Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am a born and raised Townsvillean. It is my home. I have been through our worst natural disasters. I was there during Cyclone Althea and all of the subsequent cyclones, the massive flood of the late 1970s, the 1988 flood, which was dubbed 'The Night of Noah'. But nothing can compare to the disaster and devastation of the floods we experienced last week. Townsville experienced the worst floods in our recorded history. We received a year's rainfall in nine days, with 1,134 millimetres recorded up to 9 am, Monday, 4 February 2019, reaching over 1.65 metres. The Ross River Dam reached a record-breaking 244 per cent capacity. More than 22,000 homes and 110 roads in Townsville were affected by this extreme weather event.

Over the last week, I have been visiting the residents in the areas affected by this disaster—people like Elaine from Railway Estate, whose home has been destroyed and whose irreplaceable antique family furniture has been lost, and residents on Queens Road, Hermit Park, whose livelihoods and lifetime belongings have been left in piles on the side of the road. I understand what people are going through because my mother was seriously affected as well. I understand what it is like to stand beside a loved family member as they part with their precious belongings because their home has been inundated. It becomes simply overwhelming, and the slightest thing can be the tipping point. For my mum, it was a large wooden frog that was given to her by my brother. When I said to her, 'It's destroyed, Mum; it will have to go,' she simply burst into tears. So we kept it, damaged and all.

These floods have destroyed livelihoods, but they cannot break the spirit of Townsvillean people, because after the devastation Townsville is showing just how strong and resilient we truly are. The entire community has been out helping—people taking those who have been affected by the floods into their homes without a second thought; the entire city rolling up its sleeves to get on with the massive clean-up; and businesses donating food, tarpaulins, money, goods and shelter. Our Australian Defence Force, police and ambulance services, firefighters and other emergency services, the SES, council workers and Ergon workers were out during the lead-up to the awful night, rescuing residents in very unsafe conditions. They are still out there now helping to clean up. We had two policemen who hung on, one to a tree and one to a light pole, waiting for nearly an hour to be rescued.

To my volunteers who have been out since day one helping to shift the furniture and clean enormous amounts of mould—to all of the generous volunteers—I want to say, in this place, a huge thank you, because you are what makes Townsville great. Together we will recover and together we will get through this, and we will be better than we were before.

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