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Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Locally owned and proudly independent
HAPPY EASTER! Marius Dobbie, Juliette Boussard and Violette Dobbie show off the Easter Eggs they picked up at Easter In The Park at Kuranda on Saturday. More information on Page 2.
$8m cyclone clean up By Ryan Groube
T
he cleanup bill from Tropical Cyclone Ita is expected to top $8 million in the Mareeba Shire Council (MSC) area. Kuranda and northern areas of the MSC, including Julatten, were the hardest hit by the Category 1 system when it passed through the Tableland on April 12. At the April 16 MSC meeting officers told council that preliminary damage estimates provided to the Queensland Reconstruction Author-
ity was in the vicinity of $8 million. Later that day, State Recovery Co-ordinator Inspector Kev Guteridge and Community Recovery and Resilience Minister David Crisafulli travelled to Kuranda to inspect damage and recovery work. During the visit the pair spoke with Kuranda SES local controller Carol Day who said cyclone Ita had kept them busier than Yasi in 2011. Kuranda SES responded to 43 jobs and completed all outstanding work on the day of Mr Gutheride and Mr Crisafulli’s visit. Ms Day said about 40 SES members from
units in Kuranda, Atherton, Mareeba, Cairns and Gordonvale all participated in the recovery effort as well as volunteers from the rural fire brigade. “We had eight houses with roofs damaged after trees fell on them and one house that needed sandbagging,” she said. The remaining jobs predominately included clearing trees from driveways and roads with one job taking the Speewah Rural Fire Brigade nine hours. “This is my first major, major event in the six years I have been with the SES,” Ms Day said.
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“A lot of people thought that this wouldn’t happen to us because of the mountain but it has happened to us now. “The community has been absolutely fantastic in helping out and most when they talked to us would say ‘get to us when you can, there is someone else who needs help more than we do’.” Mr Crisafulli said the recovery effort by agencies like the SES had been extraordinary and couldn’t believe how much progress had been made. CONTINUED P7
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