North Queensland flooding: PM surveys Bruce Hwy damage as income support rolls out
The Prime Minister has arrived in North Queensland to assess the damage caused by recent floods after signing off on income support for affected residents across eight local government areas. LATEST
Townsville
Don't miss out on the headlines from Townsville. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The Prime Minister has arrived in North Queensland to assess the damage caused by recent floods after signing off on income support for residents affected across eight local government areas.
Speaking at the Townsville Local Disaster Coordinator on Thursday morning, Anthony Albanese acknowledged the challenges faced by the region and praised the resilience of the community.
“This is a tough time for North Queensland but North Queenslanders are tough, as I know,” he said.
The Prime Minister reassured the community that the Federal Government would provide the necessary assistance to help affected areas recover.
“I can assure you that we will provide whatever support is necessary,” he said.
“We triggered income support on Monday.
“I’ve met with Premier Crisafulli. We went through some of what was needed.
“I signed off last night on support for eight local government areas. That direct Commonwealth support has been triggered, including for here in Townsville.”
The Federal Government has deployed Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel and aircraft to assist in delivering aid to isolated communities.
“We have ADF personnel on the ground. We’ve provided choppers, not just from Townsville, but from Oakey base as well, to provide support to get food and essentials into these communities that are cut off,” Mr Albanese said.
He said troops from Singapore, currently in North Queensland for training, had also offered the use of a couple of their Chinooks to help as well.
During his visit, the Prime Minister plans to inspect key infrastructure impacted by the floods, including the Kratzman Bridge over Ollera Ck that collapsed over the weekend, which he indicated may require future investment to prevent similar disasters.
“This morning, I’ll go and have a look at this bridge. You have a look at it. Clearly, it’s too low.”
“One of the things I discusses with the Premier was making sure we build back better. How do we build with resilience? It’s craziness to build back exactly the same when you know there’s a problem.
“We will make sure that’s delivered.”
MACROSSAN BRIDGE UPDATE – EXPECTED TO FLOOD BY MIDNIGHT
The BOM is advising that the Burdekin River is rising at Sellheim and the Macrossan Bridge is expected to flood over again by midnight tonight (Wednesday, Feb 5).
This renewed river peak is expected to extend into Thursday.
Motorists planning to travel between Charters Towers and Townsville should do so before this time to avoid disruptions.
The rise in water is due to significant rainfall totals recorded in the Upper Burdekin catchment around Paluma and surrounds.
Crisafulli in Ingham
Premier David Crisafulli has promised flood-ravaged North Queenslanders authorities will not stop until power, water, phone, food and transport services are restored after a devastating one in 100 year flood.
“I am here to deliver what this community needs,’’ the Premier said after arriving in Ingham.
Mr Crisafulli said monsoonal rain, which had seen homes evacuated overnight and headstones washed away from a cemetery, was continuing to hamper flood recovery efforts.
“It just shows this system continues to have some might in it.”
“There remains the possibility of more rainfall.
“What happened overnight at Mission Beach proves that.’’
At Georgetown, northwest of Townsville, he said there “were headstones washed away from the local cemetery”.
“It gives you an indication of how ferocious this system is and how it continues to pack a punch.’’
He 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. Generators had also been bought onto a barge at Lucinda with the hope to get services restored on Thursday.
They were also being flown into service stations.
“We have brought back the hospital and other assets in the last 48 hours.’’
Mr Crisafulli said workers had been flown to look at the flooded Ingham power substation to assess damage and what is needed to get it repaired.
An engineer had been brought in from Townsville to get it operational.
About 2000 litres of diesel had been brought into Lucinda.
While supermarkets had enough non perishable items, authorities were working to get perishable items into the area.
He said 47 schools remained closed with half having been reopened.
“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.’’
“Power, water, phone, cleanliness, getting you back on your feet. I say that to all the communities ’’
“We are going to be there for the long haul. “What has been thrown at North Queenslanders has been truly a 1 in 100 maybe more but people in this part of the world are 1 in 100s and are truly tough.’’
Hinchinbrook Mayor Ramon Jayo thanked Queensland Premier David Crisafulli, and Jenny McAllister, the Federal Emergency Management Minister, Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto, emergency service personnel, volunteers and the community for their response to the massive disaster.
“Let there be no doubt, we are hurting at the moment … that was our second-biggest flood in history – the record books will show that we didn’t exceed the 1967 flood but all the people out there have said they have never seen water to that extent and 1967 was smaller than this one.”
He said the Hinchinbrook Shire had suffered “significant damage and we are hurting”.
“But we’re feeling the love now and we’ve got resources coming in from everywhere, we can’t thank the State and Federal governments enough for what they are throwing at us … to get us back on our feet.”
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,” he said.
“We’ve got generators being flown into town to restore our power, we’ve got a lot of things happening.”
He said water had been fully restored on Wednesday.
Mr Jayo said the smaller communities such as Macknade, Cordelia, Halifax, Lucinda and Abergowrie had not been forgotten and resupply efforts were underway.
Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto was thanked for his efforts by fellow local Queensland Premier David Crisafulli.
He said it was the first time the expansive Hinchinbrook electorate had been in flood in three local-government areas at the same time, namely Hinchinbrook, Cassowary Coast and Townsville.
“This is a completely unprecedented weather event that has had widespread impact.”
He said, “help is on the way … to get this place back on its feet” but warned that “we are still in a disaster situation”.
“Please be careful out there, don’t put yourself in a situation where you need to be rescued, tragically we have already lost two lives to this natural disaster, none of us want to go through that anymore.”
He thanked everybody involved in emergency response.
“I also want to thank everybody out there in the community that might not have a job title, they might not wear a badge or are not likely to receive any formal recognition after this but the fact is the community has banded together to provide assistance where needed where other people couldn’t help,” he said, choking up with emotion.
“My heartfelt thanks goes out to everybody that banded together here, it makes me so proud to call this community my home.”
Help on the way from Townsville
The dire situation confronting swathes of the Hinchinbrook Shire became worse overnight despite the slowly receding floodwaters.
“At the moment we have an issue with our water supply, we lost power from Ergon throughout the whole district that necessitates us having to bring in a big generator from Townsville,” Hinchinbrook Mayor Ramon Jayo said on Wednesday morning.
“We installed that generator at midnight last night but for some reason early in the morning the telemetry went down, which stopped the waters pumping so at the moment our town is out of water.”
Mr Jayo said a contingency plan was in place to bring in bottled water to Ingham and the Shire by helicopter “just in case this problem with the water supply continues”.
“Staff are working on it at the moment, Townsville City Council is sending in support staff for the water-related issues, they’re coming in by chopper now,” he said.
“We are trying to do everything we can to get that water, so thank you Townsville City Council.
Mr Jayo said the floodwaters, including in Ingham, were receding but heavy rain was forecast for the coming days, with the potential for flash flooding.
“(Floods) at Ingham Pump Station have started to drop so most of all that water in town is dropping, unfortunately Halifax is still at major levels and it’s going to take a day or two until it releases there,” he said.
“We won’t be able to get into Halifax for two or three or four days.”
He said Halifax still had water, but he urged residents to conserve supplies, “otherwise it will run out”.
Some residents were returning to their flood-ravaged homes in Ingham on Wednesday morning, facing often confronting scenes of personal loss.
Mr Jayo said a street garbage collection service had been established, which would start as soon as trucks could start moving.
The Shire remains cut off from the north and south via the Bruce Highway.
The Hinchinbrook Shire Council building in Lannercost St is also cut off from its Works Depot on Townsville Rd.
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 today to get a second fuel station online.
“The other fuel stations will come online as the fuel recedes.”
In addition to Halifax, the towns of Cordelia and Macknade on the banks of the rampaging Herbert River were also cut off and would continue to be for days.
Mr Jayo said the incident was a major disaster.
“And we still don’t know what we are going to find when the water recedes as regards damage to infrastructure but infrastructure inspections will start as quickly as possible when the crews can get around.”
Ergon Energy says that floodwaters at the Ingham Substation are receding and a specialist crew from Townsville was heading north to inspect and test critical equipment, weather permitting.
Ergon will also be completing aerial surveys of the overhead network that supplies Ingham and surrounding areas, weather permitting.
They also plan to dispatch more generators by barge and air, with the Hinchinbrook Local Disaster Management Group to determine which critical sites will be connected.
‘Everything’s just gone underwater’
John Holloway said the situation confronting the more than 120 evacuees at the Ingham flood evacuation centre was grim.
The Townsville Bulletin ferried Mr Holloway, a resident of Ingham for about a month, back to his property on Lynch St.
Floodwaters that had completely inundated his home had receded leaving completely destroyed furniture, new home appliances.
His three Harley Davidson motorcycles had also been totally submerged.
“It’s devastating, we moved up here three weeks ago, new kitchen, new appliances … everything’s just gone underwater.”
Mr Holloway said he had no insurance.
He said he was stuck between a rock and a hard place with a decision to move back home or stay at the evacuation centre.
“There’s no water, no toilet flushing and there’s no power to charge your phones, iPads, anything like that to communicate with your family.”
More rain to come
Far North Queensland residents are bracing for more torrential rain in already inundated regions with up 270mm possible over the next three days.
The Bureau of Meteorology has upgraded its three-day forecast to predict up to 100mm to fall in regions around Townsville on Wednesday, up to 80mm on Thursday and up to 90mm on Friday.
At 4.20am on Wednesday, an emergency alert for a “dangerous, fast-moving flood” was issued for people in the Georgetown area, northwest of Townsville, with residents in the low-lying areas near Etheridge Bridge being told to leave immediately.
The warning says conditions in the area are “very dangerous”.
An emergency alert was also issued at 5.55am Wednesday by the Hinchinbrook Shire Local Disaster Management Group, advising of a water failure.
“The water system has failed and residents will not have water. A time frame for repairs is unknown however restoration is underway as a priority.”
Closer to the coast, another alert was on Tuesday night issued for the Burdekin region, warning that moderate flooding will impact the Bruce Highway at Plantation Creek, making travel between Ayr and Home Hill impossible.
At Groper Creek in the Burdekin, 15km from Home Hill, locals have been cut off since Friday night.
Groper Creek Caravan Park manager Jeanette Garvey said it had been all hands on deck as the community prepared for major flooding, likely to isolate residents for days.
“The latest advice from the Bureau is that the Burdekin River will reach 10 metres at Inkerman Bridge Wednesday morning so we’re expecting about 1.5 metres of water under huts, but it depends in the coming hours,” Mrs Garvey said.
There has been heavy rainfall overnight further north of Townsville with South Mission Beach near Tully recording 289mm in 15 hours.
Higgins Storm Chasing posted a report of more than 500mm in hours from one resident with SES vehicles escorting locals out of low-lying areas.
Tully itself officially recorded 106mm, while Cardwell Gap had 141 in 18 hours until about 5am on Wednesday.
Halifax had 124mm and Trebonne 110mm while near Innisfail Saltwater Creek recorded 153mm in 18 hours, Garraduna 174mm and Clyde Road 223. Cairns recorded 180mm in 20 hours.
The unwanted rain comes after news a second person died as a result of flood waters, with police recovering the body of an 82-year-old woman near Ingham.
About 11am on Tuesday morning Queensland Police found a woman’s body in a cane paddock after being called to Fulton Drive, at Bemerside.
Nearby residents told police they had last seen the woman in her two-storey home about 6pm Monday night.
The woman’s neighbour had raised concerns for the woman’s welfare Tuesday morning after they were unable to find her at her property.
After flood waters receded in the area, residents located the woman deceased. QPS will now prepare a report for the coroner.
For assistance with a life-threatening situation phone triple-0 immediately.
For assistance with non-life-threatening situations — such as help with a damaged roof or storm damage — phone SES on 132 500.
Black zone residents return home
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 Townsville 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.
More Coverage
Originally published as North Queensland flooding: PM surveys Bruce Hwy damage as income support rolls out
Join the conversation
Townsville artists capture wet season wonders
The “Bugs and Buds” exhibition showcases Townsville artists’ vibrant watercolours, inspired by the lush transformations of the wet season.
Read more
Local talents shine in ‘Amadeus’ debut
TheatreiNQ celebrates its 15th anniversary with “Amadeus,” featuring local talents and orchestras, marking the play’s Townsville debut at the Civic Theatre.
Read more
In pictures: The Table NQ’s networking breakfast
In celebration of Harmony Day, members and guests of The Table NQ gathered at Townsville Collective Conferencing & Events, highlighting the diversity and connections that fortify the local business community.
Read more
Police searching for occupants of crashed Hyundai
Police are currently patrolling Gulliver after the occupants of a crashed Hyundai left the scene.
Read more
Running, hiding, terrified: Abuser jailed for horrifying assault, arson
A woman ran for her life from a man who tried to strangle her with a phone charging cord, and would later set her car alight by stuffing the fuel tank with a cloth and lighting it on fire. (Warning: distressing). Here’s the details.
Read more
‘She did really well’: John Bateman praises partner after induced birth
North Queensland Cowboys second rower John Bateman and his partner have welcomed a new baby into the family - resulting in just three hours sleep for the player before an 80 minute game.
Read more