By Donna Jones
“They are officially calling it unprecedented,“ said SES local controller Steve Clough.
According to a spokesman from the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, SES members in the Northcoast Region responded to 232 calls for help – 145 of those flood related and 19 of those were flood boat rescues between 4pm Friday, 7 January and 7am Monday, 10 January.
However, reports have been coming in that a large portion of the Kilkivan area has been without mobile phone reception, so responders were expecting many more callouts once service is restored.
Mr Clough said his team got their heads down and got stuck in, once the calls started to come in.
“Initially we were just responding and helping wherever we could,“ he said.
As the situation escalated, teams from the Sunshine Coast, all across the Gympie region, Tiaro and Fraser Coast all responded.
When he spoke with Gympie Today on Monday, there were still teams assisting with food drops to people who have been flooded in, and with the search effort for a 14 year old girl lost in floodwaters since Friday night near Booubyjan.
Mr Clough also said a huge part of his role this time was working within the Local Disaster Management Group.
He said this was his first time working with this department of the Gympie Regional Council and he was impressed.
“They did a stellar job with what they’ve got to do – and this was a new crew – but they did an incredible job and leaned on other agencies when they needed to, and gave their support when it was needed.
“The coordination of the whole operation was great – I must say that working within the LDMG is a real eye opener, the council ladies and gentlemen do an awesome job alongside the QAS, QPS, QFES and SES,“ he said.
“Considering what has happened with this weather event, this town has a very capable team at the helm and they all deserve a lot of credit.“
Mr Clough said the GRC’s Disaster Dashboard on their website is a really valuable tool, and it is something the group all worked really hard at to keep regularly updated.
“If people want real information during times like this, go to the Dashboard.
“It’s constantly updated and monitored the whole time and the information is as close to real time as we can get it,“ he said.
Mr Clough doesn’t think the region has seen the last of flooding rains, and has urged residents to consider their home environment to make it as secure as possible before the next major event.
“Most people had their roofs replaced in the last few years, so we had less calls for roofs, but get your gutters cleaned regularly and have an emergency storm kit handy.
“But the biggest thing is having your street number clearly visible, especially at night.
“With one callout, we had 10 houses all in a row and the only number visible on any of them was the ’1’ in the front of their old lot number,“ he said.
“We can’t help you if we can’t find you.“
