THE RAINS ARE ‘ERE
‘Good wet will avert brewing health crisis’
A GOOD prolonged wet season would avert what could develop to be a mental health crisis in the north-western grazing industry, a deputy mayor has said. And a good wet season looks well on its way. The downpours yesterday topped up Ross River Dam by the equivalent of 43 days’ town water supply.
A GOOD, prolonged wet season will avert what could be a mental health crisis in the northwestern grazing industry, Richmond deputy mayor June Kuhl says.
And a good wet season is underway.
The western Gulf Country has had good rain with Normanton receiving 331mm over the past seven days.
Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Peter Markworth said a major flood warning for the Flinders River might cause some alarm given the events in the northwest this time last year when the Flinders and other rivers turned the western plains into an inland ocean.
The flooding resulted in the loss of millions of dollars of station infrastructure and the death of up to 500,000 cattle from drowning and exposure.
But the circumstances causing flooding this year are vastly different to what had happened in late January and early February 2019 when the Flinders catchment received falls of between 700-1000mm.
Cr Kuhl said no one wanted a season like last year when the northwest was deluged from January 29 to February 8. Some places recorded 300mm of rain in 24 hours.
“Everything hinges on if we get a good wet season,” Cr Kuhl said.
“If we get 200mm in one night that will bring back the terrors for a lot of people.
“If it doesn’t rain, that’s when people will start asking themselves if they can go on. If there is a wet season there is hope.”
Recovery out west has been slow and the impact from a flood of such devastating magnitude was not something that could be reversed overnight, she said.
“Our community has been brilliant. It’s been a case of heads down and bums up.
There was fencing down everywhere. Stockyards were washed away and there has been a weed explosion.”
Cr Kuhl said weed seeds contained in hay and other fodder dropped off to cattle during the flood was now making its presence felt in the form of new weeds. She said the weed problem would get worse once the wet season started.
She said some graziers had restocked, but added that others couldn’t because they did not have the grass. She said the flood came after seven years of drought which meant there was very little grass cover on the ground when the rain started. She said the lack of grass cover meant that topsoil was washed away.
“These people without grass couldn’t restock and they couldn’t take agistment cattle which would have supplemented their income.
Cr Kuhl said the influx of recovery workers meant there was cash circulating in the town. She said the Federal Government’s $75,000 flood assistance grant meant that people could fix fences and get the most urgent repair jobs completed.
“It gave people breathing space. It took so much stress out of the situation,” she said.
Mayor of the Julia Creekbased Mckinlay Shire Belinda Murphy said government assistance had enabled people to quickly get on with their lives after the flood.
“Everyone is doing OK. The $75,000 got people started, but not everyone is rushing to take the second tranche ($400,000). They are waiting to see what the wet does and so far that is looking pretty good,” she said.