Press Release: A Record Flood for Townsville


5th February 2019

Issued 5 February 2019

 

With record flooding and rain still falling it’s a very serious emergency for everyone in the Townsville area.

 

The Bureau of Meteorology advises that 1 metre of rain has fallen in the last week with a further 450mm by Monday end.

 

The Ross River Dam is at more than 200% capacity and releasing water at the rate of around 1900 cubic metres per second.

 

The many respective Queensland Government agencies are all involved in helping Townsville Council and the community manage this huge event and FMA congratulates all involved.

 

Floodplain Management Australia (FMA) Queensland Director, Mr Dwayne Honor said “Queensland is the most prone state for flooding and storm damage and we are seeing it again in full force this year already”.

 

“Floods are dangerous and costly to the community and we are grateful that so far there has been no loss of life in this event”.

 

Mr Honor said that evacuation of thousands of houses will mean many thousands of people will be unable to return home for quite some time.

 

“These events are newsworthy while they are happening but we need to remember that when it stops raining and the TV cameras leave town, these people are left with a massive job to clean up and repair homes and businesses before they can be occupied”.

 

The stress and trauma can impact on people’s lives forevermore and the cost of such social impacts is immeasurable.

 

Floods of this magnitude illustrate the importance of long term land use planning to minimise and mitigate the impacts of such natural disasters.

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