Further financial assistance will be rolled out to parts of Queensland battered by storms and flooding, the prime minister has confirmed.
Anthony Albanese said an A$50 million (US$33.57 million) support package will be made available to those affected by recent wild weather in the state’s far north and southeast.
The new support package will include measures for tourism recovery and clean-up programs for areas hardest hit.
“We will be making grants for local resilience and recovery ... for the three councils in southeast Queensland,” Mr. Albanese told ABC Radio on Tuesday, Jan. 9.
“In addition to that, we'll be announcing a cyclone industry recovery and resilience officers program.”
Funding will also be provided to the Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Shire and Douglas Shire councils in far north Queensland, along with the Scenic Rim Regional Council in the southeast.
The new amount comes on top of an A$64 million (US$43 million) package for Queensland announced in December following previous storms.
So far, $10.5 million has been paid in federal disaster relief payments to 60,000 people affected by storms and flooding in southeast Queensland.
A further $4.5 million has been paid to 26,000 people in the far north.
Eligible people are able to receive $1000 per adult and $400 per child.
“We realise that at a time of natural disasters, that some people will be doing it really tough,” Mr Albanese said.
“Tragically, in this beautiful country of ours, natural disasters are becoming more frequent and more intense.”
“We were told that that would be an impact of climate change, and unfortunately, we are seeing that play out in practice.”
More severe weather is forecast for Queensland’s southeast, with the Bureau of Meteorology indicating severe thunderstorms are possible inland of the Gold Coast from Jan. 9.
“Severe storms again will bring rainfall as the most likely phenomenon but large hail and damaging winds will be possible through Tuesday as well,” meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said.
Rain is predicted across Queensland’s southeast and northern NSW from Jan. 9, but falls are expected to be much lower than the region experienced during recent wild weather.
A tornado hit the Gold Coast on Christmas Day, followed by storms and flash flooding that also wreaked havoc in the Logan and Scenic Rim regions.
In the aftermath, SES reinforcements from NSW and Victoria joined their Queensland counterparts in recovery efforts.
The NSW contingent of about 120 storm and chainsaw specialists has since returned home.
“Our dedicated members worked tirelessly alongside Queensland emergency services and residents to clear debris, remove fallen trees, tarp rooftops and door knock to provide essential support to affected individuals and families,” NSW SES acting Commissioner Deb Platz said.
The storms initially left more than 130,000 homes without power in Queensland’s southeast, but work to restore electricity was finally completed on Sunday night.
The race is now on to get damage repaired at about 130 schools across the state before students return on Jan. 22.
Gold Coast City Council launched Operation Clean Up to help clear storm debris and flood damage in the most severely impacted areas.
“We have a plan and we are coming to help,” Mayor Tom Tate said.
“The task ahead of us is mammoth, with an unprecedented amount of green waste to be removed - it is estimated it will take 75,000 truck loads to remove the waste.”
