Page 917 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 20 March 2012
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ESA volunteers responded to 978 requests for assistance due to storm damage and flooding. Assistance provided to the community included the removal of storm debris, sandbagging of areas under threat of flood, temporary repairs of roofs and pumping flood waters out of buildings and homes. This was an exceptional response. It resulted in an extraordinary number of hours being worked by emergency services staff and volunteers.
It has been estimated that 3,811 volunteer hours were worked by the ACT State Emergency Service, 702 volunteer hours by the ACT Rural Fire Service, 1,007 hours by the incident management team—including staff and volunteers—316 hours by the logistics support area, 12 hours by mapping and planning support, also volunteers, and 212 ACT SES volunteer and staff hours in support of operations across the border with their New South Wales counterparts.
We were fortunate that no households in the ACT needed to be evacuated during the rainfall event. But to the south of Tharwa, 17 Naas Road residences were isolated for several days as a result of bridge closures. During this time residents were fortunate to still have foot access across the bridge. The isolated residents were contacted daily by ACT SES staff and volunteers to ensure their welfare. The ESA also assisted the New South Wales SES in identifying isolated residences along Smiths Road, whose only access to the ACT was restricted when a bridge over the Gudgenby River was seriously damaged.
From 28 February to 6 March, 152 ACT SES volunteers assisted the community. They were supported by 80 ACT RFS personnel and MAPS volunteers who also provided assistance. A number of ACT SES volunteers and staff were also deployed to Queanbeyan and Goulburn during this period in support of New South Wales SES operations. ACT Fire and Rescue and approximately 170 staff and contractors from Territory and Municipal Services also worked alongside the SES in supporting the community during this event.
ACT RFS crews assisted the SES by undertaking flooding jobs, such as pumping out water, clearing a number of fallen trees and providing catering for the response crews on Saturday, 3 March. ACT RFS volunteers also filled a number of holes within the ACT SES incident management team at the ESA headquarters in Fairbairn throughout this event.
In addition to providing assistance to our local community, ACT ESA volunteers have also provided assistance in a range of other emergencies recently, including, of course, the significant flooding in Queensland in December 2010 and in January 2011 in the aftermath of Cyclone Yasi, as well as significant flooding in inland Queensland and north-western New South Wales in February this year.
The ACT SES, during this time, completed three deployments of a total of 63 members to Queensland to support flood recovery operations in south-east Queensland. Work by the SES included clean-up operations in Brisbane and search activities in the Lockyer Valley. Further assistance was provided to assist clean-up operations following Tropical Cyclone Yasi, with 90 ACT SES staff and personnel deployed.
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