I must admit that when I first drove to Burnett Heads, I was so shocked to see the damage from the mini-tornadoes, I could not bring myself to photograph the carnage wreaked by Mother Nature. Recording the misfortunes of others I could not do. The dismembered houses and fences covering the streets, power poles at all angles and the trees just broken off at the base, scattered everywhere.
Now what the media have ignored is that many people live in boats of all shapes and sizes on the Burnett River. One of the attraction to Bundaberg for yachties is that they can sail up the river and moor in the middle of the CBD at Midtown Marinas.
Now their homes are either sunk, washed out to sea, or dragged by the
current downstream. The banks of the river and the beaches from Burnett
Heads to Woodgate are littered with bits of broken up boats and some
lucky ones which are relatively intact, like this boat at Bargara
After this photo was taken, a hole on the side of the boat was being welded up and they were confident of re-floating it. It was one of the lucky ones.
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The boat in the next photo was dragged from upstream somewhere with it's
2 tonne concrete mooring, down the river.. This poor
fellow got caught out with no warning of the impending flood - he had a
toddler onboard with him. The brave volunteers at VMR pushed the rescue
cat up the river to the area opposite the sugar terminal to rescue both
soles from potential death.
The next day, the boat was gone - I don't know whether it sank or was washed out to sea.
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Next I have possibly the last ever photo of the cane-ferry - not the greatest photo but it was taken a full zoom from the sugar terminal.
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The cane ferry (used for moving trucks of cane across the river) |
It was last seen upside-down, somewhere out to sea.
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Here are a couple of photos of the tug terminal - luckily the line boat in the first photo was slipped (taken out of the water) a couple of days before the floods. The (Bundy-based) tug in the first photo, the "Ballina", together with visiting tug "PT Monto" were moved to the main wharf at the sugar terminal. The "moth-balled" tugs "Broadsound" and "Belyando" remained at the molasses wharf. Crews for these two tugs were flown in, in case they need to be moved.
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April 2011 |
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January 2013 |