Community
22 December, 2023
JASPER IN DEFIANCE
THE Far North is in the recovery stage, leading towards a multibillion-dollar rebuild, after record-breaking rain and floods devastated vast areas of the region, including houses, farms, businesses, roads and bridges.
Premier Steven Miles was in Cairns on Wednesday and said so far there had been no flood-related deaths, although police held “grave fears” for an 85-year-old man still missing from Degarra, near Wujal Wujal.
He said it was remarkable there had been no deaths or serious injuries as of Wednesday morning.
The areas most impacted included Machans and Holloways beaches, Caravonica, Yorkeys Knob, Mossman, Wujal Wujal and Degarra. Thirty-one localities were deemed isolated.
Mr Miles said police were no longer receiving “life-threatening phone calls” and the evacuation of Wujal Wujal was still underway with the help of army Chinook helicopters. So far 97 of the estimated 250 residents had been flown to Cooktown.
He said more resources were pouring into the Far North to undertake damage assessments and relieve other exhausted emergency service workers.
High visibility police patrols were in place to prevent looting, although there had been no reports.
“There have been no reports of crocodiles however they remain a concern,” Mr Miles said.
More than 1700 properties have been assessed with at least 1400 considered damaged.
State Disaster Recovery Minister Nikki Boyd said one home, (in Oleander St, Holloways Beach) was destroyed, while 58 were severely damaged, 187 were rated moderate and 226 minor.
Mr Miles said 80 per cent of homes and businesses which had lost power were now back on line and by tomorrow that would reach 97 per cent.
An Ergon Energy spokeswoman said crews were making great progress and power had been restored to the vast majority of customers.
“50,000 customers were affected by cyclone and flood-related outages at the peak of the severe weather events,” she said. “We are aiming to have network supply or mobile generation available to customers in the worst-affected areas by Christmas Eve.” Federal Disaster Management Minister Murray Watts said it was “terrific to see a hive of activity” as the areas most affected were cleaned up.
He said major contractors would be engaged to help councils in the clean-up which could cost $100 million, but he would not put a figure on the overall repair bill which would be “very expensive”, especially roads and bridges.
Mr Watt said a priority was ensuring isolated communities received vital supplies such as food, water and medicine.
He said the region would have access to a new national stockpile of emergency housing.
Mr Miles said the large stock of hotel rooms in Cairns would also be available.
Cairns-based Tourism Minister Michael Healy urged visitors not to cancel their bookings which had now added up to $100 million.
He said Cairns, Palm Cove and Port Douglas were open and ready to welcome tourists.
Mr Healy said tourism was vital in the recovery process and he said Tourism and Events Queensland would start ramping up its marketing efforts.
“Our community is really very resilient and we ask Australia to stand with us,” he said.
Leading insurer Suncorp said local tradies were on the ground assisting customers in the clean-up.
“Suncorp Group has received around 900 claims, including more than 650 for homes since Sunday, December 10,” a spokesman said.
Health authorities were warning people to be extremely careful in polluted waters.
Tropical Public Health Services director Dr Richard Gair said there was an increased risk of infection if people came into direct contact with polluted waters, along with the potentially life-threatening infectious disease melioidosis.
Cairns Airport reopened on Tuesday morning after unprecedented flooding closed the aerodrome.
“It is nothing short of remarkable that Cairns Airport is back in business on Tuesday morning after what has been an incredibly challenging few days for our team, and the wider community. We are thrilled to see passengers arriving and departing, particularly as we approach the festive season and make plans to see our loved ones,” airport chief executive officer Richard Barker said.
“On Sunday afternoon, for the first time ever, flood waters came over the top of the levy at Cairns Airport. This unprecedented event has been recorded as the highest level of flooding since 1910. When our team surveyed the runway on Sunday evening, I had no expectation that we would be where we are today.”
“Cairns Airport will be busy this week as we return to normal operations and do our very best to get people to their destinations for the festive season.
“Please be patient and do your best to arrive early, ideally two hours before a domestic service and three hours if you’re travelling internationally.”
