Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to update the House on a catastrophic event that has impacted my electorate of Capricornia. On Friday, 20 February Cyclone Marcia struck the Capricorn Coast causing mass devastation. It first hit land near Shoalwater Bay as a category 5 cyclone. It impacted Yeppoon as a category 4 cyclone and directly hit the city of Rockhampton as a category 3 cyclone. A state disaster declaration is current for Rockhampton, Yeppoon and Marlborough districts.

People have been left shaken by this event. I want to send out a big thankyou and acknowledge all of the people and professional services—police, fire and rescue, ambulance, weather bureau, council staff and volunteers like our SES crews, who are working tirelessly to help those affected. I particularly want to thank those workers making every effort to have the power restored to all homes in the affected areas. I thank all of those affected for their patience and the care and consideration they have shown to those worse off than them. I also acknowledge the work of the Australian Defence Force.

So far reports indicate that over 1,314 dwellings have been damaged, with 160 destroyed or severely damaged. Nearly 100,000 premises had no power directly after the impact and approximately 30,000 are still without power. At least 100 families still have no place to live. I am in constant contact with the disaster management centres. I gave the Deputy Prime Minister a debrief as we visited the devastated areas on Sunday as well as an update to the joint party room yesterday.