Disaster funding for flood generators set to expire
Waist deep water through homes at Kamerunga Villas has been but a small part of a flood nightmare that now has residents facing homelessness at the drying up of emergency funds.
Cairns
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Huge diesel generators that have been powering Kamerunga Villas since January after flood waters compromised underground power cables will soon be turned off leaving half of the 131 units in darkness.
People are camping out in their own homes and residents are angry that after six months there is no solution to restore power.
The Caravonica strata titled property was at last connected to high-power diesel generators after Barron River Craig Crawford took up the cause in early January.
On January 4 Mr Crawford secured approval for Queensland Reconstruction Authority to cover the cost of an interim fix and Cairns Regional Council was tasked with managing the provision of large generators and connection of emergency power into homes.
Come June 28 about almost $1m would have been spent on running costs and equipment hire.
In a letter to residents council advised to prepare for the switching off of generators on June 28 following a failure to secure more funding at an emergency meeting on June 6.
“The body corporate committee is acutely aware of the difficulty this changed situation may cause residents,” council community life executive manager Brett Spencer told residents.
Mr Crawford is expected to meet with Queensland Government Treasury next week to secure an in-principle approval for a government-backed loan at a concessional interest rate.
But frustrated residents, including Patrick Willcocks, claim to have been let down by the system.
He said the immediate aftermath was horrendous as residents mopped muddy water from their homes and now 170 days since most units lost power there was no end in sight.
“We pay our rates, we pay our body corporate fees, we pay our bills,” he said.
“Many of us are hardworking taxpayers and we are suffering due to being failed by our body corporate, Ergon, our insurers and the government.
“Many residents still today are living in these destroyed homes, trying to slowly repair their homes as they were not covered by flood insurance.
“Now, it looks like we will go back to the dark ages, with no power to 60 houses.”
Before the QRA bailout package it was revealed the body corporate committee has insufficient cash in a sinking fund to cover the repair of the water damaged cable network.
At this time management of the property also came under scrutiny amid claims emergency relief volunteers were turned away from the complex.
Mr Crawford said unless an alternate funding source was found between 50 and 60 households would be joining the emergency housing queue.
“And we don’t want that,” he said.
“We are working very hard to look at extending that funding or another revenue source to be able to buy us more time.
“But it can’t not go on forever, we want to make sure with any agreement with body corporate that there is an expectation that it’s resolved within a reasonable time frame,
“We don’t want to be here in a year still having the same conversations.”
Weeks after the flood event 76-year-old resident George Pawlowski and Kerri Dowd joined the body corporate residents committee.
The pair claimed the committee operated without any urgency to address the power supply issue.
“We got told that we’re not allowed to repeat anything to the residents,” Ms Dowd said.
“They said don’t tell anybody, (and) keep them in the dark,” Mr Pawlowski said.
But another committee member Mark Raymond defended his group and stated much work had been done, including the sourcing of multiple quotes to replace the underground network, bringing on an electrical engineer as well as a locator to identify services.
“Things don’t happen fast in the construction industry …. I don’t see it happening any faster and the committee members have been the ones fighting to keep the generators,” he said.
Lack of street lighting and elderly residents needing medical help after dark has led to desperate villa owners putting up Christmas lights to find their way home and it was claimed refusal to allow the entry gates to be powered by a nearby generator had led to a spate of cars stolen from the complex.
Residents will be asked to vote next week, via a survey monkey poll, to determine what action needs to be taken regarding a proposal to install overhead power lines.
The committee will call for tenders to find an independent third-party project manager to oversee power restoration.
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Originally published as Disaster funding for flood generators set to expire
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