From 2h agoKey events23m ago’Grave concerns’ for elderly people and those with disabilities in Wujal Wuja2h agoNarrabri bushfire creating ‘dangerous and erratic’ situation2h agoCooktown runs low on supplies as it waits for Wujal Wujal residents to be airlifted in2h agoWelcome2h agoBushfire near Narrabri in north-west NSWFilters BETAKey events (5)Queensland (9)Wujal Wujal (5)RFS (5)Cairns (4)Shane Chelepy (4)15m ago16.44 ESTAndrew Messenger
Cyclone Jasper shocks Cairns residents
A lifelong resident of Machans Beach, just outside Cairns, Euan Williams had seen plenty of cyclones before. Once Tropical Cyclone Jasper passed over the community on Wednesday last week as a category-two storm, that confirmed it. It wouldn’t amount to much:
Being locals, a cat two’s sort of like a run-of-the-mill cyclone.
People attempt to rescue a vehicle bogged in mud from the receding flood waters in Cairns on Monday. Photograph: Nuno Avendano/EPA
The rain didn’t stop for four more days but the alarm bells didn’t ring.
Euan and his wife, Shannon, had sat down for a board game and a quiet Sunday afternoon when she noticed water lapping at the door of a house that had never before been threatened by flood.
Five minutes later the entire street was underwater. They tried sandbagging the house; it was hopeless. They got their pets and escaped. The house was totalled:
We couldn’t even really fathom that it was untenable until it was untenable. It was just, ‘The water’s rising in our house. It’s now ankle deep.’
We can’t just bucket this out. We’re bucketing it out into a river. There’s no point.
It was the same story across far north Queensland. Read all the details here:
Shock and dismay as Cyclone Jasper defies expectations to inundate far north QueenslandRead moreUpdated at 16.53 EST23m ago16.36 EST’Grave concerns’ for elderly people and those with disabilities in Wujal Wuja
Desmond Tayley, former mayor of Wujal Wujal, has said he has “grave concerns” for elderly people and people with disabilities in that small community, who may need medical attention:
The majority of the community is my family, you know. I’m very concerned about what’s going on now. I think – you hold grave concerns for the elderly people.
And some of the people are on dialysis. Normally they would go to Cooktown on a weekly basis to get it done. I haven’t heard nothing around that as of yet. But if we don’t get urgent medical attention to these elders, unfortunately, we may hear bad news.
So we’ve got to make sure that we treat this disaster real urgently and get some medical supplies in there. Get the support the community needs.
Tayley commended the local council and the efforts of other authorities in their attempt to support and rescue residents.
Updated at 16.44 EST27m ago16.32 EST
Wujal Wujal community ‘desperate’, without power and traversing ‘croc-infested waters’
The former mayor of Wujal Wujal, Desmond Tayley, has been speaking on ABC…
2023-12-18 16:44:45
Original from www.theguardian.com
