Category: Range Road Information

Earlier this afternoon we spoke with Ross Hyne who was able to give us an overview of the current status up at Paluma.

The worst of the rains seems to be over for now but the forecasts for early next week are not encouraging. The biggest risk from further rain is that it might cut off the tenuous road link back to Townsville via Ewan that has been used to bring up fuel and supplies to date.

Yesterday (Saturday February 8th), the Townsville Ciy Council sent up 1000l of petrol for household generators and about 300 litres of diesel for the water treatment plant as well as some medical prescriptions. Sam Stedman and Colin Meads also came up the back way to Hidden Valley to drop off fuel, requested prescriptions and some food which Ross Hyne picked up and took to Paluma. They headed back down immediately and just made it across the Star River bridge before it flooded. The Council workers left later and were unable to cross, spending the night at Zig Zag station.

Power is still out, and further investigations have revealed additional powerline damage on the line to Paluma which could take some time to repair. Plans are being made to bring up a small generator as soon as possible to power key facilities including the Telstra tower.

Food supplies are adequate for the moment and many residents with generators are able to keep some food refrigerated. Fuel will continue to be an issue, especially with the news that further significant work needs to be done to restore power to the village. There has been some discussion on the feasibility of bringing up larger generators via the back road to provide power more widely through the village. Provided the rains do not keep the back road closed for too long, it should be possible to deliver essential supplies to the village (including medical prescriptions for some residents) until the range road is passable.

Hidden Valley remains the worst affected with some homes still flooded or uninhabitable.

Community spirits in Paluma remain good. Daily meetings at the Community Hall are providing an opportunity to check in with everyone, and coordinate the distribution of supplies and requests for further assistance. Initial organisers Tracy Cooper and Sonya Hyne have now passed the baton to Charlie Allen and Ross Hyne who continue to coordinate communications to outside agencies and distributing any incoming resources to all.

The Townsville Disaster Management Group has been in daily contact and the World Central Kitchen organisation has made contact with Paluma. The WCK offered to fly in food supplies and even hot meals if and when required. They have already provided this to other isolated small communities down on the coast who are affected by this rain event.

The residents of Paluma village and neighbouring areas are very grateful to Josh (Macca) from Taravale who provided a starlink device which has allowed people to maintain contact with loved ones, keep track of what’s going on elsewhere as well as receive and send any communications to support agencies as needed.

We wish everyone on the mountain well. Take care and enjoy those snags! 😊

Jamie Oliver and Juanita Poletto

PS Michael Drew would like to remind all about the dangers of Melioidosis when working in and around flood waters and silt.