How Tasmania is helping NSW communities ravaged by floods
More than 100 bales of Tassie hay has been donated to help NSW’s flooded farmers feed their surviving animals. Now they need truckers and vehicles to get it across the Bass Strait. HOW YOU CAN HELP >>
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MORE than 100 bales of Tassie hay have already been donated to help NSW’s flooded farmers feed their surviving animals and organisers hope more will be collected before their hay run takes off in April.
The organisers of the From Tassie To Alstonville Hay Run need truckers and vehicles to get the hay across Bass Strait to Alstonville near Lismore.
Hundreds of horses, cows and other animals died in the recent floods in Queensland and NSW and heartbroken farmers are finding livestock dead every day.
Those which survived need feed so a group of Tasmanians is rallying to truck hay to the mainland.
“We need trucks and truck drivers to help us get the hay north and we are asking businesses for donations of fuel cards so these truck drivers are not out of pocket,” organiser Karen James said.
“It will cost each driver about $1500 for fuel for this hay run and those wanting to help can find us on our Facebook page called From Tassie To Alstonville Hay Run.”
Alstonville is between Lismore and Ballina in northern NSW. The manager of the sports ground at Alstonville said people were getting out their dinghies every day and collecting dead livestock from the floodwaters.
She said donated hay will help farmers across a large area and give them a reason to smile.
“At this time we 110 donated large rounds to be collected and taken to the Devonport area. But with the help of others I am sure we will easily be able to triple this number,” Ms James said.
“The Huon Agriculture Society will hold a couple of open days where people can deliver hay and they will transport it all to the North West loading onto our trucks.”
The hay run will leave on the Anzac Weekend and meet up with another group of trucks from Need To Feed Australia.
Head to the organiser’s Facebook page for more information here.
Punk-rockers to help flood victims
With floods ravaging New South Wales and Queensland, Tassie punk-rockers Luca Brasi say “it falls to musos to band together and help out”.
The internationally acclaimed band will hold a fundraising concert on Sunday afternoon at the Crescent Hotel in North Hobart, playing acoustic renditions of their music and supported by Pat Broxton of the Sleepyheads, among others.
The much-needed funds raised will go to victims of the ongoing floods.
Frontman and bass guitarist Tyler Richardson said it was an honour to help those devastated families and communities, many of which the band has crossed paths with over the past 11 years.
“We’ve been touring for so long that these are people we know, places we know, musicians we know that have been affected and people who have been so good to us – so it’s lovely to be able to help them,” Richardson said.
“It always seems to fall to musos to band together and help out in scenarios like this, while people wait around for the government to do something.”
It’s been a busy time for the Hobart-based band who released their album Everything is Tenuous in early 2021 and are already working towards another, along with an upcoming interstate tour from late March onwards.
“I don’t think we realised how much we missed touring until it was gone…we can’t wait to get back out there,” Richardson said.
The concert will be held from 4.30pm Sunday at the Crescent Hotel, North Hobart, tickets at the door, $25.
Tassie heroes deployed to NSW floods
Whether it’s a bushfire or the devastating floods in New South Wales, SES operational projects co-ordinator Bianca Callinan will always “just get up and go”.
Ms Callinan was at sunny, dry Hobart International Airport on Thursday evening waiting to fly into the severely flooded NSWto assist efforts against the unprecedented natural disaster.
Joining her in a deployment from Tasmania were Flood Intelligence Specialist Audrey Lau, project officer Darren Bradford, and information and warnings media officer Samantha Skillern.
“It’s the part of the job that I love the most,” Ms Callinan said.
She has been with the State Emergency Service almost four years, playing a vital role in pushing out public information and alerts about rapidly changing emergencies or evacuations to vulnerable people.
“We can’t actually get out there and physically help them on the ground but we can do things behind the scenes to be able to help,” Ms Callinan said.
“When we’ve called on people to come down here, people always come. Everyone just comes to help each other.”
Ms Callinan will return to Hobart on Wednesday.
SES Tasmania assistant director of operations Leon Smith said the staff would not only add their valuable knowledge to important interstate efforts, but would bring their unique experience back into Tasmania when they returned.
“This is the first deployment this year for the State Emergency Service,” he said.
“I firmly believe that everyone that’s in the emergency service business is wired to want to help and contribute, and I believe that’s the essence of the culture.
“To allow us to send our highly trained people across to another jurisdiction during their time of need during events of significance … you don’t get a much better feeling, actually.”
Rain is plaguing the Central Coast and north, and Greater Sydney has been warned to prepare for major flooding.
Flood watch eases but monster rainfall recorded
THE FLOOD watch issued for the North East and Upper East Coast has eased as the mainland still deals with a massive flood crisis.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the threat of further flooding had lessened in Tasmania despite a persistent moist onshore wind flow and thunderstorms bringing heavy falls in the Flood Watch area.
The area received some big rainfall totals in the past week – 231mm at Gray, near the Chain Of Lagoons, 122mm at St Helen’s, 145mm at Pyengana and 82mm at Bicheno.
After In the 24 hours to 9:00am Thursday rainfall totals of less than 5mm were recorded in the Flood Watch area.
âš ï¸MODERATE #Flood Warning issued for #SouthEsk River at #Fingal where river levels are falling Thursday morning. A minor flood peak occurred at #Llewellyn early Thursday morning. See https://t.co/V9LYfDAYDq for details and updates; follow advice from @SESTasmania. #TasFloodspic.twitter.com/Q7LCEbxy2B
— Bureau of Meteorology, Tasmania (@BOM_Tas) March 2, 2022
Rainfall totals of 2-10 mm are forecast for Thursday, 5-10 mm for Friday in the North East.
Flooding is occurring in the South Esk River catchment. Strong river rises occurred in the Flood Watch area. Dangerous flows will remain a hazard as flows continue to move downstream.
Flooding is no longer expected in the following catchments:
A minor flood warning has been issued for the South Esk River and a road has been closed to flooding after thunderstorms impacted the state overnight.
Ansons Bay Road in the state’s North East has been due to flooding at the causeway.
A floodwatch is in place for the North East and the Upper East Coast.
Hot, dry summer to give way to soaking
TASMANIA has just endured its fourth driest and fifth hottest summer on record, the Bureau of Meteorology says, but a change for the wetter is already well under way, with parts of the state on flood watch until at least this weekend.
BOM duty forecaster Brooke Oakley said the hot and dry conditions – it was the driest summer for Tasmania since 1980-81 – were caused by persistent high-pressure belts in the state’s south and west which prevented rain from cold fronts elsewhere reaching the island.
“As a result, soil moisture is particularly low in western Tasmania,” she said.
The only part of the state to experience any notable rainfall was Gray on the East Coast, which experienced a daily total of 281.8mm of rain on January 7-8, just 0.2mm less than the January record across Tasmania, Ms Oakley said.
However, the dry spell has already broken, the forecaster said, with a “very moist east to northeast stream” over Tasmania bringing heavy rains particularly in the Northeast.
In particular, Eddystone had about 95mm of rain in a two-hour period on Monday afternoon, Ms Oakley said.
There is a flood watch warning for the Northeast and East Coast, with parts of the South Esk River between Fingal and Perth and St Pauls River in mild to moderate flood, with some peaks not expected to be reached until Friday.
“As we head forward into the remainder of the week, showers will continue in the northeast but not as heavy as what we saw on Monday,” Ms Oakley said.
“On Saturday, a broad trough is expected to cross the state with a cold front, showery day, that will see the end of Tasmania’s really humid conditions and it will be cooler as well.
“We’re also expecting to see strong, gusty south to south easterly winds on Sunday behind the cold front.”
While much of the state will be blanketed in rainfall on Saturday and there is “a fair amount of uncertainty” as to where it will hit most, Ms Oakley said there’s a fair chance the state’s North-West will get the worst of it, with between 25–50mm of rain forecast for Smithton and surrounds.
In general, Tasmania’s autumn should see above-average rainfall on the East Coast and above-average maximum and minimum temperatures across the state, she said.
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