Relief for North Queensland flood-hit communities as key Bruce Highway bridge set to reopen

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Frustration is mounting in North Queensland’s flood-hit communities, where power has been out for nine days and some areas remain cut off. But there’s relief on the way— a key Bruce Highway bridge is set to reopen, restoring vital freight access.

Transcript

00:00This is the way out of Steph and Emily Mussap's property, cut off from the world for 10 days

00:10and counting.

00:11One of our activities each day is to get up and go down and check the creek and can we

00:17get out today and every day, nope, not getting out today.

00:23The couple lives at Hidden Valley near Paluma, north of Townsville, where a record-breaking

00:28two metres of rain fell in eight days.

00:31We're eating up everything, so all fresh is now done and dusted, we're on to canned.

00:38Power's still cut to the town after a landslide.

00:42Ergon says this raging rapid has made repairs impossible.

00:46There's a lot of support being offered but there's no one being able to really get up

00:51into this area.

00:53In other isolated communities, ongoing outages are taking a toll.

00:58Once it gets past that nine, ten days with no power, I think that's the issue.

01:02That's where the mental side of it comes in.

01:05This man travelled from Ingham and jumped on a rail bus to pick up a generator from

01:10Townsville.

01:11Had enough, just bought it over and done with I suppose.

01:14Power will be nice.

01:16Ergon says it's already restored power to more than 30,000 properties and hopes to reconnect

01:22the majority of households by 10 o'clock tonight.

01:26It's welcome news for those who've been unable to wash their clothes or refrigerate their

01:31food in well over a week.

01:34Rainfall totals up to 300 millimetres are possible tomorrow.

01:38But the good news is we will see an easing trend during Wednesday and Thursday.

01:43Police and the Army have been doing welfare checks around Charters Towers.

01:47We just wanted to see how many people are here, what supplies are needed and if anyone

01:50needs to get out urgently.

01:52Eight days after the Ollara Creek Bridge collapsed north of Townsville, the crucial

01:56Bruce Highway route will reopen tonight to freight and emergency vehicles and general

02:02traffic tomorrow, allowing more support into flood-ravaged Ingham.

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