediately; seconds later, he was trapped in a raging landslide.
Lucas Chabreyroux from Martel, France, had begun a short-term job at Ellis Beach Bar and Grill a month earlier, sleeping in his 4WD by the beach at night.
But debris tumbling from the Macalister Range almost cemented his grave on Sunday as severe rainfall lashed the region as result of Cyclone Jasper; rocks rattled his vehicle and mud flowed beneath the doors into his cabin.
“I was thinking, ‘f--k, I’m in it’. I was so scared for my car,” Mr Chabreyroux said.
Fortunately, amid the carnage, a local with an excavator pulled him from peril.
Nick Giampietro, a bar manager at Ellis Beach Bar and Grill, was the man behind the controls.
“It wasn’t looking good … he was pretty shaken up,” Mr Giampietro said.
Just a few yards away, Katrina Weekes was sheltering with her two children and mother at the Ellis Beach holiday park as boulders and logs pounded the walls of their cabin.
Ms Weekes returns every year to commemorate the death of her brother, Ron, after whom the cabin had been named; this year, she feared for her own safety, and the safety of her family.
“When I looked outside, there was a wall of trees coming at us,” Ms Weekes said.
“A blocked drain on the other side of the road had made its own dam, but it burst and all this water and rock just started coming down at us.
“My mother thought the whole cabin was going to be picked up and tossed out to sea.”
About 500m down the road, Dave Donnelly watched as kilolitres of water flew past his eyes, through Ellis Beach Surf Lifesaving Club.
Tonnes of rocks tumbled over a small cliff and clamoured against the structure.
“In 50 years, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Mr Donnelly said.
Fortunately, the residents and visitors at Ellis Beach survived unscathed.
As dawn broke on Monday, the extent of the damage was incredible.
Numerous landslides covered the Captain Cook Hwy, clogging water drains and forming small hills of sand and splintered scrub.
The earth had swallowed sections of local roads and carparks; the beach had eroded with fury, tumbling palm trees like dominoes, and stopping inches from holiday cabins.
Visitors, some with families, started to scamble past the debris and made their way two kilometres to Buchan Point, the nearest road open to vehicles, on foot with their baggage.
A collection of earthmoving crews had been allowed in – hour by hour they loaded eight-tonne trucks with piles of debris.
Within the confines of the town, a mammoth clean-up and repair effort began, too.
Through Monday and Tuesday, staff at the bar and grill toiled to remove mounds of mud strewn through the kitchen and storage areas.
One man, who they called “Irish”, worked a grinder to remove busted materials as the sweat poured from his brow and fogged his glasses.
Others scooped muck into a rubbish bin and heaved it over a balcony for an excavator, back and forth with little rest.
Mr Chabreyroux laboured with the crew, somewhat unfazed by the catastrophe that befell him just 48 hours before.
“I feel OK, now,” he said.
“They found me a place to stay at the holiday park. This community has been so good to me.”
Ellis Beach Bar and Grill manager Cecilia Marland led from the front removing mud with her bare hands as she carefully rotating some staff through arduous, filthy work while resting those drenched in sweat.
“All right, team, let’s go. We’ve got this,” Ms Marland yelled.
Speaking to the Cairns Post, with her arms up to her elbows in mud, she showed no hint of dejection.
“I’ve seen some really shit weather up here, but never anything like this,” she said.
“That’s all right, give us a couple of weeks and it will be brand new again.”
At the Surf Lifesaving Club next door, a small group of members and caretakers had made strides in their clean-up effort.
Despite the huge landslides locking them inside the suburb, they had discovered an unexpected liberty to enjoy between workloads — the cool room still functioned, and beers could still be poured.
“Our first priority is to make this club safe for our members,” Mr Donnelly said.
“The spirit of this community has been excellent.”
Assistant caretaker Mick Roberts assessed the masses of fallen rock to the building’s rear.
“It goes down metres. There would be maybe 20 tonnes of rock here,” Mr Roberts said.
Tom Hedley, who owns the holiday park and the bar and grill, scoped the extent of damage to both his businesses.
He said he would repair both properties.
“It’s going to be a big, big effort,” Mr Hedley said.
“I’m fortunate I’ve got a good team of people with some decent machinery.
“We’ll get through it. I’ve got no option but to keep going. We’ll fix it pretty quick, weather permitting.”
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Originally published as French backpacker Lucas Chabreyroux pulled from torrential Ellis Beach landslide
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