Faced with severe flash flooding last week, Moreton Bay Regional Council’s response was one of chaos and confusion, sparking an angry backlash.
Council’s handling of the flood crisis is now under attack as angry residents caught up in the disarray question the lack of co-ordination as disaster struck.
It has led to questions about the adequacy of council’s disaster management plan – or even whether a plan existed given the level of disorder.
The information vacuum begun days before the worst of the flooding hit, smashing towns from Strathpine to Caboolture.
On Sunday, the weather began to worsen. Sheets of rain crashed down on the region, cutting roads. By that afternoon, Toogoolawah, west of Caboolture, had been isolated by floodwaters. Rising water had swamped Gympie and Maryborough and cut the Bruce Highway just north of Caboolture and south of Gympie. A number of other local roads were also cut.
- See Caboolture Shire Herald - Council under fire over flood info.
- See two videos at the end of this story.
- Quest Newspapers reporter Peter Marsh this week sat down with Moreton Bay Regional Council Mayor Allan Sutherland, who has come under fire for his council’s handling of the January 11 flood emergency. Councillor Sutherland answers our questions in this interview.
- Your voice - Comment below.
But residents searching for information on the road closures were not going to find it too easily. There would be no road condition reports provided on the Moreton Bay Regional Council’s website until the next day. Being a Sunday, no council officers were available to post the information online, leaving residents to search in vain.
Road closure information, however, was provided on Division 12 councillor Adrian Raedel’s Facebook site after users of the social networking site begun to ask for the latest road information. It would not be until Monday that council would begin to post regular updates on its website.
By Tuesday morning, the flooding was fast becoming serious after a night of heavy rain. In Brisbane, Lord Mayor Campbell Newman had sprung in to action, hitting the airwaves to warn residents of the impending disaster and ordering evacuation centres be set-up.
In Moreton Bay, the news would be delivered via text message. Both the Mayor, Allan Sutherland, and Deputy Mayor, Greg Chippendale, were nowhere to be seen. At 11.34am, the SMS went out, warning: “Immediate flash flood warning for Caboolture, Burpengary area. Very high water levels in rivers and creeks. Seek higher ground now.”
Some residents received a second message on their mobile phones just after noon, warning: “Immediate flash flood warning from SES for Caboolture, Burpengary areas. Very high water levels in rivers and creeks. Seek higher ground now.”
By now, panic had set-in. Callers jammed council phone lines and those of the local radio station, desperate for information on where they should go. But some of those who did manage to get through to the council claim they were given little or no about how to respond.
Early in the afternoon, a temporary evacuation centre was being set-up at the Caboolture RSL and Burpengary Community Centre, with a third centre being set-up in Strathpine. About 60 stressed residents arrived at the community centre, only to be told to go to the library next door, where they were given tea and biscuits by library staff.
At the Caboolture RSL, many of those that fled low-lying areas were later taken to the nearby 33 King St building for processing before being taken to a Dakabin location. During the day, there was also confusion about another evacuation centre organised by the local radio station at a nearby church, with council unsure whether to broadcast its location or not.
Residents have responded to the lack of information and co-ordination angrily, posting almost a hundred messages to the Quest Community Newspapers website. Many of the posts blast the lack of information, saying they were told to flee to higher ground without being given any details about where they should go.
Many residents complained the warning had come too late to even get out of their homes..
“When we got he notice to evacuate, my husband was stuck on one side of the river and I was at home with a car, dropped out electricity, so phone out, and then the mobile out. Tried ringing and ringing to get advice but no one answered. I will not forget this..” one resident wrote.
Heather Pender wrote: “I too am very disappointed with the council. I live between Sheep Station Crk and Caboolture river. Being stuck in the middle with no way out. No information from council as to what to do and where we could go. Disgraceful MBRC.”
More of the responses can be found below or by clicking on http://caboolture-shire-herald.whereilive.com.au/news/comments/moreton-bay-region-road-closures/.
This week, residents are waiting on a different response - a response from Mayor Allan Sutherland as to what steps the council will take to better to respond to future disasters.
Letters re the floods:
Charlie Wilson wrote: “Many residents in the street tried in vain to contact the council, local member, SES, and no phones were answered. So what now Mr Redcliffe - (Sutherland).’’
A Petrie resident wrote: “I agree with all the comments re: Moreton Council. What a disgrace. If it weren't for the Brisbane City Council, we would have been totally out of the loop. Where was our Mayor? Ipswich and Brisbane Mayors were constantly in the media, keeping residents informed. I would also like to know why Moreton Shire residents need to pay $74 for a flood report, when this information IS FREE TO ACCESS for both Ipswich and Brisbane residents!!!!”
Natasha Dunn wrote: “The MBRC should be taking note of the way other councils and media outlets provided up to date information for residents during an extreme weather crisis. Residents should be able to head to their council's website or hotline as if it were a one stop shop for information, particularly when evacuations notices are issued. It's not good enough to say that the information is there "if you know how to look for it". Frightened and panicked people are not in the headspace to take their time following dead ends. This is supposed to be the communication age, so let's take stock of what happened and improve the model.”
Aaron R wrote: “I live in Upper Caboolture and my land line phone was not working and the 3 mobiles I have in the house were also not working for making outgoing calls due to network congestion and damage so Mr Allan Sutherland I would like to know how I would have been able to contact the MBRC call center in this situation, maybe via telepathy. There were no updates on your website and all of the info I got was from either TV or Caboolture Shire Herald website. There is alot more to Moreton Bay Region than just the Redcliffe Peninsula.”
Melanie wrote: “Unsure of what to do during all the rain and hearing evacutaions of Caboolture on the tv, I rand the council and waited. I spoke to a very lovely lady but unfortaunately she had no info on where evacuation centres were.... Unusal. She said to listen to the radio, which I did. She also said if I felt there was a wall of water coming our way, to get in the car and drive to higher ground. Sorry, but think I would rather be on the house roof than floating away in the car with my kids... as unfortunately seen in Toowoomba. So sorry for all their losses. Thanks 101.5 fm for keeping us updated and informed.”
Heather Pender: “I too am very disappointed with the council. I live between Sheep Station Crk and Caboolture river. Being stuck in the middle with no way out. No information from council as to what to do and where we could go. Disgraceful MBRC.”
Coleen: “I am totally disappointed with Moreton Bay Regional Council on how they handled the flood situation. The only information I received was from a fellow work mate that the Strathpine low lying area was to evacuate on Tuesday. The only further information I heard was on TV later that afternoon that Caboolture was isolated and that there were some road closures. I heard no further information about Strathpine. I think that the Council should have advised the media of our situation and they could have advised all residents on where to go to in case you had to evacuate. On Wednesday I left to go to work and had to travel all the way to Petrie roundabout to find out that the bridges over the river were closed and then when I was returning home from work the same day I drove all the way to the bridge to be turned around. There was no information about the closure of the bridge and how long they might be closed. I only heard on Friday morning that the bottom bridge was open to traffic. Moreton Bay Regional Council (SHAME ON YOU) get out there & inform all your electrolates what is going on.”
Annette Bright: “1am The night before the flood. I was already worried about the situation building in the Caboolture area as my elderly mother lives alone in Bellmere near the Wararba Creek. We live over the Narangba side of the Caboolture river and Sheep Station Creek. I looked on the council web site for a flood plan for hours using every different way I could think of wording this. I needed to know that night if we needed to go and pick up my mother before the creeks came up too high. All I could find was a message saying to get this information I would have to apply to council and it was at a cost. This was no help to me in the middle of the night. Why can't we access a flood map for free on the internet when lives depend on such information. I couldn't get my 80 year old mother to walk down the park to check the creek height at 1 in the morning, is this what the council expects us to do. I didn't want to trouble an already stretched police force on a night like that in case my worry was unnecessary. The only information that I could get was from the police site but most of this was for the major areas.”
Angelica writes:
Posted on 14 Jan 11 at 05:55pm
I agree the council was awful, i tried to call them to get a hold of the info and they didnt even answer the phones. Great in an emergency, why isnt this info available. its really sick that the council request payment for this information. Get your act together council this info should be made available for your residence
Karen Warner writes:
Posted on 14 Jan 11 at 04:29pm
I agree the performance from this Council was woeful, I have not seen one Council vehicle out doing anything! And that is pretty incredible considering the amount of vehicles issued to just every second staff member at Council. We got the emergency text message also but the information coming from Council was zip, nobody there new anything. Wouldn't have happened under the old Caboolture Council when we were a community!
Margaret writes:
Posted on 13 Jan 11 at 07:25pm
The fears that MBRC does not have the capacity nor capability to respond to disasters is well founded. I know someone who works for MBRC ... he tells me that Councils ability to respond in an organised manner to disasters since the amalgamation is now almost non-existent.
Over the last couple of years a number of people who had the skills for disaster management such as has been required in recent times have left and not been replaced. The MBRC needs to do some serious rebuilding of its capabilities to respond to dramatic situations such as the recent floods.
... and just where was the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor or the CEO ... where is the leadership!!!
