09/02/2019
As the severe weather warnings increased and major flood warnings for the Townsville region were released on Fri 01 Feb 19, 4 Regt were ready and responded quickly. As the first wave of soldiers from 3 Bde out on the ground, 4 Regt quickly established contact with emergency services and Townsville City Council in Railway Estate, Rosslea, Hermit Park and Mundingburra suburbs, allocating priority of work to sandbagging homes and notifying residents of the flood risk. Traversing flowing water and navigating obstacles within the area, with the main effort being placed on assisting the elderly and those unable to prepare their houses.
The weather situation continued to deteriorate over the first afternoon and the following days, and tasks quickly turned to evacuating stranded residents and pets, utilising bushmasters to transit down the flooded streets to assist carrying people to safety as streets quickly became fast flowing waterways. Working through the night of 02 Feb and 03 Feb 19, 4 Regt assisted in the evacuation of over 800 men, women and children from some of the worst flood affected areas of Townsville, often wading through chest-deep or higher flood water to reach those in need.
A forward headquarters was established at TAFE Pimlico on Sunday, providing a base of operations for 4 Regt who were working around the clock to conduct emergency evacuations. Further coordination was then conducted out of TAFE Pimlico with a QPS LO arrival, to streamline the response of 4 Regt forces in the affected areas. As the risk to residents increased, 4 Regt conducted welfare checks in conjunction with QPS as well as evacuating further residents who later nominated to leave.
4 Regt is now postured to assist in the clean-up effort of local infrastructure and hard waste collection in support of the Townsville City Council in order to assist the greater Townsville community to recover.
Over the past week, the resilience and teamwork of the Regiment has been tested and every soldier has stood up to collectively make a significant contribution in Townsville’s time of need.
