Qld weather: Steven Miles defends bureau amid FNQ flooding

Hundreds of people will be airlifted out of their flooded Far North community today as Defence helicopters arrive in the heart of the disaster zone. It comes as the Premier said the Bureau of Meteorology could not have forecast the scale of the disaster.

Up to 300 people will be rescued from their roofs in a small Far North Queensland town this morning.

It comes as rescue and clean-up efforts kick into high gear after historic flooding left people scrambling for their lives and parts of the region isolated for days.

The Australian Defence Force will fly two CH-47 Chinooks from Townsville to Wujal Wujal to help Queensland Police with the rescue mission of hundreds of residents, after bad weather delayed their efforts on Monday.

Private Scott Garden, from 51st Far North Queensland Regiment, assisting in the evacuation of a mother and child in the Northern Beaches of Cairns.

State Disaster Coordinator Deputy Commissioner Shane Chelepy said the 300 residents would be evacuated to Cooktown, with the elderly and vulnerable to be prioritised.

“The community has rallied together very strongly. While it’s tough, they’re in good spirits,” Mr Chelepy said.

Cook Shire Mayor Peter Scott said Cooktown was ready and waiting to take in the evacuees, with the first helicopter load expected to arrive just after noon, with thick cloud cover still preventing rescue efforts.

Mr Scott said the people airlifted would be housed short-term at the Cooktown evacuation centre. There are buses waiting to transport them from the airport into town.

The northern community has rallied to prepare for the arrival of evacuees, donating food, clothing, hygiene products and bedding.

“Wujal Wujal and Hopevale are our very close neighbours,” Mr Scott said.

“They’re very much a part of our family and we will take care of them.”

He said he hoped that the evacuation centre accommodation would only be a stopgap, with a desire that many families could be housed with Cooktown locals.

“For sure, people would be willing to do that,” he said. “The community have been great.”

Mr Scott said Cooktown was still cut off, with roads shut and supplies dwindling.

Royal Australian Navy personnel providing support to Queensland Fire and Emergency Service in Cairns.

Residents have also been asked to restrict water use with the town struggling with problems at its water treatment plant.

The mayor said he hoped more supplies including food could be airlifted into town in the coming days.

“We’re doing okay though,” he said. “We’re still getting a few tiny rain showers around but it’s nothing like the deluge we have been getting.

“There’s a lot of damage to roads everywhere.”

Mr Scott said he was heartened by the way his community had rallied together, with dozens of stories of locals rescuing their friends and neighbours from floodwaters in boats and even a small helicopter.

“It’s amazing stuff,” he said.

“That sort of altruism spreads throughout the community too.”

Mr Scott said he had lived in the area for 30 years and he was shocked by the sheer amount of water the area had seen in recent days.

“All records have been broken,” he said. “I’ve seen some good floods here but I’ haven’t ever seen rain like that up, it’s just been a deluge.”

The ADF will also help bring more emergency service personnel into Cairns today to relieve “tired and fatigued” workers, before flying in 100 more on Wednesday.

“I know it started with Jasper but we have weeks of work ahead of us,” Mr Chelepy said.

“We’ve got isolated communities from Cooktown to Innisfail.

“We have widespread devastation in these areas … we were seeing houses completely underwater … enormous damage to the road network.”

Mr Chelepy also defended the Bureau of Meteorology after it faced criticism for not warning residents about the devastating flooding before it was too late.

“Sometimes we get accused of being too alarmist and going too early … we heard the Bureau say yesterday that this system has not behaved anywhere like we thought it would.”

Premier Steven Miles. Picture: Glenn Campbell/NCA NewsWire

Latest figures show several Far North Queensland areas received in excess of 100mm more rainfall just on Monday.

Mossman received 163mm, Hopevale 153mm and Whyanbeel Creek 141mm.

Bairds, which had already copped more than two metres of rain since last Wednesday, received another 103mm, with Daintree, Diwan and Flaggy also breaking 100mm daily totals.

Premier Steven Miles on Monday said the Bureau’s weather tracking systems could not have predicted the scale of a disaster that left people climbing onto roofs and into trees after metres of rain fell in the wake of Cyclone Jasper.

Asked if the bureau gave enough warning to residents of Cairns and surrounding areas ahead of the record-breaking rain and flooding event, Mr Miles said: “I think the bureau gave all the notice and warning they could based on the information that was available to them.

“It couldn’t be predicted based on their observations and systems just how much rain would fall. They do the best that they can.”

Mr Miles said the scale of the devastating weather event was unprecedented.

“It was anticipated that the rainfall would track the cyclone across The Cape – that’s not what we’ve seen,” he said.

“We’ve seen the rainfall intensely concentrated in Cairns.

“There’s a lot about this weather event that is unusual and has never been seen before.

“There’ll probably be at some point in the future where we can talk about what’s driving those kinds of changes in weather patterns.”

Questions have been raised by locals at Holloways Beach, north of the city, about the Cairns Local Disaster Management Group which sent an emergency alert when they were sitting on the roofs of their homes, already flooded with a metre of water.

It was the first test of the new system, and to Holloways resident Wayne Featonby “it’s not working at all”.

The community of Wujal Wujal is being evacuated to higher ground. Supplied: Wujal Wujal Health Clinic

Rising floodwaters cut off Holloways Beach Rd on Saturday night and Sunday morning, although the community had already been isolated after the Barron River Bridge and a section of the Captain Cook Hwy were closed. “But then there was no warning to get out of flood-prone areas or anything, like it’s already flooded,” Mr Featonby said.

At 7.52pm on Saturday, an email alert landed from the Cairns LDMG warning of low-level flooding in the area.

Mr Featonby said that at 7.29am on Sunday he received a “watch and act” alert, followed by a major flood warning at 9.15am via text message, but that was too late for Holloways Beach residents who were already isolated by flood waters. Then came a flood emergency warning at 7.56pm on Sunday.

By that time residents were already being evacuated from flooded homes, and others were sitting on their roofs waiting to be rescued.

Cairns Mayor Terry James said the LDMG, which he leads, took advice from the Bureau of Meteorology.

“The bureau had forecasted the cyclone to move across Cape York and into The Gulf, but instead it just sat right above us …” he said.

Originally published as Qld weather: Steven Miles defends bureau amid FNQ flooding