Kamerunga Villas residents still without power two weeks after flood
Suffering through a power cut since Kamerunga Villas was ravaged by floodwater, one elderly resident has taken extreme measures to stay cool in 35C heat by spending the day in his bathtub filled with water.
Cairns
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Suffering through a power cut that’s lasted two weeks since Kamerunga Villas was ravaged by floodwater, one elderly resident has taken extreme measures to stay cool in 35C heat by spending the day in a bathtub filled with water.
On the shores of the Barron River at Caravonica, 131 individually owned units were submerged under at least half a metre of water on December 17 when a one in a hundred year flood surged through the estate.
Electricians undertaking fault finding within the underground cable network discovered cable laid up to 20 years ago was not protected by waterproof conduit - the reason for major power faults.
Full restoration of power could be months away and meanwhile residents are forking out up to $60 a day to run petrol generators while elderly residents have been unable to run airconditioning units or medical equipment to treat sleep apnoea.
Compounding resident’s hardship were claims that help from emergency agencies had been rebuffed.
Resident Kerri Dowd said it had been an incredibly stressful time and she was frustrated that groups, until recently, had been turned away.
“So Red Cross, Salvos and everything have been offering help but they’ve been (told) we’re fine and we don’t need any help,” she said.
“I’m over it, I cried that day the water came in and because we got all those dud
emergency alerts during the cycle like ‘get in the bath’ and all that bullsh*t, we then we got (an alert) on Sunday morning saying we had to leave and I’m like, ‘really,’ we didn’t believe it was serious.”
In recent days government health workers, disaster recovery teams, the Salvation Army and community led clean-up workers have got into the complex and at last on Sunday the plight of residents reached state and council authorities.
Barron River MP Craig Crawford has promised the delivery of generators to power every villa by Tuesday as an interim measure led by Cairns Regional Council and paid for by the state government.
But relief can’t come quickly enough for 87-year-old resident Michael Brooks who suffered a breakdown after water eventually receded from his unit.
Before reaching breaking point he tried everything to keep despair at bay, including escaping the heat by submerging his body in a cold bath.
“I was so concerned about my dog and everything here, I just lost it,” he said.
Mr Brooks, still without mains power, spent $1800 on a generator and now has most appliances running.
Amid claims of subpar management of the crisis, Ms Dowd said residents were relieved that a government assistance package had been actioned.
Originally published as Kamerunga Villas residents still without power two weeks after flood
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