Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) | Hansard source

The Christmas and new year period should be a great time to be surrounded by family and friends and to relax, reflect and celebrate. Sadly, this was not the case for the residents of the southern suburbs of Logan, the northern Gold Coast and the Scenic Rim, who had a tornado form a destructive path from Jimboomba through to Upper Coomera, through Helensvale and out to sea. Winds of over 200 kilometres an hour raged, classifying it as an EF2 tornado. Hundreds of mature trees were uprooted, and many houses, sadly, were destroyed. Sadly, one lady in Helensvale passed away after she was hit by a falling tree. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and loved ones. In the days following the storms, heavy rainfall and high winds battered the already tornado-smashed area, causing more damage including flooding, particularly due to debris choking various waterways. Nearly 1,000 homes and businesses across the Gold Coast, Logan and Scenic Rim were impacted across the electorates of Wright, Forde and Fadden. At the peak of the disaster, some 130,000 homes were without electricity, with close to 4,000 of these still not having been reconnected nearly a fortnight later. More than 100 power poles and over 50 kilometres of powerlines were brought down in the storms and needed to be replaced.

From Boxing Day to early January, I spent much of my time visiting the area and working with those affected communities—checking in with residents who had reached out to my office seeking assistance but also, importantly, finding residents who hadn't been contacted, because mobile phone services were out and people couldn't get in contact with friends and loved ones. Suburbs including Willow Vale, Wongawallan, Upper Coomera, Pimpama and Cedar Creek were especially hard hit on Christmas night, followed by flooding on New Year's Day. Witnessing that damage firsthand and seeing entire homes in Wongawallan destroyed, becoming but a pile of splintered timber, was a humbling experience. In Willow Vale, power poles were split and lying across roads and properties. We saw cars and homes crushed by fallen tree limbs. As I said, the flooding on New Year's Day created havoc.

I want to thank all of the SES and volunteers, the Energex crews and everybody involved through our rural fire brigades for their tremendous work in helping clean up this disaster area. Much more needs to be done yet. We'll continue working with our communities.

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