North Queensland floods: Townsville dodges bullet, hearts break for Ingham
Townsville residents have begun returning to their homes after a major flood warning was downgraded to moderate, while residents in Ingham are battling flooding of hundreds of homes, power outages and the loss of communications.
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Townsville residents have begun returning to their homes after a major flood warning was downgraded to moderate, while residents in Ingham are battling flooding of hundreds of homes, power outages and the loss of communications.
Premier David Crisafulli said Townsville had been spared amid warnings of a flood that could have rivalled that in 2019.
“There is no doubt that the city has dodged a bullet, and if you reflect that nearly six years ago to the day, people were picking up the pieces, and to think that in many cases, has been spared is certainly a relief,” Mr Crisafulli said in Townville on Tuesday.
Townsville disaster group chairman Councillor Andrew Robinson said “the weather has gone in our favour” and the advice was now all residents could return home, including those in Hermit Park, Rosslea and Railway Estate who were earlier advised to hold off on returning.
“The flood levels won’t hit the peaks we estimated they could have reached,” he said.
“We are still asking people to remain alert.”
He said Hotel and Lindsay streets still had water across the road so residents from that area should return with caution and only if safe to do so.
Acting mayor Ann-Maree Greaney said she wasn’t “popping the champagne corks yet” but from a Townsville perspective they were breathing a “sigh of relief”.
“It’s not that our heartfelt thoughts don’t go out to the people in Hinchinbrook who are doing it extremely tough,” she said.
The acting mayor has said concerned residents who have been affected by the weather and aren’t yet qualified for Disaster Support and Recovery could rest assured that Townsville’s Disaster Management Group have followed up on getting them financial assistance.
“The TLDMG have requested the provision of state hardship payments for a number of residents, it hasn’t been approved as yet but we have applied and Bluewater and Bluewater Park are in that list,” she said.
“You can rest assured we have advocated for the residents of Bluewater and Bluewater Park to the state government, we’re just waiting on a response from them.”
She said the application included all areas that had been affected by the weather recently.
“The cost of living as we know is through the roof so if we can offer those residents affected a bit of assistance, it would be greatly appreciated,” she said.
A full list of those areas who qualify for the recovery grants will be available in the next coming days.
Deputy Leader for the Katter’s Australian Party and member for Hinchinbrook Nick Dametto saying Ingham was “in trouble right now”, with hundreds of homes inundated.
There has been a huge line-up for fuel at the local service station as the town struggles without power and telecommunications. (SEE VIDEO ABOVE)
More than 200 flood battered Ingham residents lined up outside Ingham Woolworths ahead of an expected but limited opening at 10am, with police only allowing in 20 customers at a time.
Hinchinbrook Shire mayor Ramon Jayo said while waters were receding in the area the outlook remained for the possibility of new rises around Ingham.
“The loss of power due to water infiltration at the Ergon sub station is causing major issues for our communication capabilities,’’ he advised residents.
Residents in Giru have been cleaning up the piles of mud and assessing the damage left behind after the Haughton River reached major flooding levels on the weekend, hitting several homes.
Mr Crisafulli reassured locals his government would support them through the flood disaster.
“We’re going to be here for the long haul, I can assure you. I’m here on the ground because I have to make sure what we say needs to be delivered is delivered because you’re going to have communities that are really going to be tested,” he said.
“They’re resilient communities, but resilience doesn’t mean you just leave them on their own devices. They’re going to need a lot of help in the days, weeks, months and even years ahead.”
Mr Crisafulli continued to criticise the Bruce Highway, saying the images at Ollera Creek are a “living, breathing example of why we need to do better”.
“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.
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