Category: Community Noticeboard

NATRAShield Mould Treatment Available

The Townsville City Council has delivered NATRAShield mould cleaner as promised. It appears to be a plant based product without the nasty chemicals present in earlier cleaners. This Saturday Peter Cooke and Lynda Radbone will be at the SES from 9am – 12pm, and this Sunday (9th) I’ll be at the Emergency Services depot between 9am & 12am to hand it out to anyone who is interested. Bring a 2L bottle. After that contact Peter Cook for any extra.

For Blackfriars contact Rhett or Kristy Harrison. For Hidden Valley see Tracy Armstrong.

Charlie Allen

Mt Spec SES

Update on last Sunday’s Meeting with the Mayor

As mentioned in the last “Paluma in the Rain” update, we had a visit from the acting Mayor (Councillor Ann-Maree Greaney) and Zac Daws, Local Disaster Coordinator last Sunday. In preparation for the meeting, Peter Cooke wrote up a list of issues for discussion which included:

  1. lack of news on the state of the range road and the schedule for repairs
  2. lack of adequate backup power for the Telstra mobile phone tower
  3. need for a formal landing area near the village for helicopters
  4. need for rubbish collection as soon as possible
  5. need for road maintenance to Ewan and Hervey’s Range road
  6. request to increase bandwidth of the TCC wifi link at the Community Hall

The mayor noted that many of these items were outside their immediate responsibility but undertook to pass our concerns on to the relevant authority, and to respond in writing to those issues it was in a position to act on.

The following response was sent to Charlie Allen and Ross Hyne on Monday.

TMR Range Road Update

As promised by the Department of Transport and Main Roads last week, here is the first update on the status of the Range Road up to Paluma. These will appear on Tuesdays and Fridays until all work has been completed. If you would like to receive these reports directly by email please send a request to: engagement.northern@tmr.qld.gov.au

Update for residents and the community of Paluma, Hidden Valley and surrounds

The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) wishes to provide you with an important update regarding the current status of Mount Spec Road, which has been severely impacted by the recent weather event in early February.

Due to extensive landslips and debris, Mount Spec Road remains closed to all traffic. Our work crews are working diligently to assess the damage and implement the necessary steps to restore accessibility.

Assessment of Mount Spec Road remains our priority over the coming weeks.

Image of Mount Spec Road is current and was captured as part of recent road inspections. Source: TMR
  • Mount Spec Road was closed following the severe weather event and remains inaccessible to traffic and walkers due to extensive landslips and debris.
  • Assessment of Mount Spec Road conditions remains our priority over the coming weeks.
  • On 7 February 2025, TMR crews carried out an inspection of Mount Spec Road, however, were only able to assess three to four kilometres of the road.
  • As of 14 February 2025, TMR have successfully cut a single-lane path approximately 17 kilometres on MountSpec Road towards Paluma.
  • TMR have recommenced on the ground assessments of Mount Spec Road and will work towards reopening the road as soon as possible, weather and conditions permitting.
Image of Mount Spec Road is current and was captured as part of recent road inspections. Source: TMR
Image of Mount Spec Road is current and was captured as part of recent road inspections. Source: TMR

Community Updates

TMR’s Northern District, Customer and Stakeholder Management (CSM) team will provide two updates each week to the community of Paluma:

  • Tuesdays: An overview of planned works for the week
  • Fridays: A progress update on completed and ongoingworks.

These updates will continue until the road is fully reopened. In some cases, updates may indicate that there is no new information; however, this ensures ongoing communication and reassures you that the CSM team is available to answer any questions. Safety is TMR’s highest priority.

Paluma in the Rain – Final update

The sun has been shining in Paluma for 3 days now, and while the ground is still soggy and access to and from the village is for higher clearance vehicles, the Village is beginning to recover from the trials and tribulations of the last two weeks. We will provide further updates on the recovery process and efforts to identify how things might be handled even better during future events, but for now Paluma is no longer in the rain. In fact I had to go out and water the Impatiens at the Community Hall on Sunday that were wilting after over two days of full sun.

Probably the best news since the last update is the power was restored to Paluma on February 11th, and with it came Telstra mobile phone access, water treatment, cold and frozen food storage capacity and relief from anxiety about dwindling fuel for generators. That can do a lot to raise spirits.

While most residents report that food is not a major issue, the quality and variety has definitely not yet returned to normal. Food runs by Sam Stedman and other residents returning to the village on soggy roads via Mt Fox or Hervey’s Range Road has helped alleviate this and to maintain a table of various food items at the Community Hall for residents who were running short.

Currently the key factor preventing a return to near-normalcy is access to Townsville and Ingham via the range road. The alternate route via Herveys range has only just opened up officially and it is quite rough in spots. Annoyingly, the bridge over the Star River still has a road closed sign at either end, even though it is now officially open with some restrictions for heavy trucks. A moderate clearance 2wd drive made it back today (Monday) without any problems but small cars with small wheels and low clearance would probably bottom out on the rougher sections. Our trip back to Townsville today took a little over 3 hours, which is twice the normal trip time when using the Paluma range road. The state of the road to Inghan via Mt Fox is reported to be “very rough”.

The Road to Ewan has some areas of severe erosion, but they are clearly marked with witches hats.
The bridge over the Star River is high and dry but heavy trucks are subject to restrictions and there is a warning regarding possible flooding.

There has been much speculation on the severity of damage to the range road and the timetable for Transport and Main Roads (TMR) to effect repairs. On Sunday we were contacted by the TMR engagement group who committed to provide bi-weekly updates (Tuesday and Friday) via their email list on repairs and timetables starting tomorrow. All updates will also be posted on Paluma.org. We were informed that the main concern was an area of undercut road and downhill landslip near Wolfram Creek that will require a considerable volume of fill to be brought in. More details should be available tomorrow.

As a precautionary measure, Paluma received a major delivery of bottled drinking water which is available at the Hall. Our local treatment plant is currently working however any future events that increase turbidity at the source weir might reduce its capacity and result in a need for supplemental water.

On Sunday we had visits from support workers who provided assistance to any residents who were in need of financial assistance as a result of the rains. Representatives from Qld Housing also came up in case there were any residents who required re-housing.

We also had a visit from the acting Mayor (Councillor Ann-Maree Greaney) and Zac Daws, Local Disaster Coordinator who met with a group of residents from Paluma and Hidden Valley community at the hall. A separate post will provide a report and insights arising from that community meeting.

Jamie Oliver and Juanita Poletto