Queensland floods: some rescues will have to be via sea or air, says Douglas mayor
Mayor of Douglas Shire Michael Kerr says the ADF is needed on-the-ground because it is “virtually impossible” to get to stranded people by land.
We have so much road damage as well on top of the flooding. Trying to get through to these areas is virtually impossible by land. It will either have to be by air or sea. We need to get into these people, to get them evacuated safely.
Kerr said that a deluge of rain in 2019 came as “one serious dump”, but this rain has “just been continuous”.
Never seen anything as bad as this.
Key events
As we flagged earlier in the blog, the Euramo Hotel in Far North Queensland temporarily “rebranded” as the Euramo Yacht Club, welcoming 18 boats up to its doors, which were yesterday consumed with flood waters.
We can now bring you some photos of this:
Q: What message do you have for your ministers?
Steven Miles:
I want them to listen to Queenslanders and deliver. What we are focused on is governing in the interests of Queenslanders, listening first to them, and then once we’ve listened, acted. That’s what I think you have seen from me, I hope you have seen from me, and I hope by that example our ministers can follow.
Queensland premier Steven Miles is speaking to the media after his cabinet was officially sworn in.
He is outlining the new ministry, which we detailed in full here or you can read more below:
Miles said:
What you have in our government is fresh faces, new ideas, the right mix of youth and experience. I’m very proud of them. And now everyone, it’s time to get to work.
Here’s some footage of the damage to homes across Far North Queensland amid the flooding:
Machans Beach local Trinidad Jacial has described the moment a tree and an electricity pole fell onto the road as she was preparing to evacuate her home.
Jacial told ABC News that she was preparing to evacuate to higher ground with her young family when a tree and an electricity pole fell and blocked the road.
She and her husband grabbed their girls – aged one and three – and left, and said ten minutes after they left the water reached peaked level:
When we left the house we were smiling and singing songs and telling them that we were going on an adventure… when we go to my brother-in-law’s place… they knew that there was something going on.
We tried to keep our best smiley faces on all day… there’s not much that we can do but stay positive and [get] past all of that anxiety.
Jacial said she hasn’t seen anything like this in the seven years she has lived in the area.
It was pretty scary… it’s unbelievable how quickly it all happened.
The Bureau of Meteorology said that subject to verification, some sites in Far North Queensland recorded around 800mm of rain in just the 24 hours to 9am this morning:
🌧️ A trough associated with ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper produced more than 500 mm of rainfall at sites in the North Tropical Coast over the past 24 hours to 9am, in the Daintree, Mossman and Barron catchments. Subject to verification, some sites have recorded up to around 800 mm. pic.twitter.com/EWg4vtVmfO
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) December 18, 2023
Crocodile captured after it was spotted in flood waters in Ingham
AAP has more details on the crocodile spotted in Queensland flood waters:
A saltwater crocodile has been captured after it was spotted swimming in swollen flood waters in Palm Creek in the small town of Ingham.
Wildlife officers captured the 2.8-metre saltie this morning before it was placed inside a holding cage.
It is expected the animal will be taken to a holding facility until the deluge subsides.
ADF helping with flood rescue efforts in far north Queensland
The defence minister, Richard Marles, has provided an update on the support the Australian defence force is providing to flood-affected communities in FNQ.
In a post on X, Marles said personnel from HMAS Cairns have worked alongside local authorities to rescue Cairns residents.
He added that 150 support personnel along with equipment will be sent to assist the Queensland Fire and Emergency Service.
ADF helicopters will provide assistance to isolated residents in the region as soon as possible to support Queensland emergency authorities.
This video from a drone deployed near Cairns shows the extent of the flooding in Smithfield:
‘Never seen anything like it’: Mossman publican describes deluge as river broke
Mossman Hotel publican Paul McMahon described the moment the river broke in town, bringing a deluge of water to already drenched areas.
Speaking to the ABC, McMahon said two feet of water came on top of what was already there, “straight down the drive and through into town and everyone’s houses and the pub”.
One of his staff couldn’t get home. McMahon said the town seems much calmer now, but the clean-up efforts are proving challenging:
It’s just the mud and the fact that the water is turned off makes cleaning just that much harder.
Some of the older blokes I was chatting to yesterday and today, in 45 years they’ve lived here, never seen anything like it. So it’s certainly pretty dramatic and it’s caught everyone by surprise.
Cooktown to offer shelter to those fleeing floods but water and food scarce, mayor says
Cook Shire mayor Peter Scott said his community of Cooktown is preparing to accommodate those evacuating from Wujal Wujal amid the disastrous flooding.
Speaking to the ABC, Scott said Cooktown was relatively well positioned above the river and although it had received a lot of rain there was no real damage. But there are issues with water, food and bedding supplies.
We can cater for them in Cooktown if they come in, we’ll open up our cyclone shelter. It can take up to 1,000 people. But having said that, we do not have bedding. We are on water restrictions and there are probably only about two or three days of food left in Cooktown.
Scott said that Cooktown has rivers on both sides and people cannot get out.
All the roads are cut … There still could be a lot of damage underneath the roads or on the roads themselves, so if we do have to resupply, it will have to be by air supply or by [sea].
Victorian school cleaners: union threatens to take government to court in messy dispute
Stephanie Convery
The union representing Victorian cleaners has threatened to take the state government to court over a messy dispute over cleaning contracts for more than 200 schools.
About 700 school cleaners at public schools in Melbourne’s west and north-east are affected by a major contract changeover as the Victorian government switches from ISS Facility Services to incoming contractors Tradeflex and Serco.
Cleaning staff have been forced to reapply for their jobs and face the Christmas and New Year period without income due to a gap between contracts, while some re-hired staff face the cumulative loss of more than $11,000 per annum and huge cuts to their working hours.
In a letter to the education minister Ben Carroll on 12 December, seen by Guardian Australia, the United Workers Union outlined concerns about a number of possible breaches to the Fair Work Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and the Cleaning Services Award that it believes appear to be imminent, given the cuts to hours, increases to workloads and the fact that many staff have not been made formal offers of employment by the incoming contractors, and thus may be entitled to redundancy pay.
The UWU alleges that given the contractors are “all acting in accordance with contractual directions from the State Government of Victoria and the Victorian Department of Education”, the state government and the department would also be complicit in any contravention of those laws.
UWU property services director Lyndal Ryan said in a statement:
These workers are barely above the minimum wage and the Victorian Government is just throwing them on to the scrapheap in the hope that friends and family can lend a hand over the Christmas break.
And even when they return, their future is bleak. The hard-hearted treatment of these workers is exactly why we have been calling for an end to this race-to-the-bottom privatisation of Victorian school cleaning, so cleaners can have the jobs they deserve to best serve their school communities.
A Department of Education spokesperson said:
We’re actively working with current and incoming school cleaning service providers to ensure a smooth transition process for schools and cleaning staff, with incoming arrangements to be in place until late December 2024.
We require all contracted cleaning service providers to fully comply with their obligations under the Fair Work Act.
A Tradeflex spokesperson told Guardian Australia earlier this month that recruitment was in progress, and they hoped to complete the process by the end of December.
A spokesperson for Serco directed all Guardian Australia’s inquiries to the education department.
Nick Evershed
Map of rainfall in northern Queensland in past week
This map shows the total rainfall for the past seven days, with amounts more than 1,300mm recorded in the area north of Port Douglas.
Parts of Cairns urged to boil drinking water as supply reaches ‘critical’ level
Parts of Cairns are being urged to boil drinking water as water supply across the region reaches “critical” levels.
Cairns Regional Council posted on Facebook that there was “very limited supply” of water which may run out in coming hours if water couldn’t be restored to the treatment plant later today.
Council advises residents that water supply across the region is at critical levels.
Some suburbs in Cairns may already be without water due to damaged infrastructure.
Once services are restored, there will be limited water supply until the reservoirs can be replenished. Residents should continue to only use water for critical purposes until further notice.
Residents in Orchid Valley, Bartle Frere and Woopen Creek have been instructed to boil drinking water until further notice. Unboiled water can still be used for showering and washing clothes.
