WEBVTT - Paul Murray Live: Cyclone Alfred | 7 March 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:08.639 Live from Queensland. This is Paul Murray Lyte Today, Australia. 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:12.879 Welcome to the Gold Coast where right now people know 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:15.720 that just less than one hundred kilometers from where I'm 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:19.600 standing right now, Tropical Cyclone Alfred is about to hit 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:22.360 full coverage in the next hour. In this special Friday 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.240 night edition of Paul Murray Live, will be joined by 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:28.680 guests around the region and reporters who are just to 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:31.400 the north and south of where I am right now. 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:34.240 To those gentlemen in a moment or two time, as 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:36.680 I say, from where I'm standing right now, which is 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:40.280 Broadbeach on the Gold Coast, cool and gatter that way, 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:45.000 surface paradise that way Brisbane about ninety minutes up the 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:49.440 road seventy five kilometers out to see a little further 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:52.519 north towards Brisbane from where I am right now is 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:56.120 where tropical Cyclone Alfred is. That is about one hundred 0:00:56.160 --> 0:01:00.120 kilometers away from Brisbane. Now the eye of this this 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:04.560 thing is expected to arrive in Redcliffe tomorrow morning. The 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:07.399 Morton Bay and the Morton Bay Islands are going to 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:11.920 be the first in its destructive power. That said, as 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:14.600 you can see the colors all the way up all 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:18.759 the way down are versions of rain. It's versions of wind. 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:21.640 I'm talking about rain from the Sunny coast all the 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:25.080 way down to the rivers of New South Wales, where 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:28.520 already there is a significant amount of rain, significant amount 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:32.440 of flooding, and communities have been cut off. Now as 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:35.680 we speak, the expectations are that there is going to 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:39.320 be some problems with the northern rivers of New South Wales, 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:41.720 which brings us to two bits of breaking news before 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.720 we get to our reporters here on the Gold Coast, 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:49.480 which is that authorities do not know where at least 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:52.680 one person is, and the expectations is that by the 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:55.840 time the sun comes up we may not ever know 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.640 where this person is. A four wheel drive when into 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:02.400 the water at about two thirty this afternoon, about twenty 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:06.320 three kilometers northeast of Dorigo, the mail driver was able 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:09.359 to get out of the car and hold onto a tree, 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:12.520 but then he was pulled into the water. He has 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:15.920 not been seen since he was holding onto the tree 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:19.120 branch that was about thirty meters from the riverbank, and 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:23.320 the rivers had been rising all afternoon. We of course 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:25.280 hope that there is a better end to this. We 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:29.240 hope that something will break during this hour and certainly 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.560 if there'll be a tough night, but a way for 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:34.720 that person to survive, but the worst possible start to 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:37.240 what is going to be a wild twenty four hours 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:41.960 in this part of Australia. Now we are being viewed 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:44.919 right now on Sky News Regional in much of northern 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:48.160 New South Wales and in Queensland of course on the 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:51.040 home plate of Voxtel, watched on flash and on the 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:54.239 Sky News app. A reminder that the point of this 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:57.400 is to try to give information and understanding about what 0:02:57.440 --> 0:02:59.600 it's like to be in the middle of it. We 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:02.400 know that there are a lot of people watching. I've 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:04.960 got a text message before from people who are watching 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:09.120 the Sky News coverage on everything from their phones, their tablets, 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:11.920 obviously sitting at home, and even people who are apparently 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:14.240 way beyond and on the other side of this tropical 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:17.040 cyclone out on cruise ships. So the whole point is 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:19.280 to try and give you a picture of what's going on, 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:23.239 with an understanding that from now until the sun rises 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:27.480 tomorrow it's going to get pretty wild. The other piece 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:30.639 of information, politically speaking, is that the Prime Minister has 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:32.760 now formally announced he will not be calling an election 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:36.120 this weekend, which means there will not be a federal 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:40.640 election in the month of April, no campaigning officially at 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:44.720 least in the month of March. That means in about 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:47.560 three weeks time we will be getting a federal budget 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:49.880 and then it will be going off to the Governor 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:53.880 General for a May election that'll be taking place at 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:56.480 either the very end of March or the very early 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.840 part of April. So the Prime Minister's focus is exactly 0:03:59.880 --> 0:04:04.360 the same as ours, which is on these events right now. Yes, 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:09.280 normal politics will resume, but right now, tonight, this moment, 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:11.600 it is about making sure that as many people make 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:14.760 it through the night as possible. All right, Jonathan Lee 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:16.719 joins us right now. He's a little further south of 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:19.760 where I am right now. How's the night rolling in? 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:22.240 As the wind has just been relentless, hasn't it been 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:24.920 made Over the past few hours, the rain weathered as well. 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:29.920 Poor good evening to you and good evening to those 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:33.400 at home. It's gone from eerie to haunting. Many people 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:36.080 have retreated indoors, and we've certainly done the same. There 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:39.440 werepocats of the day today which were almost idyllic blue skies. 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:42.080 People on the Gold Coast out exercising, but that's. 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:44.040 Certainly not the case. Now. You get the. 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:47.000 Feeling that this category two cyclone is really starting to 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:49.440 stamp its mark on the Gold Coast. We were told 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:52.040 there was between forty and fifty meals on the Gold 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:55.200 Coast over the last twenty four hours into the hinterland, 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:57.640 and also the Scenic Rim that was up around two 0:04:57.720 --> 0:04:59.479 hundred meals. That they've certainly felt. 0:04:59.200 --> 0:04:59.840 The worst of it. 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:02.839 The wind gusts in excess of perhaps one hundred and 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:05.120 twenty kilometers an hour, they're expected to get up to 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:07.039 one hundred and fifty to one hundred and fifty five. 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:09.640 You get the feeling now that that's certainly gone past 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:11.960 the one hundred and twenty kilometer an hour mark. 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:13.400 We've come inside. 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:15.400 We've got no power here on the Gold Coast Burley 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:18.240 at the moment. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of others 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:19.000 have also. 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:19.640 Lost their power. 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.320 The significance of that is more than just not having 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:26.280 power pull. It also goes to people not having telecommunications. 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:30.120 It was explained today at the press conference given by 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:34.520 the Premiere that the telecommunication stations can only last so 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:38.000 long before their batteries eventually run out, and we've seen 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:40.240 twenty six mobile base stations now. 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:40.960 Lose their power. 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:44.320 It goes from a Blinger, a Binaborough, Burly Waters cool 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:49.080 and Gather, o'riley's Parkwood Bundle, Reedy Creek, Mudriy Bar, corumbin Springbrook, 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:51.560 you name it. There's plenty of people without power tonight, 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:54.040 and they also don't have any phone signal either, so 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:56.440 it's going to be an eerie twenty four to forty 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:59.960 eight hours for them. Concerningly, though, we also have more 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.760 reports of people swimming in the ocean. 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:03.320 Have a listen. 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:08.479 We'd ask people where there's road closure signage, please stop 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:12.800 stealing the sandbags. People are stealing the sandbags and the 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:16.560 signs are blowing away. We've been repeating for days now 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:19.760 that people should stay away from the beach, stay away 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:23.280 from the sand, stay out of the water. We've had 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:28.640 another two teenagers rescued by surf Life Saving Queensland at 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:33.240 Southport just earlier today, and I understand from police that 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:36.880 there are still about four kids in the water ignoring 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:40.760 the warnings to get out. It's very very foolish, it's 0:06:40.920 --> 0:06:42.800 very very dangerous. 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:44.680 Yeah, Paul. 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:47.520 We're also told by police there was one incident of 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:50.599 a glass window on the thirty thirty fourth floor of 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:54.120 a skyscraper on the Gold Coast falling out today. The 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:56.400 businesses here were doing it, particularly to some report it 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:58.560 to me is being harder than COVID. There really is 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:01.119 nobody around at the moment. We spoke to a number 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:03.560 who've lost power and they've had to shut up. They 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:06.159 don't know if it's going to be for hours, days 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:07.080 or maybe even longer. 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:10.720 Are you worried somewhere? 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:11.440 Nervous here? 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:17.840 And everything blackout from last night thirty yesterday everything blackout, 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:21.120 so no pay, no power, no, no no power, chice. 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:22.520 That's hard and bad business. 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:27.400 Yes, very because everything inside, everything stuck still yesterday we open, yeah, 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:31.360 but eight o'clock light gone it thirty between and then 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:32.240 we shut everything. 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:33.880 How much stock could be lost? 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:40.560 Maybe I have like twenty cagy chickens, twenty chicken, twenty 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:44.600 kilos of lamb, ten kilo of beef, so much, so much, so. 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:47.080 Many of the tides and the swell was one of 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:49.280 the biggest thing. That's why we have all the windows 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:52.120 brought it up. But so far the tides have been okay, 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:55.640 and now we're just waiting on really the wind and 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:56.080 the rain. 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:57.800 It's nervous game, isn't it. 0:07:57.800 --> 0:07:58.080 It is? 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:00.560 Yeah, I mean especially being this close to the water 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:04.360 and maybe two hundred clong in our winds humbling against 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:04.800 the windows. 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:09.160 So yeah, yeah, nervousness, Paul. Many people not knowing of 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:11.680 this cyclone, Alfred will turn into their own Freddy Krueger. 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:12.880 It will be a nervous night. 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:19.520 Good stuff, John, Important about that. Telecommunications made it. Energex 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:22.000 has just got in touch to say latest numbers forty 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:25.680 nine thousand, which it's literally been breaking as we speak. 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:29.040 It is all different parts in and around the city 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:32.520 of the Gold Coast. Now, thank you for that. Let 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:35.240 me explain partly what's happening here too, which is that, obviously, 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:38.280 as the tropical cyclone is starting to move down, why 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:40.160 are we on the Gold Coast because that's where all 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:42.320 of this rain is going to start to kick in. 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:44.560 Then it's going to start to I think the term 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:46.840 pirouete for those that are into their ballet, is that 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:49.400 it starts to turn and will make its way back north. 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:52.520 So we're in a situation where most of the rain 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:54.760 is to the south because of obviously the swirl of 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:58.160 these things. That rain is what is pushing deep into 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:01.959 the northern part of New South Wales. Harry Clarke right 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:11.920 now is in Cleveland in Brisbane. What can you see, mate. 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:10.920 Paul, Well, for the first time this week, I can 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:14.719 say that we are truly starting to feel and experience 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:18.160 cyclonic conditions. As you say, Alfred is about one hundred 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:21.640 k's off the coast. I'm at Cleveland on Brisbane Bay 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.120 side and where right in the firing line pretty much 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:27.679 the Morton Bay Islands are the first localities that are 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:29.440 going to start feeling the effects, and then it's going 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:33.240 to continue to come inland and these areas such as 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:36.680 Victoria Point, Cleveland where I am now, and further down 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:39.320 to Redland Bay will start to cop it. The rain 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:41.520 certainly started to come in just in the last hour 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:43.920 or so, and we're getting some pretty big wing gus 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:46.000 coming through where we are right now, which is on 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:51.840 the canal residential areas of Cleveland. The people are prepared, 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:55.240 that's what the authorities are saying. David Christoph fully commended 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:59.160 the greatest Southeast Queensland community on the feedback he's getting 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:02.240 that people have been heeding the advice and preparing their properties, 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:04.880 but there was you've got to say, and including for 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:08.720 news reporters, a bit of an element of frustration starting 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:11.240 to kick in just how long this thing was taking 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:15.079 to arrive upon us. Not just me, but everybody we've 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:17.839 been talking to down on the waterfronts were saying, is 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.760 this tropical cyclone actually going to come? Well, the answer 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:23.599 has come here it is. People were out having a 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:26.280 bit of a sticky beak at the lighthouse this afternoon, 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:30.800 which is pretty much the easternmost point of the Bayside suburbs, 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:32.920 and just getting one last look into some pretty angry 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:36.920 open ocean waters there. But some big lines of cars 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:40.160 streaming past. But everybody has started to go inside now 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:41.959 as this weather's truly started to kick in. 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:45.920 Good stuff. Thank you Harry, Thank you John O. We 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:47.840 know you'll be part of our breaking news coverage which 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.400 will go all night. Obviously when the sun comes up 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:52.680 will be some of the worst effects. You will see 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:57.240 all of that Live with Peter Stefanovic in the morning. Now. 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:00.319 I mentioned that there's a lot happening in the New 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:04.080 South Wales. For those that have been watching local television broadcasts. 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:07.160 There very much is the Queensland version of what is happening, 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:09.520 and there very much is the New South Wales version 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:12.240 that's happening. Of course, being a national service and a 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.040 person who's got a feat in both camps and a 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:17.640 heart in both camps, it's important, yes, for us to 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:20.840 talk about southeast Queensland. But that rain and there has 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:23.880 been more than one hundred millilters which has been recorded 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:28.920 at Lizmore alone, So imagine what is happening further up upstreams, 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:33.680 further up into the giant areas that are there, moving 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:36.679 through the valleys, moving through the cities. Well, our plan 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:39.720 was to spend our day to day in Lizmore, but 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:42.079 there was a pretty obvious reason, even when we thought 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:44.720 the weather was okay, that we could only go so far. 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:48.640 While Cyclone Alfred is not due to cross until the 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:51.560 early hours of tomorrow morning, there's a real problem in 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:54.600 northern New South Wales. This is the problem right now. 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:57.920 Cities like Lizmore are about to be cut off because 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:01.360 the rain that has been falling for many is now 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:04.800 starting to flood into the Tweed River. On our way 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:07.559 to this point, just a few minutes ago and a 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.600 couple of corners around the bend. Smaller bridges they are 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:14.400 now starting to be covered. Roads are being closed. People 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:18.280 coming from the Gold Coast and tweed south down towards 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:21.200 Byron are being told not to use things like the 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:23.840 m one. They're already being diverted off to places like 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:26.760 Kingscliff and the long and windy road to get to 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:29.439 a place like this. One of the reasons as well, 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:31.760 that bridges like the one I'm standing on right now, 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:34.600 which are the best of the infrastructure in this part 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:37.439 of northern New South Wales, are going to start to 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:41.320 get flooded debris stuff that's been flowing down the river 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:43.640 for a couple of days. This is where it's going 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:46.840 to stop. As you can see, it creates its own 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:50.120 little barrier, its own little rapids, and then that is 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:53.000 only going to slowly but surely narrow the amount of 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:55.800 opportunities for water to go under the bridge. It starts 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:58.199 to push it up and over the bridge. And that's 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:01.680 why there's real worry right now, not tomorrow morning, in 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:05.520 northern New South Wales. This is what is guarding every 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.960 nook and cranny and space under the doors in the 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:11.920 main street of woolen bar in northern New South Wales. 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:14.440 One of the reasons these places are closed right now 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:16.920 is so the people who work in places like the 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:21.240 local sushi bar, subway, Harvey Norman and everything else are 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:25.800 able to be with their families now. The expectation, of course, 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:28.840 is that the water may well end up being here, 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:32.760 but extra layers going nice and high. As you can see, 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:35.920 the final line of defense plastic. But this thing is 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:38.840 as best protected as anyone could imagine. 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:41.680 As a community in a woolenbar. We have been through 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:47.160 so much and through floods and it's been horrific. But 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:51.079 what is the saving grace for our beautiful community is 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:54.000 coming together and helping each other. I was just doing 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.400 the sandbags just down here, and we're all. One was 0:13:57.440 --> 0:14:00.360 holding the other, one was putting the sand in the 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:02.800 other one was getting it and lifting it for me 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:05.680 and putting in the car. And I think that's what 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.200 how we get through these horrific events. 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:12.040 Places that normally on a Friday afternoon you would be 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:14.839 maybe enjoying one or two as we start our way 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:18.439 towards a weekend. Now underwater, the tweed is rising fast 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:20.920 as you can see the currents are worth talking about 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:22.880 too here. Well, obviously the bulk of it is heating 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:26.880 out to sea. There is this little whirlpool effect where 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:30.320 water is being drawn back towards the banks of the 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:33.120 river and then it creates this whirlpool effect, which obviously 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:36.800 disturbs a few things. Some of the early structures, like 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:41.800 the pads to wharves or those areas where picnic people 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:43.120 would be starting to fail. 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:44.600 It's pretty scary. 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:48.440 We were here in the twenty two flood, so we've 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:51.760 seen it all before and a little bit worried about 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:52.760 what's going to happen again. 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:55.000 You've got your little ones here as well, who are 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:58.000 awesome and doing their bit on a Friday. What's it 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:01.080 like at telling them what to expect without trying to 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:03.800 freak them out. Yeah, we've had that chat. 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:06.800 We had that chat this morning. Like I said, these 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:09.280 guys went through the twenty two flood and we got 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:11.280 evacuated right at the peak. 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:13.520 From the living level. 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:16.680 Is your house up high enough, right, mummy taking care 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:16.920 of you? 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:17.680 Yeah? 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:20.120 Excellent? All right? Tim? The Jockey Club, how do you 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.640 handle what is coming to tweet? Probably a little bit 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:24.640 different this time, Paul. 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:27.680 We obviously it's a two prong threat this time with 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:32.160 wind and water. We're decimating twenty two without enough notice. 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:34.480 But we're quite thankful for the Emergency Services and the 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:37.600 Bureau this time that we've got a sufficient notice and 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:40.240 we've been able to prepare adequately, we hope. 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:44.160 So obviously there'll be no meetings this weekend. But what 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:48.400 infrastructure have you had to either strap down put away 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:50.880 and how many people have been doing so? 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:53.000 We've had our track staff team working on that as 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:57.800 approximately five to six people. Obviously, the trainers that use 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:00.560 the facility each morning for training of done it from 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:05.080 endous job getting horses to safer ground or safer facilities 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:09.600 within their precincts as well. And then we've obviously lifted 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:14.520 all our maintenance equipment for the machinery for the upkeeps 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:16.920 of the tracks and grounds and stuff like that. 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.200 Let's stay with the Northern Rivers right there. Shirrilee Matthews 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:24.960 is a person who we spoke to when we were 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:29.240 in liz More just three years ago. It's extraordinary how 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:32.360 so much change and then we're right back to where 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:35.640 things have been. She's a business owner and she joins us. Now, surely, 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:38.800 whereabouts are you tonight. Have you tried to get away 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:40.920 to higher ground when it comes to Lismore. 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:43.840 Oh, yeah, I'm at our home in Gane Alabas, so 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:45.640 we're up on the hill out of danger. 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.040 So give me an idea about what this is like 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:54.000 to face yet again, and not after ten years, not 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:56.720 after twenty years, but just in a couple of years. 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:00.280 Yeah, it's pretty horrible. Hard to take actually, all like 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:01.800 three years on. We all thought that it was a 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:03.760 one in one hundred year flood three years ago, but 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:06.159 clearly that's not the case. So the whole town is 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:09.040 very on edge. You're very anxious. Grateful though that we've 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:12.440 had so much time this time to prepare. Last time, 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:16.360 obviously there was no time, so everybody in town was affected. 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:20.359 This time, we started our pack up on Tuesdays and 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:23.120 finished up Wednesday night and close the doors and now 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:25.840 hope for the best. So we're able to lift a 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:27.120 bit of what we can. 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:28.240 This time. 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.520 Is hard in our industry to get everything out of 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:33.960 flood level, but we've done what we can and now 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:36.840 just wait and wait longer than we thought, but keep 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:38.080 waiting and hope for the best. 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:42.520 Yeah, it has been a strange experience. Hasn't it, Because 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:45.600 we've seen people a little further north than Brisbane saying, hey, 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.399 gess nothing's going on here again. There's that sort of 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:50.760 depending on whether you watch the Brisbane based news or 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.320 the news of based news about where the focus is. 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:56.080 But the reality for the Northern Rivers is that while 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:58.880 the worst may still be to come, the trouble's been 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:02.120 there for much of the past few days. Obviously, we've 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:05.159 spoken to the mayor, Steve Creek quite a few times 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:09.080 on air, and he's a bloke who himself has had 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:11.040 to go back to where he was, where he was 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:16.760 with people for the best part of ten months. How 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:18.840 does the family get through this? I know that you're 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:21.440 a person and being in small business there's only one 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:23.080 thing you do which has put one foot in front 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:26.720 of the other. But families, mates, other people and their kids. 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:31.120 What conversations have you been having either texts, what's app 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:32.960 or face to face the past couple of days. 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:36.399 Yeah, it's definitely hard. We've got a lot of our 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:40.359 friends are in business themselves in Lismore and I'm grown 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:42.040 born and bred and lizmore so I know a lot 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:45.440 of people and everyone is just sort of really good 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.800 at everyone supporting each other, so everyone is really banding together, 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:51.159 checking in on each other constantly, which is what a 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.399 community does. It's hard for our children, like we've got 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:57.760 two teenage girls and obviously went through twenty twenty two 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:00.639 and lost their school and the whole world kind of change. 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:03.800 So obviously they are very apprehensive again and concerned at 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:07.080 what's going to become of their town, because unfortunately, the 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:10.520 reality is if this is as bad as what is forecast, 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:12.560 then we're not sure what the future of Lisma will 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:15.320 be because it's just you know, how much how many 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.760 more times can people start to rebuild and keep having hope. 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:22.800 It's just difficult, Yeah, yeah, I mean the kids, that's 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:25.720 the thing. For us that have been around a while, 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:29.040 obviously it's the first time for many of us in 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:31.879 living memory of something as serious as this. But of 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:34.200 course for you it is the situation of a couple 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:36.320 of years ago, a couple of years before that COVID. 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:39.240 If there are kids that are again there've been teenagers 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:42.439 or younger, this is their normal. It shouldn't be their normal, 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:45.439 but alas it is. Right now, all right, give us 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:48.000 an idea about the next couple of days are you 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:51.159 able to hunker down or will you know once the 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:53.480 wind moves down while you start looking around tomorrow. 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:58.280 So that would just really depend on what the rainfall 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:02.480 does overnight. So obviously, if the expected river heights do 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:04.280 come in, it does go over the levee, we won't 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:06.360 be able to get to our business for probably two 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:08.800 to three days because our business is in South Lismore, 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:11.440 and so we get cut off, so we won't know 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:15.040 what damage has occurred or what's happened for probably a 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:18.199 few days after the height of the flood, so we 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:21.080 could be talking another three or four days before we 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:24.239 can even get there. Last time, my husband stayed at 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:26.479