March 31, 2017
Setting up – and later removing – warning and road closure signs occupied a lot of South Burnett Regional Council outdoor staff time on Friday, Deputy Mayor Cr Kathy Duff said.
Cr Duff, who is the acting chair of the Local Disaster Management Group, said workers have also been removing fallen trees from roads and other infrastructure, and debris from floodways, in the aftermath of Thursday’s region-wide drenching by the remnants of ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie.
But there appears to have been little serious infrastructure damage from the deluge, just a lot of inconvenience for some residents who have had their travel plans disrupted by road closures.
“As at 4:30pm on Friday afternoon there are still a number of local roads closed,” Cr Duff said.
“But the only main road still closed in the South Burnett region is Byee Road.
“Roads will be assessed again on Saturday morning, and re-opened if floodwaters have dropped and the road or structure is safe.”
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Cr Duff asked residents to check QldTraffic.qld.gov.au for updates, because the information which Council provides is automatically fed through to this website.
“Again, I remind motorists to drive with caution over the coming days, reducing speed taking the condition of the road into consideration,” Cr Duff said.
Cr Duff also warned that residents may notice some changes to the taste of town drinking water in coming days.
“This is due to the fresh inflows and discolouration of raw water supplies from the floodwaters,” Cr Duff said.
“However the water supplied is still safe to drink.”
Kingaroy Airport has also been closed all Friday, but is expected to reopen to aviators at 6:00pm.
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Water from Thursday’s storms is now starting to flow into both the Bjelke-Petersen and Boondooma Dams.
In the past 48 hours, 1915 ML has poured into the Bjelke-Petersen Dam, increasing its storage from 20.12 to 21.54 per cent.
Boondooma Dam has received a much heavier inflow of 16,178 ML, which has increased its storage from 36.75 to 44.7 per cent.
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