PM heads to flood-ravaged north, as food, roads and looters present major issues
Defence Force members are in north Queensland to rebuild parts of the Bruce Hwy as the Prime Minister visits some of the disaster zones, while “disgusting” acts are being reported in evacuation zones.
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Defence Force members have been flown to north Queensland to rebuild parts of the Bruce Hwy as the Prime Minister prepares to visit residents in disaster zones, as police slam “disgusting” criminals taking advantage of evacuation orders.
Monsoonal rain has forced the evacuation of more homes, washed away headstones from cemeteries, left towns with no power or water and continued to hamper recovery efforts.
Adding to the stress for locals, residents have been warned to be aware of mosquito bites following the first instance of Japanese encephalitis virus since 2022 and the first cases of dengue virus in five years.
Ingham, one of the hardest-hit towns and where two people have died, had a slight reprieve of sunshine for half of Wednesday, but by the afternoon heavy rain had returned and there is more to come.
The search is continuing for a missing Ingham man who was reportedly spotted being swept away in floodwaters late on Tuesday afternoon.
The Bureau of Meteorology has confirmed flood warnings remain in place across northern Queensland following widespread storms and showers on Wednesday.
The bureau is forecasting up to 90mm of rain on Thursday for the Townsville region, up to 90mm on Friday and up to 40mm on Saturday.
Speaking to Today, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday reinforced the federal government’s commitment to supporting northern Queensland through the flood disaster.
“We know North Queenslanders are tough, but these are tough times and this is why I’m on the ground here. These are really difficult times,” he said.
“Income support is available for those who have lost their income, we’ve made that declaration last night, and we’ve signed off on eight local government areas getting additional funding.
“We also have choppers on the ground providing resources that are needed and a shout-out to Singapore who have made two Chinooks available who are here for training as well.”
Vowing to build back better, the Prime Minister he will work with the state government to ensure the Bruce Highway bridge will not collapse in future flood events.
Senior meteorologist Dean Narramore said major flooding is still occurring along the Herbert River, while moderate flood warnings remain for Murray River, Burdekin River, Connors River and Isaac River.
Flood watches remain in place across northern inland Queensland, with further rainfall on the way over the coming days.
Widespread showers and thunderstorms will continue to impact communities between Rockhampton through to Mount Isa today, with heavy rainfall likely to impact inland communities near Townsville and Mackay.
Conditions are not likely to ease until at least the weekend.
Communities from Ayr to Mackay copped massive falls over Tuesday and Wednesday, causing flooding to low-lying areas and closing roads.
A Qantas plane was forced to abort its landing on Hamilton Island on Tuesday as the island was hit with more than 300mm of rain in 24 hours – a 24-year record.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese flew into north Queensland on Wednesday night, and plans to visit flood-ravaged communities on Thursday morning.
Mr Albanese reinforced the federal government’s commitment to supporting northern Queensland through the flood disaster.
“We know North Queenslanders are tough, but these are tough times and this is why I’m on the ground here. These are really difficult times,” he said.
“Income support is available for those who have lost their income, we’ve made that declaration last night, and we’ve signed off on eight local government areas getting additional funding.
“We also have choppers on the ground providing resources that are needed and a shout-out to Singapore who have made two Chinooks available who are here for training as well.”
Vowing to build back better, the Prime Minister said he will work with the state government to ensure the Bruce Highway bridge at Ollera Creek will not collapse in future flood events.
Premier David Crisafulli has promised flood-ravaged North Queenslanders authorities will not stop until power, water, phone, food and transport services were restored after the devastating one-in-100-year flood.
He also continued to criticise the state of the Bruce Hwy, saying the damage at Ollera Creek was a “living, breathing example of why we need to do better”.
Mr Crisafulli drove to the area on Wednesday, rather than fly, to see the damage to the highway for himself.
“It shows you that you’ve got so many hundreds of thousands of people at the mercy of one road, and that road isn’t up to standard, and we wouldn’t cop it anywhere else in Australia, but somehow we copped in Queensland,” he said.
Mr Crisafulli said the Herbert River remained at major flood levels.
“The level of damage will be immense. There is no doubt about that … We remain in an emergency,’’ he said, urging people to remain vigilant amid forecasts of more rain. “This community has already lost two of its own and we don’t want to see any more loss of life.’’
The Premier paid tribute to emergency services who had left their own flooded homes to help others. He outlined efforts to restore basic services, saying generators had been flown into the community to get water running again.
“We have brought back the hospital and other assets in the last 48 hours,’’ he said.
Mr Crisafulli said workers had been flown to look at the flooded Ingham power substation to assess the damage and determine what was needed to get it repaired.
He said an engineer had been brought in from Townsville to get it operational.
While supermarkets had enough non-perishable items, authorities were working to get fresh produce into the area as soon as possible.
A Woolworths spokesman said several pallets had been flown into Ingham on Wednesday, with another flight planned for Thursday and three trucks ready to go when roads reopened.
Mr Crisafulli confirmed 47 schools remained closed.
“Roads remain a massive challenge,’’ Mr Crisafulli said.
“We are here, we have lots to do, we are not going anywhere until it is done.’’
Two have lost their lives in the flood tragedy – an 82-year-old woman was found deceased in a cane field at Bemerside near Ingham on Tuesday, and a 63-year-old woman was killed after the SES boat she was in hit a tree and capsized on Sunday.
Looting has been reported in areas where residents have evacuated, with police announcing there would be patrols to protect the homes of flood victims.
Townsville Superintendent Chris Lawson said he was “disgusted” by the behaviour, and assured the community 24-hour patrols were being conducted.
“The Queensland Police Service has zero tolerance for stealing, especially during a disaster,” Superintendent Lawson said.
“I am disgusted by these reports of people in our community taking advantage of this weather event and the devastation it has caused across our region.
“As we move into the recovery phase, police will continue to target offenders and hold them responsible for their actions.”
Telstra’s Rachel Cliffe said nearly 85 per cent of mobile sites were now back online.
“We have a chopper loaded and ready to go at first light, weather depending, to take technicians and generators to sites in and around Ingham, so they can bring more services back online,” she said.
Hinchinbrook Mayor Ramon Jayo said the shire had suffered “significant damage and we are hurting”.
Mr Jayo said the council had not been able to effectively act because of the impact of the widespread floods, which have left a large number of communities in the shire isolated.
“We’ve got no access, we’ve got floods, water had not receded, we’ve got no power, no food, we’ve got no nothing until today when the cavalry arrived,” he said. “Now we can see that things are happening, the water is receding, everyone is coming into town, we are getting resupplied with food … through the use of Army helicopters. We’ve got generators being flown into town to restore our power, we’ve got a lot of things happening.”
Mr Jayo urged residents facing what was likely to be a grim and lengthy process of cleaning their homes to place garbage in front of their homes, but in a way so as to not impede traffic.
“We have crews ready to go as the water drops, so that’s all arranged, we have arranged for diesel fuel to come in for Halifax, we are bring that up from Lucinda by barge today and then we will take it though the floodwaters,” he said.
“Lucinda is fine for fuel at the moment.”
Mr Jayo said another generator was due to arrive in Ingham on Wednesday to get a second fuel station online.
“The other fuel stations will come online as water recedes.”
Federal Minister for Emergency Management Jenny McAllister was probed on Thursday morning on why about 2 per cent interest will be applied to the disaster assistance loans of $100,000 and $250,000.
4BC presenter Peter Fegan asked Senator McAllister whether it was fair to charge interest on government loans.
“We’ll look really closely at the economic needs of people in the north and far north, and we’ve stepped through a number of things really quickly,” she said.
“Remember that the emergency, in fact, is still ongoing. There are still dangerous floodwaters in many places, and most of our efforts have been focused on keeping people safe.
“We’ve taken some early steps that we can quickly activate to give households, payments and to make sure business can have some confidence that working capital will be available to them.”
She said the Federal Government fully expects the Queensland Government to prepare proposals about what is needed in the region.
“We actually invest more in recovery support into Queensland than any other state in the country at the moment as a national government,” she said.
“It’s because, as North Queensland has known, far too well, they actually are really exposed to natural disasters. This is going to be a time when they need some extra help.”
Additional reporting: Mark Furler, Emily Devon, Nikita McGuire, Shayla Bulloch and Jami Roberts
Originally published as PM heads to flood-ravaged north, as food, roads and looters present major issues
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