‘It was howling’: Flood cuts Daintree Village power, water, phones for a week

Prized farmland surrounding Daintree Village is destroyed, with downed power poles littering roads, as the little community comes to terms with a dramatically changed landscape after the flood.

The bedraggled community of Daintree Village gathered at the pub on Christmas Eve where Santa’s helper handed out gifts to children and a sausage sizzle was held, as residents come to terms with a dramatically changed landscape.

Daintree Village was entirely cut off from the word for seven days with no power, water, or phone communication from December 13 to 19.

This ancient tree at Daintree jetty was uprooted and carried 300m away by the floodwater. Picture: Bronwyn Farr

Over that period, the village received 1921mm of rain and Daintree River peaked at the village at 15m on December 18.

Lifelong Daintree residents were shocked at the damage, with ancient trees uprooted and carried more than 300m downstream and power poles littering the dirt roads at Stewarts Creek.

Long time Daintree resident and cruise boat operator Dean Clapp surveys the damage at Daintree Village. Picture: Bronwyn Farr

Daintree has endured floods since records began but none as severe.

In 1901 the river peaked at 12.4m, in 1996 it was 11.4m, in 2014 it was 10.5 and in 2019 it was 12.6m.

In 2019, cattle washed out of the mouth of Daintree River and were found at Wonga Beach.

Resident and tour boat operator Dean Clapp said it would take years to rebuild.

Many power poles were smashed when Daintree River flooded. Picture: Bronwyn Farr

“This is the power and force of nature,” he said as he looked over a sodden paddock.

He said he would never forget the roar of water through trees.

“I woke at 4.30am and the water was 5m higher than I have seen in the last 45 years, and the sound of the water going through the trees, it was a howling noise, quite frightening,” he said.

“Seeing all the trees ripped out by their roots is pretty devastating.”

Daintree resident Jaki Turner evacuated to Port Douglas during the flood. Picture: Bronwyn Farr

Jaki Turner, who has lived at a property near Barratt’s Creek since about 1980, said she thought she’d be spending one night in a hotel in Port Douglas but it turned out to be six nights.

Remnants of the jetty at Daintree Village. Picture: Bronwyn Farr

While her pole house survived, everything in it is ruined.

“This morning I had the fire brigade and SES, I had about a dozen arrive, that manpower was phenomenal, they lifted the fridge off the kitchen sink,” she said.

“It was the first time I had such a mass of people to do all the heavy lifting – most of it is out on the lawn now and the next job is to sort things.”

An aerial picture of Daintree jetty on Friday December 22. Picture: Vincent O'Flaherty.

Col Andreassen, who has lived in Daintree and Wonga Beach for 86 years, said he had never witnessed such a powerful flood.

“It never went away, this rain, we were without power for seven days – it’ll take another whole year for the district to recover,” he said.

Debris on a powerline shows how high the flood was at Daintree Village. Picture: Bronwyn Farr

“A lot aren’t insured but I heard there’s assistance available, up to $50,000, one fellow I know, his insurance went up two weeks ago from $6,000 to $24,000,” Mr Andreassen said.

Daintree Village is accessible from Mossman, but as the road from Mossman to Cairns is cut with a landslide north of Rex Lookout, access into Daintree Village is via Mt Molloy.

Originally published as ‘It was howling’: Flood cuts Daintree Village power, water, phones for a week