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Gascoyne residents face massive clean-up
THE crisis is over for residents of Western Australia's Gascoyne region following the worst flooding there on record, but they face a massive clean-up as waters recede.
Reinforced levees prevented the overflowing Gascoyne River from swamping the town of Carnarvon, but surrounding plantations and pastoral stations have been hammered with big livestock and crop losses.
At 5.30am (WST) today, the river level was down to 4.4 metres at Nine Mile Bridge after peaking at 7.8 metres early yesterday, WA's Bureau of Meteorology reported.
"It's looking quite promising. I reckon it might drop pretty quick now," Les Heyter of WA's Fire and Emergency Services Authority (FESA) said.
He said five aircraft would fly in fresh food and other supplies from Perth to Carnarvon during the day and helicopters would ferry those to outlying stations and Aboriginal communities.
A phone-around of stations and communities early today would determine if everyone was all right and what supplies were needed.
Residents who had been evacuated could be allowed back to assess damage and begin the clean-up tomorrow or Thursday, depending on water levels and road damage, Mr Heyter said.
Carnarvon, about 900km north of Perth, received its annual rainfall in 22 hours during the weekend.
Some people in outlying areas were rescued by helicopter after sitting it out on rooftops, while a caravan park in Carnarvon was evacuated after it was swamped late on Sunday.
About 160 people have been staying at Carnarvon's civic centre, which had been designated an evacuation centre.
The WA government yesterday declared the area a disaster zone, along with parts of the Pilbara and Mid-West regions, making residents and local authorities eligible for financial assistance for clean-up and recovery.
The Federal Government has also pledged funds to be channelled through the WA government to help flood victims and to assist local authorities to replace damaged public infrastructure.
Under the federal assistance, small businesses will be able to apply for interest rate subsidies and primary producers will be able to access professional advice grants, and interest rate and freight subsidies.
WA Premier Colin Barnett visited Carnarvon yesterday to assess the damage and said not much more could have been done to stop the record flood.
"Probably flood mitigation methods would not have stopped this flood from spreading, but there may well be some scope for doing further works," he told ABC Radio today.
"I would suggest hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars of loss in horticultural production."
With about 105 pastoral stations in the broader Gascoyne area, livestock losses could he high.
"Some quite harrowing stories of people spending the night on the roof, realising that at the same time their livestock were basically drowning or being swept away," Mr Barnett said.
It's feared that many of the region's historic pastoral homesteads, many made of mud bricks, could have been irreparably damaged by floodwaters.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/gascoyne-residents-face-massive-clean-up/story-fn3dxity-1225974429810
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