Etheridge Shire flooding set to cause prolonged resupply issues for Gulf communities

The flooding of just one outback bridge has cut off seven North Queensland communities as residents caught out between flooded rivers take shelter on cattle properties.

Georgetown in the Etheridge Shire is assessing its damage following heavy rainfall and flooding.

The flooding of just one outback bridge has cut off seven North Queensland communities as residents caught out between flooded rivers take shelter on cattle properties.

The cattle grazing and mining Etheridge Shire west of Cairns has been isolated in multiple locations with recent flooding of the Einasleigh, Etheridge and Gilbert Rivers, along The Gulf Developmental Rd.

The three rivers meet near Strathmore and flow out into The Gulf of Carpentaria, from where moisture is being drawn into stagnant monsoon trough over northern Queensland, causing widespread rainfall.

Etheridge Shire’s Georgetown, was hardest hit this week with Mayor Barry Hughes reporting the Etheridge River broke its banks on Tuesday night, enforcing evacuations on St George St from about 1am Wednesday.

A file photo of a flooded Etheridge River bridge at Georgetown, about 280km southwest of Cairns.

“We evacuated about eight residences and had a total of 16 people in the evacuation centre (on Wednesday morning) in the early hours,” he said.

“We’ve seen major flooding, massive rainfall totals. There’s been a lot of damage across the shire.

“We’ve lost our cemetery, it had about 2m of water go over it, we’ve lost the road which has been decimated to the cemetery. It’s a sad day because that cemetery has been there a long, long time and it has been absolutely demolished.”

Mr Hughes said between Monday and Wednesday about 300mm of rain had fallen at Georgetown, but residents were returning home to assess their losses.

Etheridge Shire Council Mayor Barry Hughes says it's a sad time for Georgetown with the community losing its cemetery due to flooding. Photo Steve Pohlner

“We’ve had an opportunity to let people back inside their houses to assess the damage and we’ve had council crews working throughout the morning making sure the integrity of the infrastructure we’ve got hasn’t been compromised.

“It’s going to take a long time to fix or rehabilitate the damage that’s been done.”

Mr Hughes said across the region the eastern communities of Mount Surprise and Einasleigh had reported some flooding but no major damage, but Forsayth had been isolated for a number of days due to flooding of the Delaney River.

However, he said flooding of the Gilbert River, west of Georgetown would severely impact his neighbouring shires including Croydon, Carpentaria and Burke.

Gilbert River bridge 80km east of Croydon has flooded, cutting of resupply for a number of Gulf communities. Photo Steve Pohlner

“So that road (Gulf Developmental Rd) is going to be cut which creates a perennial problem which is when it goes under, the Gilbert River Bridge, it cuts off six communities from a resupply perspective; that’s Croydon, Normanton, Karumba, Doomadgee, Burketown, Mornington Island.

“It all gets held up. It’s going to be another long period for those communities in terms of resupply.

“At this point in time we’ve been advocating tirelessly for the state and federal government to address the elephant in the room – and that is ageing infrastructure and we’re seeing the deterioration of government assets on state-controlled roads.

“We had the catastrophic failure of a bridge on The Gulf Developmental Rd last year, it knocked the road out for nine days before it could be repaired.

The bridge over the Etheridge River on The Gulf Developmental Rd outside Georgetown was washed away by floodwater last year. Picture: Renee Matthew

“We’re seeing lack of capacity from infrastructure like the Gilbert River Bridge, not being able to service communities and community expectations in the year of 2025.”

Mr Hughes said he was confident he had managed to make contact or seek assurances for the safety of residents on remote stations, and expected stock losses in his shire to be a minimum “at this point in time”.

“Right now we’re going through the process of becoming a declared disaster event.”

Originally published as Etheridge Shire flooding set to cause prolonged resupply issues for Gulf communities