{"id":21643,"date":"2013-01-27T22:55:06","date_gmt":"2013-01-27T12:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=21643"},"modified":"2020-12-21T16:49:56","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T06:49:56","slug":"disaster-committee-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/01\/27\/disaster-committee-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Disaster Committee Update"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
SES crews inspect flood damage to River Road, Kingaroy this morning (Photo: Peter Verbakel)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

January 27, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although the rain has been easing, the road situation is still extremely dangerous in the South Burnett and residents have been urged to stay at home and off the streets.<\/p>\n

Not only is there still water across many roads – and most major highways throughout the region are cut – but there is still a lot of water working its way down creeks and rivers from other parts of the catchment, so levels may start to fall and then rise again.<\/p>\n

There has also been significant road damage with washouts reported to the South Burnett Regional Council in many places.<\/p>\n

“The bottom line is all towns are isolated,” Mayor Wayne Kratzmann told southburnett.com.au<\/strong> after this evening’s meeting of the South Burnett Local Disaster Management Group.<\/p>\n

The road between Nanango and Kingaroy briefly re-opened this afternoon but then was cut again. The Bunya Highway to Kumbia has also been closed again.<\/p>\n

There is major issue with damage to Proston-Boondooma Road.<\/p>\n

Council will have gangs out as soon as possible to start the clean-up and repairs but the damage done is on the scale of the 2011 floods, or even worse.<\/p>\n

“It is the velocity of the water this time that has been causing so much damage,” Cr Kratzmann said.<\/p>\n

“The concern is that we are getting reports from the catchments, both north and south of Kingaroy, that levels are two metres higher than the 2011 floods so there is a lot more water to work its way down.<\/p>\n

“And another difference … in 2011, our dams were basically empty; now they’re full.”<\/p>\n

Cr Kratzmann said reports coming in indicated that many of the areas repaired after the 2011 floods have again been badly damaged, including major repairs completed just weeks ago.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

The State Emergency Service responded to 75 calls throughout the South Burnett overnight and during today, including a swift water rescue.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Queensland Fire & Rescue staff also worked with the SES to retrieve stranded residents.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Queensland Health and the Queensland Ambulance Service are prepared for any emergencies, Cr Kratzmann said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Medical staff – nurses and doctors – are available in all the major towns.<\/p>\n

Six acute care beds have been opened at Wondai Hospital in case of emergency and there are currently two patients there.<\/p>\n

Two mid-wives are also on call in Wondai if they are needed to assist a pregnant woman whose baby is almost due.<\/p>\n

There are seven patients at Murgon Hospital.<\/p>\n

A helicopter may be called in to evacuate a pregnant woman and renal patients from Cherbourg Hospital.<\/p>\n

The QAS had 12 call-outs today but these were to non flood-related incidents.<\/p>\n

Lifeline has offered community recovery and counselling to all residents.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

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Barkers Creek between Kingaroy and Nanango was in full flood this morning (Photo: Peter Verbakel)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Water, water everywhere but …\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Barambah Creek is still rising and the pumps there have gone under which means that immediate water restrictions have been imposed on Wondai and Murgon,” Cr Kratzmann said.<\/p>\n

Council has been forced to disconnect the raw water pumps that supply water to the Murgon and Wondai Water Treatment Plants.<\/p>\n

These will not be reconnected for several days.<\/p>\n

Residents in both Murgon and Wondai have been requested to restrict water consumption to essential internal home use only. No external use is permitted until further notification.<\/p>\n

The Proston water supply is functioning normally.<\/p>\n

Council is monitoring the Kingaroy wastewater treatment plant but it is operating normally at present.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

A priority for the Disaster Management Group is Smithfield Fieldlot, on Okeden Road near Proston.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The feedlot, which usually houses between 15,000 and 20,000 cattle, has enough feed until Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Road access is now impossible so fodder drops may have to be organised.<\/p>\n

\u00a0* * *<\/p>\n

There’s been some good news from Stanwell.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington reported to the Committee that Stanwell has notified that there are no problems with their ash dam.<\/p>\n

During the 2011 floods, \u00a0the Black Creek Dam overflowed for the first time causing erosion to the adjacent 250ha ash dam.<\/p>\n

Building a $26 million diversionary channel to protect the ash dam from flood damage has been planned but construction work has not yet begun.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

There’s also good news from the Blackbutt Range.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mrs Frecklington said she had not been notified of any problems with the Range or the multi-million dollar roadworks taking place. Two lanes remain open as normal.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Ergon Energy is working on power supply issues throughout the region.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wondai was without power from 3:00am-9:00am and Proston also lost power overnight.<\/p>\n

Most areas had power during the day although reports of outages started coming through again this evening.<\/p>\n

For more information about outages, see the Ergon Energy website<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Council is closely monitoring the situation at Gordonbrook Dam.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gordonbrook Dam stabilised at 2.3m over the spillway this afternoon (at 8:00pm it was 2.23m).<\/p>\n

The dam’s Emergency Management Plan has been activated but will go to another level if it reaches 2.5m.<\/p>\n

Cr Kratzmann said there is a good chance of more rises overnight as water from upper parts of the catchment flows into the dam.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/p>\n

Overnight, residents are asked to ring the following numbers:<\/strong><\/p>\n