Watch: Deputy Premier to monitor recovery efforts in Hervey Bay

As the Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie dropped into Hervey Bay on Thursday to oversee flood recovery efforts, Hervey Bay LNP MP David Lee said he was heading to Brisbane to advocate for the city in Parliament. DETAILS.

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie was in Hervey Bay on Thursday morning, visiting supermarkets and witnessing the flood recovery efforts as Parliament restarted.

After Sunday’s flash flood devastated Pialba Place, including the Woolworths supermarket, employees from the affected store relocated to the Eli Waters location.

Mr Bleijie declared an applicable event yesterday, meaning shopping centres, fuel stations and similar essential stores could have around-the-clock resupply from vendors.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli spent the day in Ingham, where recovery efforts are ongoing after flooding to the area more than a month ago.

“The biggest issue we have with natural disasters is that roads are cut, rail goes down, and freight and logistics become problematic,” Mr Bleijie said.

“This is about making sure that stock can come in at all hours of the night.

“This helps make sure there are groceries available in the morning.”

The deputy Premier thanked local LNP MP David Lee for his advocacy for the Bay in Parliament.

Jarrod Bleijie and David Lee speak with Woolworths workers Cass Hicks and Lisa Bowers at Eli Waters on Thursday.

Mr Lee said he “hears what small business are saying” and that he would fly back to Brisbane later on Thursday to “advocate and articulate the needs of our community”.

“We’re now moving into the recovery phase,” he said.

He noted that QFD received 70 callouts on Sunday morning, including 20 swift water rescues.

Earlier in the week, the owners of some small businesses decimated by Hervey Bay’s flash flooding criticised the city’s drainage system as not being up to the task on Sunday.

Sam and Greg Meek, owners of Obsessive Coffee Dispensary in Pialba Place, said on Tuesday they believed the drainage system near their business had not been properly maintained.

“Everything, including our stock, is gone,” Mrs Meek said.

“We haven’t had enough rain to cause this damage. It comes from the drains.”

The Meek’s business sits behind the Pialba skate park, where large drains are just metres away from their shopfront.

Sam Meek, owner of OCD Coffee in Pialba Village, blames improperly maintained drainage near her business for the catastrophic inundation their business experienced.

They blame the lack of upkeep on these drains near Tooan Tooan Creek for all their damage.

“The council need to be coming and fixing this,” she said.

“Our insurance won’t cover this because it’s negligence.

“The water has nowhere to go because the drains aren’t adequate.

“They don’t clean them, there’s rubbish everywhere, and they know it.

“This isn’t storm damage, this is negligence.”

A Fraser Coast Regional Council spokesman said the mouth of Tooan Tooan Creek was inspected regularly and opened in anticipation of significant weather events.

“In the week leading up to the recent extreme rainfall, Tooan Tooan Creek was inspected and opened,” he said.

“However, dredging further upstream is restricted due to environmental protections in place to safeguard mangroves and the local flying fox colony.

“Council has a contract in place to manage beach cleaning, sand pushing, and maintenance of beach outlets as required.”

Sugar Coast Village, a self-contained lend-lease community in Urangan, was also hit hard on Sunday, with residents in the neighbourhood’s low-lying section left wondering if their drainage was up to standard.

Sugar Coast Village Urangan residents Kay Campbell and Angela Hough had minimal damage to their homes, but say they were disappointed by a drain behind their homes that quickly sent water towards them.

Angela Hough and Kay Campbell believe a run-off system behind their homes was not equipped to deal with the rain, after a fence burst in one direction and the drain behind their homes filled up quickly.

“We were getting water from both directions,” Ms Campbell said.

“I’ve never seen that happen before.

“There’s got to be something done to it, but it’s gotten bigger.

The creek/drain behind Angela Hough and Kay Campbell’s homes was left with a canopy and tyres dumped by the flash flooding.

“It needs to be cleaned out.

“It’s not a creek; it’s supposed to be a drain.”

Their homes only suffered minor damage, but Ms Hough’s car will need to be looked over by a mechanic after it was waterlogged in the event.

Mayor George Seymour said on Monday it would be “extremely difficult” to build a system that could account for the amount of water seen on Sunday.

“It would be an extremely difficult and expensive to design and construct a drainage system that could quickly handle that amount of rainfall over the city’s topography without any flooding,” he said.

A spokesman for the council confirmed the drains could not do much more due to the volume of rain in such a short space of time, stating it was a normal response to extreme weather.

“The region’s stormwater infrastructure functioned as designed; however, when rainfall exceeds what any system can handle, natural overland flow and temporary flooding occur,” they said.

“We understand that flash flooding is frustrating and concerning for residents. Council continues to monitor drainage performance and will review any areas of concern to ensure our systems are as effective as possible in future events.”

Council buildings were also affected, with the new $109 million administration and community hub basement flooded on Sunday.

The scene on Monday at the construction site.

“The building’s design has been carefully planned with flood resilience in mind, incorporating council’s extensive flood modelling and ensuring the ground floor structure sits above a one-in-500-year flood level,” the spokesman said.

“The contractor is on-site assessing conditions and commencing the necessary clean-up efforts.

“A further assessment will be done in the coming days once the contractor is able to do so.”

Originally published as Watch: Deputy Premier to monitor recovery efforts in Hervey Bay