A Message From The Mayor Ramon Jayo

Our hearts go out to all the residents who have experienced inundation of their homes and premises due to flooding over the past week. The flooding experienced has been devastating and not only homes have been destroyed, but many businesses have suffered loss of valuable stock, equipment, livestock and machinery occasioned by both water and the power outage. Terrible losses have occurred and there will be a long recovery process, not only the material matters, but the emotional scarring that has occurred due to the traumatic experiences of water inundation and physical evacuation of premises in the middle of the night.
These are experiences that no one will ever forget.
But as a community we must now rally and move as quickly as possible to try and return to some normality and it was heartwarming to see residents getting into the clean-up efforts of their properties the moment the water started to recede, with neighbours helping each other to get the job done. The Council is committed to doing its part and has commenced the clean-up processes including normal domestic rubbish collection, flood affected waste collection, and road/street opening and cleaning operations as a matter of urgency.
As I write this column, we are still not out of danger with the renewed rises in the river and the forecast for potentially more heavy rain in our lower catchment.  But we must start to rebuild in the knowledge that together, with the assistance of many including our state and federal governments, we will reestablish our community from this devastation.
The SES and Queensland Rural Fire Brigade are assisting residents to clear out and clean flood affected homes and residents seeking assistance in that regard are asked to register by phoning 132 500.
Financial hardship assistance packages have now been released by both the state and federal government and I urge our residents to apply for the assistance on offer either online or by visiting the Community Hub that has been established at the TAFE Centre on Townsville Road as soon as possible. I am sure that further assistance measures will be released once the waters clear and the full extent of damage is assessed and becomes apparent.

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A Message From The Mayor

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This was a horrific event, and we must thank the many many people who came to our assistance in response to the threat. The emergency service agencies including Queensland Fire, Police, Fire and Rescue, Swift Water Rescue, Water Police, and the State Emergency Services.
They each played a major part in helping our community members in the rising water, protecting our community and saving our residents in a time of need and we will be forever indebted to these brave men and women who went about their work in some quite atrocious conditions.  
We must also thank the Council staff who were involved in the response effort, from the administration staff who were involved and remain involved in the disaster coordination centre, to the technical officers whom worked tirelessly in ensuring that Council facilities and operations such as the water treatment plant remained operational during the highest peak of flooding. Thank you to you all.
We must also thank all those kind residents and community organisations who quickly rallied to help their neighbours, the displaced residents in evacuation, ferrying supplies about, cleaning out our community and sporting facilities and generally watching over our elderly residents in the days following the peak. There were many many people assisting as best they could. I will not mention any names at present for fear of injustice in leaving someone out, but we will acknowledge your effort sometime in the future as you are all applauded.
As we go about the recovery and the rebuilding our lives, please do not feel alone as there is much assistance about to help you as an individual and we will continue to push out information as it becomes available. The disaster recovery centre remains open and if you are in need of assistance or information, simply contact the centre on 4776 4600.
I wish you all the best.

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