It’s Time to Get Ready
Published on 08 October 2018
Rockhampton Regional Council has today urged residents across the region to take part in Get Ready Queensland and help build the community’s resilience to extreme weather and natural disasters.
Chair of the Local Disaster Management Committee, Councillor Tony Williams, said it was important to be as prepared as possible as we enter the storm and bushfire seasons.
“Council is doing everything we can to Get Ready, and each year we work hard to add more things to help our residents.
“We have just installed some new road subject to flooding signs, with remote activated flashing lights to indicate water over the road, at two critical road crossings on Elphinstone Street and Razorback Road. It might sound silly given the current drought but we know it’s only a matter of time before the rain comes to our region.
“The signs are positioned so drivers can see them before they enter any flood waters, and the flashing ‘road closed’ warning will come on automatically when water in the road has reached an unsafe level.
“This is in addition to other measures provided by Council, including our online Emergency Dashboard tool which gives residents access to a range of up to date emergency information on things like road closures, power outages, and weather warnings.
“As always at this time of year, it’s very important that residents are thinking about their own preparations too. Is there rubbish you could remove from your garden? Are your drainpipes clear? Do you know how to monitor local weather warnings? Who would you go and stay with if you had to leave at short notice? These are all things that can reduce the impact of natural disasters if they hit.”
Get Ready Queensland is about building our resilience to deal with the extreme weather and natural disasters that are part of living in our state. Its aim is to make Queensland the nation’s most disaster resilient state. Resilience is about more than just good preparation or effective responding. It is about accepting that extreme weather is part of living in Queensland, and preparing to handle it accordingly. The program provides a total of $2 million in Queensland Government funding to help local governments improve their communities’ resilience and aligns with QRA’s mission to make Queensland the most disaster resilient state in Australia.
Get Ready Queensland Week 2018 is October 8-14.
For more information head to Council’s Be Prepared page and our Emergency Dashboard.