The Federal Government has announced Defence Force personnel are being deployed to the southeast, including the Gold Coast, Scenic Rim and Logan.
The Queensland Government requested additional assistance last night, which has been approved this morning.
50 ADF personnel and high-clearance vehicles will arrive from Thursday.
Federal Emergency Services Minister Murray Watt says boots will be on the ground for at least one week.
“In particular those ADF personnel will be focusing on the clearance of debris to enable better access to essential infrastructure,” Minister Watt says.
“We know that right across those three councils there remains quite a lot of the energy network which needs replacement power lines that are down, and one of the issues is accessing that infrastructure along with water and sewerage, treatment plants, and telecommunications infrastructure,
“So the ADF personnel will in particular be focusing on the clearance of debris to make it easier to access that infrastructure and get it repaired and reconnected.”
Once the rain finally eases, the clean-up efforts are expected to be massive following the Christmas Day tornado and the New Year’s Eve floods.
“Having seen ADF personnel in action in the past, I know they’ll be able to get through a lot in that period of time. This is something that’s obviously been a matter of discussion between ourselves and the Queensland Government day after day working out exactly what was required,” Minister Watt says.
“But it is important to recognise that in the meantime, the Queensland Government has done an excellent job of mobilising their own personnel interstate personnel, and that’s something that we’ve been assisting with as well.”
The SES is continuing to respond to calls for assistance, with around 700 calls currently outstanding.
Around 100 volunteers are here from interstate helping out our local SES members.
Since Christmas Day, the number of requests for support across the Gold Coast, Logan and Scenic Rim has hit over 3,900.
