Cyclone clean-up begins, while monsoon damage assessed
As damage assessments continue after a tropical cyclone slammed into the west, residents on the other side of the country are taking to the skies to check stock losses from devastating monsoon floods.
Floodwaters continue to rise in outback Queensland, with dozens of roads closed and communities isolated.
McKinlay Mayor Janene Fegan said it could be weeks before the full extent of damage and stock losses are known.
After days of heavy rain, conditions only improved on Wednesday and grazers were allowed to launch helicopters.
“We don’t know officially yet; we’re just sitting and waiting, but it’s not looking good in some parts of the north-west of our district,” Cr Fegan told AAP.
“We have been told that the water level is quite high and there are places where it could be higher than in 2019.
An elderly man died and his body was found inside a submerged car in the northern town of Normanton on Tuesday afternoon.
Queensland Premier David Crisfulli said the people of Queensland were strong-bodied, but the loss of the local man in his 70s would impact the community.
“The loss of life as a result of flooding is a profound tragedy for the North West Community… to lose one of their own,” he said in a statement on Wednesday. he said.
“Our biggest focus continues to be infrastructure… Roads, bridges. We have to keep people connected.”
While damage assessments were only at the beginning of what many considered the first stage, it was just part of living in Queensland.
“Queenslanders are really tough and resilient and during the wet season there’s rain and people deal with that all the time. But that doesn’t mean people have to deal with it on their own,” he said.
The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that severe falls of 100mm are possible in the Northern Goldfields and Upper Flinders, as well as parts of the North West and Mid-West.
Six-hour rainfall totals from approximately Townsville to Yarrabah are likely to be between 100 and 180 mm, with the potential for isolated falls in excess of 220 mm.
The Bureau’s Miriam Bradbury said rain and storm activity would continue, “but we should start to see further easing over larger areas by late weekend into early next week”.
Disaster assistance has been activated for five north Queensland councils following widespread flooding caused by monsoon rains over the Christmas period.
Emergency services in Western Australia’s Kimberley region are assessing damage caused by former tropical cyclone Hayley, which passed over the coast as a category three storm over the Dampier Peninsula on Tuesday, causing widespread power outages.
It has dropped to tropical lows with winds around 95 kilometers per hour.
Residents of the Lombadina community in Cape Leveque on the Dampier Peninsula reported the loss of roofs on two houses due to winds of up to 158 km per hour and 131.8 mm of rain.
DFES and Horizon Power were deploying planes and helicopters on Wednesday to assess damage and direct ground crews to communities needing assistance.
Nine people took refuge in Broome; many more sought refuge with family and friends.
While electricity was cut off in some areas, there were widespread reports of trees falling down due to strong winds.
“There’s definitely some damage,” Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm general manager James Brown told ABC radio.
“Even the structures right outside the shelter (staff) were collapsed, their roofs were damaged, and it was obvious that trees were falling everywhere,” he said.
He said it would take days to clear the roads and then get the boats out to assess the farm.
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