Community & Business
4 June, 2024
Disaster Plan For Goomburra Valley
Southern Downs Regional Council (SDRC) and Goomburra Emergency Action Group (GEAG) took part in a joint exercise “Home on the Range” at the Toowoomba Showgrounds last week along with five other regional councils and numerous local stakeholders.
Inspector Jamie Deacon from Warwick represented the Queensland Police Service as Darling Downs District Disaster Co-ordinator.
He told The Allora Advertiser that the event was about providing a consistent approach to evacuation centre management, and the Toowoomba Showgrounds was one site which would be used as an evacuation site in emergencies.
Inspector Deacon said that Goomburra Valley and Allora’s environmental surroundings put the area at risk of rapid flooding in large rainfall events.
“Water rises and passes through very quickly.” Inspector Deacon said.
“There is no purpose built evacuation centre. We have to make it work with what we’ve got.”
SDRC Community Recovery and Resilience Officer James Wong said that the last year’s bushfires had forced Councils to think about how to work together, but had also prompted local groups to develop an action plan.
With only one road in and out of Goomburra Valley, the community had joined together to develop a joint Local Emergency Action Plan working out what to do if the community was cut off.
“We had bushfires on the Main Range last year,” Mr Wong said.
“The Plan gives people an idea of what to do if they were cut off for a day or two.”
Goomburra Town Hall President Mary-Lou Gittins said the Plan was close to completion, having been many months in the making.
“It’s all about being disaster prepared,” she said.
“This has been a really good learning process.”
GEAC will be mailing out stick-on magnets (as pictured) on Thursday to residents of the North Branch and Goomburra Valley. Other people in the area are welcome to have a magnet if they contact the Goomburra Town Hall Committee.
