Flood damage bill to double

THE Gulf of Carpentaria‘s damage bill could “easily double” to $100m as the clean-up for flooded towns begin.

More than 40 homes were understood to be inundated with water and only 60 people remained behind earlier this week in Burketown, after the residents were asked to evacuate.

Burke Shire Mayor Ernie Camp said that now the water has dropped to at least 1.4 metres, the damage was becoming more clear.

“It is absolute destruction, we’ve got townhouses and complexes still under a small amount of water and everything is a mess,” he said.

“This is easily the worst I’ve ever seen it, the damage will probably exceed $100m, but that’s the least.”

The flooding has devastated the Gulf region including Normanton and Burketown which have been cut-off since January.

“Residents are slowly coming back to their homes, with essential workers invited back first,” Cr Camp said.

“Those with medical conditions will need to come home last, once the houses are inspected and cleaned and electricity is connected.”

Cr Camp said electricity was accessible to some houses and the ones with generators were the ones to suffer the most.

Nautilus Aviation has been offering its support since last Thursday.

Nautilus CEO Aaron Finn said that while the Burketown Airport runway was closed and planes can’t get in and out, people and supplies needed to be transported by helicopter.

“It’s been a really heavy last eight days,” he said.

“We’ve been bringing in tradesmen and QFES staff, barrels of hay for cattle, and completing food drops for the people and businesses in the community.”

Cr Camp reiterated that the Gulf will “never be flood resistant”, but there needs to be attempts to make it as resilient as possible.

“Having roads that are at least 1.5m high is one step towards flood resilience,” he said.

“It will help the liveability of Burketown and its economy,” he said.

On Friday the Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities Mark Furner visited the flood-affected region and spoke to community leaders and primary producers.

“It’s important to be here in the North West to survey the damage, speak to locals and determine what assistance we can provide to help communities recover, ” he said.