THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 23 #50 Tuesday, May 26, 2009 Mullumbimby 02 6684 1777 Byron Bay 02 6685 5222 Fax 02 6684 1719 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au www.echo.net.au 21,000 copies every week
D A M P, B E D R A G G L E D & S H I V E R I N G
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Wild storms rip up the Shire
Clockwise from top left: High seas caused severe erosion at Belongil beach. Photo Jeff Dawson. Wind ripped off the roof of Interior Motives in the Byron industrial estate. Photo Evan Malcolm. A view of the floodwaters in Brunswick Valley. Photo Wendy Ward. Nine cottonwood trees were uprooted at the rock wall at Massey Greene Caravan Park. Photo Michele Grant. Lou Beaumont & Michael McDonald
Huge seas crashed into the coastline and wild winds trashed the hinterland as part of the stormfront which devastated parts of south east Queensland and northern NSW last week. While Byron Shire got off lightly compared to areas south and north, floodwaters and trees still blocked roads and residents were left without power for days. The State Emergency Service (SES) received a record number of calls for assistance from the Richmond-Tweed region from last Thursday to Sunday. A total of 1,425 calls for assistance were taken with 1,390 jobs already
completed, the remaining few dozen outstanding due to lack of access through floodwaters mostly in Ballina and Lismore. Three hundred and nine requests for assistance were called in from Mullumbimby alone, with 300 jobs completed as we go to press. Calls from Mullumbimby were predominantly regarding trees that had fallen or potential threats from precarious trees. SES spokesperson Kim Palmer told The Echo, ‘It has been the most outstanding effort from all SES volunteers. We have had help from the RFS, the VRA, the NSW Police, the NSW Ambulance Service, local councils
and DoCs. It has been a huge collaborative effort. We also had a lot of out of area assistance with volunteers coming from as far as Hay, NSW.’ Throughout the Northern Rivers region the SES have also been called out on 69 rescue operations, of which Palmer said, ‘Far too many are because people have tried to drive through floodwaters. We have asked people not to do this repeatedly – it is the biggest risk to life during floods.’ The focus of the SES is now to resupply those who are still isolated. The SES urges those who are isolated and think they may need assistance over the next few days to call them on 132 500 so they can best organise
resources. Other helpful numbers for flood recovery are the DoCs disaster recovery line on 1800 018 444 and the Public Information Enquiry Centre on 1800 227 228 for information on flood affected areas and loved ones potentially in danger in those areas.
Rescue missions As of 6pm Sunday May 24 the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter undertook 25 missions over four days. These missions all involved the extrication of patients isolated as a result of the flooding. On one such mission the rescue helicopter was called out on Thursday May 21 to an isolated residence in
Upper Wilsons Creek. A seven month old baby was suffering from respiratory difficulties and cut off from care by floodwaters. The pilot was unable to land in the valley due to extremely high winds and downdrafts so the mother, with her seven month old and two year old, walked through neighbours’ properties to reach a waiting rescue team. A specialist SCAT (Special Casualty Access Team) from the NSW Ambulance Service, the NSW Fire Brigade and SES Volunteers were all waiting to take the baby to safety, and the family was transferred to Tweed Heads hospital where the baby made continued on page 2