Gulf floods: Burketown residents urged to evacuate immediately

Crocs and bull sharks swimming through flooded Burke Shire streets are among a raft of concerns for mayor Ernie Camp, as Burketown residents are urged to evacuate immediately.

Remaining Burketown residents may have to compete with more than rising flood waters, power cuts and sewage overflow with reports of saltwater crocodiles spotted swimming in the streets.

Burke Shire Mayor Ernie Camp, who evacuated on Saturday, said crocodiles and bull sharks would pose a danger to residents who chose to stay behind.

“(And) where there’s crocodiles, especially in the estuary systems out here, there’s likely to be bull sharks,” Cr Camp said.

Cr Camp said his wife and his son’s family were evacuated on Friday.

“My son and I did what we thought was the noble thing to do which was stay at home to protect livestock and pets,” he said.

Cr Camp described the situation as a constant nightmare watching as livestock floated by.
“The dogs are safe and the geese are all right.

“On Thursday night we found them on top of the shed structures ... they didn’t fly there, they swam,” Mr Camp said.

Residents of Burketown help others move their belongings to higher ground as flooding impacts the regional area.

The warning comes as police and firefighters issued immediate evacuation warnings to remaining Burketown residents.

Police have also confirmed the town’s sewerage infrastructure had been compromised and power would be cut off.

“It is not safe for people to remain. Residents who have chosen to remain should seek assistance from police,” the statement read.

Burke Shire Council also issued an emergency alert to all remaining residents to leave immediately, particularly the elderly and those with children.

On Friday, Burketown police were co-ordinating the evacuation of vulnerable people and some properties at Burketown to Mount Isa.

Cr Camp extend his thanks to QPS, Queensland Health, the Local Government Disaster Management team, helicopter pilots and everyone ewho “played their part” in the evacuation efforts.

“I’m sure there’s many more people who I’ve forgotten to mention right now but who’s work we are extremely grateful for.

“They’ve given us great assistance in evacuating and keeping people safe,” Mr Camp said.

A combination of heavy rainfall and high tides has been described as "a perfect storm" by Burke Shire Mayor Ernie Camp. Picture: Jil Wilson.

Meanwhile, Federal MP for Kennedy Bob Katter and Katter’s Australian Party leader and State MP for Traeger Robbie Katter visited the remote communities of Normanton and Doomadgee bringing essential supplies and assessing the situation after calls for disaster funding relief and additional food supplies.

Doomadgee and Normanton have been isolated for months following record summer rainfall and have been operating on limited basic goods and government support.

The Gulf Development Road at the Norman River at Normanton has been cut off since January, however trucks with supplies were still able to access the eastern side of the river, about 15 minutes from town.

Local volunteers along with SES have established a barge system to boat goods across the flooding.

Some trucks have been accessing the town “the long way” using the Burke Development Road, which links Normanton and Cloncurry.

Locals called for compensation for truckies who were travelling the “thousands of extra kilometres.”

Federal MP for Kennedy Bob Katter visited Doomadgee on Friday with KAP leader Robbie Katter to bring essential supplies to the flood-affected community. Picture: supplied KAP

Further west, Burketown and Doomadgee have been completely cut off by road, with the latter isolated since “late December” with many local roads in the main township still under water.

Doomadgee Mayor Jason Ned said while food supply planes were “few and far between” he was frustrated by the State Government leaders who suggested his community create flood plans, yet refuse to actually visit the community and engage in discussions.

The MPs took with them containers of essential groceries including bread, long-life milk and eggs as prices in local supermarkets had been soaring with limited supply trickling in for almost three months.

KAP leader Robbie Katter labelled the situation as “an explosion of water” and said residents in the remote communities could be isolated for another two months.

“Groceries are lean on the shelves, there’s limited fuel for rescue helicopters and we need Category D (disaster) declarations up there so we can get some funding,” he said.

“It’s a long way from the cities, but it’s an important part of the world, and there’s people crying out for help”.

Roads from Normanton to Doomadgee have been cut for months with truckies bringing essential supplies forced to "go the long way around.' Picture: supplied KAP

Kennedy MP Bob Katter said he appreciated the response of the Federal Minister Emergency Services, Murray Watt, and his office, which had been incredibly responsive to requests for information and had agreed to deploy the army, upon request from the state. Mr Katter said Minister Watt’s office had also made representations to its state counterparts in relation to a request for grocery subsidies for the isolated communities.

Weather forecast for Far North Queensland

The Beureau of Meteorology has forecast scattered showers and thunderstorms for Sunday and Monday.

“More rain is expected but not to the same extent last week and shouldn’t exacerbate existing flooding,” a Beureau of Meteorologist spokesman said.

Up to 30mm of rain has been expected in isolated showers however rainfall will not be as heavy or widespread.

Meanwhile the Cairns region can also expect isolated showers and thunderstorms for the next few days.

“It won’t be widespread or anything. Just an afternoon build-up of showers, mainly inland from the coast,” the spokesman said.

The Beureau spokesman said huge rainfalls were not expected for the next few days and the rest of the week would be fairly benign weather.

“We’re looking at a maximum temperature of 31 or 32 degrees and a minimum of 24 for Cairns. It’ll be a bit cooler on the range with a maximum about 29 or 30 degrees and a minimum of 19 to 20,” he said.

Originally published as Gulf floods: Burketown residents urged to evacuate immediately