Any grey nomads who are travelling in north Queensland at this time of the year are among those feeling the full force of Mother Nature’s power, with torrential rain and heavy flooding causing chaos across a huge area.
The Bruce Highway was cut yesterday as part of the Ollera Creek Bridge – just east of Paluma, 60 kilometres north of Townsville – collapsed.
The ABC says the failure of the bridge means any supplies, including fuel, water and food will have to take enormous detours to reach centres north of Townsville.
Katter’s Australian Party MP Nick Dametto said the loss of the bridge would create ‘a logistical nightmare’.
An Emergency Alert has been issued for Cardwell; PIC: QPS
“That part of the Bruce Highway is not just the access to Ingham, it’s the access to all of North and Far North Queensland into that Gulf Country,” he said. “We need to make sure, once the water subsides, we’re throwing everything at this …. until we can fix that part of the Bruce Highway, we’re going to be hampered in recovery efforts.”
The Townsville Bulletin reports that Cardwell copped 525mm of rain in the 19 hours until 4am this morning, Paluma had 607mm, Rollingstone 482mm, Paradise Lagoon 465mm, Ingham 393mm, Gairloch 389mm, and Halifax 343mm. Closer to Townsville, Saunders Creek recorded 210mm in 19 hours, Deeragun 202, Mt Bohle 181mm, Garbutt 162mm, Townsville 139mm, Bohle River 144, Louisa Creek 151, and South Townsville 145mm.
There have been evacuations taking place in many communities including Townsville, Cardwell and Ingham.
Dozens of people have had to be rescued from floodwaters across the region, including several who were swept off the road.
A QPS spokeswoman said there were also reports of motorists becoming trapped on inundated roads.
There has been one confirmed fatality so far. A 63-year-old woman who was a passenger on a State Emergency Service vessel died when it struck a tree and flipped. The vessel had been carrying six people, including SES volunteers and members of the public.
The Townsville Bulletin reports that motorists are being warned against driving through any floodwaters, with the risk potentially stretching emergency services further.
Hinchinbrook Mayor Ramon Jayo, whose region includes Ingham, told the newspaper the community was grappling with its worst flooding since at least 1967.
He said the region must now rely on helicopters to deliver critical supplies, including a large generator. Ingham’s population of almost 5,000 people has been without power since its substation was inundated then shut down yesterday evening.
While there have not been any specific reports of caravan parks flooding at this stage, Natalie Jaques-Sinclair, the owner of the Crystal Creek Caravan Park north of Townville, said it was a nerve-wracking time.
“We are built up higher than that so the park will be safe,” she told the Bulletin. “We did have an older gentleman come to us saying the creek was about to break and to make sure there wasn’t anyone camping down there.”
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We haven’t been affected by the floods.
We live in Victoria.
By the time we travel up to QLD to spend Winter there things will have settled down completely.
We have no desire to live in QLD but it’s a great place to escape the Southern Winter.