KING TIDE WOES HIT RECOVERY
24 29 27 28 20 26 9 18 22 35 37 28 21 43 27 19 Flood-affected Townsville residents who say they have already “been through enough” are now dealing with the impact of king tides.
Residents in low-lying areas such as Railway Estate and South Townsville, who are still recovering from the city’s one-in-500-year flooding event, have now experienced king tides of up to 4.11m.
The Bureau of Meteorology said yesterday was the peak for the king tides this week.
“It looks as though the tide got 10cm or so above the highest tide of the year,” said meteorologist Adam Blazak.
“There might have been a bit of inundation in low-lying areas along the coastal fringe.”
Railway Estate resident Lis Travers, 35, said the king tide made the post-flood clean-up much more difficult.
“It’s bringing a lot more mud and dirt and rubbish with it,” Ms Travers said.
“After the floods we just want to get things back to normal but it’s taken longer than expected … it can go away now.”
Another Railway Estate resident, Liam Brady Jarman, 39, said he was “blown away” by the speed at which the water from the king tide came up yesterday morning.
“I had a friend ring me up, I couldn’t go out and meet her for coffee … she was going to run some takeaways over,” Mr Jarman said.
“I looked out my window and literally 10 minutes later … she rang me … saying I’m not driving in that.”
Mr Jarman said he was grateful waste collection was done on Twelfth Ave a few days before.
“It would have been so much more difficult to take away everything had it been sodden,” he said.
“Where the water has increased … that’s where everyone had their stuff; it would have been awful.”
Mr Jarman said while he was expecting the impact from the king tide to be worse around Townsville, the city had been through enough.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology king tides of a similar height are anticipated today, but they are expected to gradually taper off by Thursday or Friday.
The Townsville City Council has urged residents to sandbag their homes and move cars and possessions to higher ground.