February 21, 2015
The South Burnett appears to have escaped any serious damage from Cyclone Marcia unlike the communities in Yeppoon and Rockhampton which have been badly battered.
The eye of the cyclone – by then just a rain depression – passed through the South Burnett on Friday night, and by Saturday morning most emergency services personnel were breathing a sigh of relief as they waited in their sheds for emergency assistance calls that were few and far between.
Goomeri SES reported the town had received 100mm of rain overnight as well as some gusty winds, but there had been no reports of damage in the area and no damage to any of the shops in the main street.
In Wondai, SES crews had been asked to supply sandbags to a house in Tingoora and a tree had fallen across the driveway of a family home at Silverleaf, but otherwise there was nothing to report.
Kingaroy SES Group Leader Peter Verbakel said local crews had to put tarpaulins to the roofs of four houses overnight, but this was due to maintenance issues such as blocked gutters rather than storm damage.
Fallen trees briefly blocked roads in Runnymede and the Bunya Mountains; and there had been a steady demand for sandbags.
Mr Verbakel said the main concern of local SES crews was what would happen with river and creek levels during the next 24 hours as they gathered water from their catchments, but the situation was being closely monitored.
Providing there were more heavy rainfalls on Saturday, he thought the situation would not pose any major risks.
Nanango SES reported they had to tarpaulin two house roofs, neither due to storm damage.
They’d also attended to about a dozen sandbagging jobs.
Rainfall around Nanango ranged from 40-95mm.
