North Queensland Floods Update - 10 February

AFTERNOON UPDATE

This video captured by our fault-finding crew who patrolled the network on an all-terrain vehicle today shows the road to the damage site is under raging rapids.

We cannot safely access the network that supplies Paluma for repairs and it was not possible to airlift generation into the community today.
We are continuing to explore the options.

Meanwhile, crews in and around Ingham are making inroads and they have restored power to hundreds of properties today, including at Abergowrie and Macknade, which we could not access by road yesterday.

We are down to around 1365 customers without power as at 3pm and those numbers will continue to come down throughout the afternoon.

MORNING UPDATE

After more flooding and poor flying conditions threw a spanner in the works yesterday we are pulling out all stops to get the power back on to all remaining customers across the flood zone where it’s safe to do so.

Emergency manager Kev Lavender said it had been a fantastic effort from Ergon crews in the face of major logistical challenges across a widespread area.

“We have restored power to more than 30,000 customers affected by severe weather across the north in the last week or so and we are down to the last 1900 in the worst-impacted areas.

“We’re able to get more boots on the ground today now that roads are open and they have hit the ground running. We are aiming to have the lights on by 10pm tonight, where safe to do so,” Mr Lavender said.

There are still some homes and businesses with flood damage that will need to be inspected by a licenced electrician before Ergon Energy Network can safely reconnect them, but we’ll be doing all we can to get them back online as soon as possible when we have the all-clear.

“The community has been incredibly supportive, but we know customers are keen to get their power back on and rest assured we are throwing everything at the response today.

A landslide at Crystal Creek has taken down poles and wires, but we have flown crews to Paluma to see if we can get the local network back up and running. We also have generators and fuel pods on standby that can be airlifted in to support the community while repairs are in progress.

“We are extremely grateful for everyone’s patience and support at a really challenging time and we will not rest until the last customer has their lights back on,” Mr Lavender said.

PHOTO: Emergency Manager Kev Lavender at Ollera Creek last week