New figures represent enormity of flood recovery works

 The recent flood events have had a devastating impact on the region, and Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) is only now getting a clearer indication of just how serious the after effects of that natural disaster were.

TRC Infrastructure Services portfolio leader Cr Carol Taylor said media attention had predominantly focused on January's incident but, since November 2008, the region had been impacted to varying degrees by four separate events:

• Queensland storms and associated flooding (November 16-22, 2008)
• Queensland monsoonal flooding and Tropical Cyclone Olga, Neville, Ului and Paul – Millmerran District (January to April, 2010)
• South East Queensland rainfall and associated flooding (October 10-12, 2010)
• Queensland flooding and Tropical Cyclones Tasha and Anthony (November 2010 to February 2011)

"On February 21, 2011, the Queensland Reconstruction Authority was established to reconstruct communities affected by flooding events," Cr Taylor said.

"To access financial assistance from the authority, TRC, like all other councils in the State, were given only three weeks to submit a list of 'expected reconstruction projects' in priority order.

"Our initial estimation, which was created while, in many cases, roads were still impassable, needed to be submitted by March 18, 2011 and we provided a tentative assessment of $85million.

"The authority's own correspondence to council said: 'it may not be possible to fully assess the damage at this stage, but your earliest advice would greatly assist us' so any figures we provided in mid March were only the most basic of estimates."

Cr Taylor said the authority had requested a detailed NDRRA application for specific reconstruction projects "in due course".

"We have now had time to assess what's needed for the region and better understand the magnitude, and cost, of the work ahead of us.

"As you can appreciate, this has been a mammoth task affecting many departments right across council," Cr Taylor said. "And I applaud our staff for their considerable efforts to make this information available.

"That assessment is still ongoing and a final submission value won't be accurately known until October. But, having collated more accurate data on repair works needed, our revised estimate currently totals $174million," she said.

Cr Taylor said the larger figure represented over 1800 separate infrastructure projects including roads, bridges, traffic issues, parks, water and waste.

"Obviously, our submissions need to be assessed by the QRA over the next few months and hence the final amount to be approved by the QRA may differ.

"We are eager to get communities back on their feet and are very appreciative of the Government funding that will assist in these vital restoration works. And we want to start these projects as soon as possible," Cr Taylor said.