Highs and lows of rain
Tinaroo, Koombooloomba supplies surge to best levels in years as landowners and councils begin counting the cost of damage
EAST Innisfail resident Sam Shale (left) is exhausted dealing with the emotional and physical toll flooding of her Howe St home has caused. She and many others in the town are counting the cost of the deluge and appealing for help in its aftermath. The Tablelands are also saturated, however there are smiles with dams such as Tinaroo at their highest levels in years.
TINAROO Dam is at its fullest in three years, as Tableland residents are taking stock of losses from last week’s widespread flooding.
The dam, which dipped to lower than 40 per cent earlier this year, was sitting at more than 70 per cent yesterday, with its water level having risen rapidly since Thursday.
The Koombooloomba Dam near Ravenshoe was also topped up by heavy rainfall, sitting at nearly 92 per cent yesterday.
Tablelands Regional Council Mayor Joe Paronella said there were smiles on the faces of many residents with the tonnes of water that had finally reached the region.
He said despite 56 people needing to be evacuated from properties near Mt Garnet on Friday night, the region’s people and infrastructure appeared to have fared very well from the flooding.
However, he said it was too early to estimate the cost of damage throughout the shire, believing most of it related to problems with roads.
“We’ve got 1100km of gravel roads,” he said. “So I’m sure the vast majority of those, certainly in the Malanda area right up through the Ravenshoe/Mt Garnet and heading down to the top of the Herbert area – we’ll have quite a lot of road problems there.
“The road crews are out today and they’ll be doing assessments and repairs as much as possible.”
Warren Jonsson’s property Wombinoo Station near Mt Garnet was inundated by floodwater late last week, with the water claiming a caravan and shipping container.
“If anyone spots our container down at Ingham, can they please give us a ring?” he joked.
Mr Jonsson, who also owns Jonsson’s Farm Markets at Stratford, said the water level at his property had been at the highest in 20 years.
“It’s done some damage to some of our machinery – we’ve got some pumps that are 20m underwater. But you’ve got to have these big rain events every 20 years or so to flush the rivers out.
“That’s nature, otherwise they fill up. It’s certainly better than having a drought.”