Cyclone a lesson for schools

THE closure of hundreds of southeast Queensland schools in the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie was so poorly handled that clueless councils were left wrongly telling parents to take their kids to school.

An official review of Cyclone Debbie found emergency texts and calls didn’t begin until an hour after school started at 9.39am – more than three hours after the decision – and the last weren’t sent until 12.50pm.

It says authorities actually had no idea how long the emergency alerts would take when they decided to use them at their primary warning.

“If decision-makers were aware of how long this would take they may have decided to warn in other ways,” the review said, suggesting radio, Facebook and websites were more successful. Councils were never told of the Government’s decision, so many wrongly assured confused callers that classes were on.

The review said 3.6 million alerts reached only 60 per cent of their targets, and many children were already at or on their way to school.

The review delivered a fairly positive assessment of the emergency response to Debbie, which battered Queensland in March and April.