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Speaker 1: Now all eyes, of course, have been on North Queensland,

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Speaker 1: who've been coppying an absolute battering from intense rainfall, with

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Speaker 1: a number of suburbs told to evacuate and a woman

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Speaker 1: confirmed dead in the floodwaters. Earlier in the week. The

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Speaker 1: region received a month's worth of rain in just three days.

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Speaker 1: Many homes without power, evacuation center stood up, roads cut off.

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Speaker 1: Crocodiles even spotted in the flooded streets near Ingham, where

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Speaker 1: water supplies were running low. Now the Bureau of Meteorology

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Speaker 1: has said that the heavy rain is going to ease today,

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Speaker 1: but some rivers are continuing to rise.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: Joining me on the line is good friend of ours.

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Speaker 1: Many of you will know her from our sister station

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Speaker 1: Hot one hundred. She is now in Townsville and the

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Speaker 1: host of breakfast at Star one oh six point three.

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Speaker 1: It is Danny L. Mcmurrick. As you'll know her most

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Speaker 1: probably is DJ Delicious or Danny good Morning. How are you?

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Speaker 2: Hello? Hello, Katie. You know what, I've been really looking

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Speaker 2: forward to talking to you. I'm just really upset and disappointed.

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Speaker 2: It's under these circumstances.

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Speaker 1: I know, well, you know we miss you here in

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Speaker 1: Darwin and it is lovely to talk to you as well.

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Speaker 1: But how are you guys? How are things going?

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Speaker 2: Look where I am personally, you know, it's okay. I'm

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Speaker 2: in the Belgian Gardens region and north ward. But we're

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Speaker 2: really looking at the areas, like especially Inham which is underwater.

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Speaker 2: It's absolutely devastation there. There's an area called the black Zone,

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Speaker 2: which are the people living at those residents residential areas

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Speaker 2: and Hermit Park Cross Lee Railway estate. They have all

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Speaker 2: been evacuated and asked to go somewhere else. So even

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Speaker 2: though the rain has subsided and it's a sort of ease,

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Speaker 2: especially looking out there today and listening to the reports

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Speaker 2: that have come in, it's the floodwater rising is what

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Speaker 2: we're worried about now.

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Speaker 1: Danny, what have your listeners been saying, you know, what

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Speaker 1: are some of the experiences that they've gone through over

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Speaker 1: the last couple of days.

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Speaker 2: Look, it's been traubatic for a lot of people. It's

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Speaker 2: the community support that's really getting everybody through. Everybody is

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Speaker 2: trying to help, even if it's a friend, a family member,

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Speaker 2: or neighbor or even people they don't know. There's people

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Speaker 2: going around in utes and helping the community. I had

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Speaker 2: a tree fall down in my car port and I

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Speaker 2: got a random message from somebody in Townsville saying, hey,

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Speaker 2: do you need a hand with the tree, which is

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Speaker 2: really kind. The RSPCA have gone to shelters so well,

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Speaker 2: to the one sorry, the one place where people have

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Speaker 2: been evacuated too, and taken crates for people's animals to

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Speaker 2: make sure that those animals can be held safely at

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Speaker 2: the one evacuation center that allows pets. So everybody's really

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Speaker 2: banding together, but obviously there's a you know, there's a

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Speaker 2: sadness around what has happened and people's properties.

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Speaker 1: Danny talk us through, you know, the volume of rain

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Speaker 1: that has experienced and just how much water is around.

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Speaker 1: You know, you and I used to this wet weather

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Speaker 1: goodness when you live in a place like Darwin. We're

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Speaker 1: very used to it. But it just sounds as though

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Speaker 1: it has been astronomical.

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Speaker 2: It certainly has. The one thing that really struck me

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Speaker 2: was just a continual rain like in Darwin. I suppose

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Speaker 2: we've got the big gusts of wind and you know,

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Speaker 2: the rain sort of changes for a few days here,

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Speaker 2: three to four days, it was just continual downpour and

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Speaker 2: you know, up to two hundred millimeters was a low

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Speaker 2: rainfall measurement, but places out in like Polluma, rolling Stone

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Speaker 2: and especially Ingham were well over six hundred milimeters in

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Speaker 2: the hour account. So I think it's a twenty four

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Speaker 2: hour account.

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Speaker 1: It's just crazy like it is. It's crazy volumes of water.

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Speaker 1: You know, what's it like around the streets. Is the

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Speaker 1: water sort of continuing to rise or is it starting

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Speaker 1: to subside? What's it like at the moment.

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Speaker 2: Well, in the city it's actually quite okay, it's not

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Speaker 2: really raining. It's sort of clouded at the moment. We

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Speaker 2: have a breeze at here, I feel like, but you know,

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Speaker 2: in other places, especially like as I mentioned, I saw

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Speaker 2: videos of Cludon and other areas, it's like water hi

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Speaker 2: upty and ease. It's not a nice site. It's very worrying.

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Speaker 2: And speaking to whether i Q today, I know you

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Speaker 2: mentioned before we started talking saying that we've had a

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Speaker 2: month's rain in three days. Even though it's subsided for now,

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Speaker 2: we're expected to have another month's rain in the next

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Speaker 2: five days.

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Speaker 1: Oh wow, it's you know, it's going to be hard

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Speaker 1: and I would imagine, you know, people wanting to get

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Speaker 1: back into their homes if they've had to evacuate. But

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Speaker 1: then if you're worried that you're going to have another

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Speaker 1: huge amount of rain, just wondering how safe it is

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Speaker 1: to go back to your home.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So some areas I don't know what exactly they

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Speaker 2: are because they've just sort of come through now have

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Speaker 2: been allowed to go back. I believe the people that

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Speaker 2: are in the black zone or the areas that I

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Speaker 2: just mentioned previously at Railway State and Hermit Parks still

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Speaker 2: not allowed to go back to their properties. So it's

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Speaker 2: really a waiting game, and it's just about looking out

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Speaker 2: for people in the community, taking people in if you can.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, it's a first time it's been like this

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Speaker 2: for me in a very long time.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's full on, you know. And then like then

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Speaker 1: the next part of it, I suppose is like you

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Speaker 1: touched on before, even those transport networks and the roads

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Speaker 1: being closed and the repairs that will need to happen,

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Speaker 1: but also people trying to get into the supermarkets, and

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Speaker 1: I would imagine there there be.

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Speaker 2: That's a really great point. I went to a supermarket

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Speaker 2: I think it was the day before yesterday, and I

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Speaker 2: was chasing some tofu as you do. And I thought, oh,

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Speaker 2: I'll just pop in and grab some tofu. And I

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Speaker 2: just noticed everything the food veggies all gone, meets or gone,

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Speaker 2: and I thought, the one thing that will be left

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Speaker 2: in this town will be tofu. Katie, all gone no tofu.

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Speaker 2: So you know, it's rough when the tofu is no

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Speaker 2: longer in town.

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Speaker 1: So vegetarians in Townsville than what people realize, Dannie.

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Speaker 2: But I just heard it, and I don't know if

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Speaker 2: how much true series to this, but I had a

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Speaker 2: friend driving down from Cans to help me move on Friday,

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Speaker 2: and apparently there is a broken bridge between Cans and

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Speaker 2: also Townsville. Now that's just a reason. So that will

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Speaker 2: also block people sort of coming into Townsville.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I had seen some photos of that and your

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Speaker 1: spot on you know, it does mean that it's going

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Speaker 1: to make that connectivity even more difficult. Hey, in terms

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Speaker 1: of you know, people being evacuated by the sounds of it,

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Speaker 1: you didn't have to evacuate your home. I mean, have

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Speaker 1: you had many friends or people that you know that

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Speaker 1: were sort of forced to leave their home and go

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Speaker 1: into going to those shelters.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if anyone personally that may it to

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Speaker 2: a shelter. There's a couple of people here that I

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Speaker 2: work at the radio station, which I only found out today,

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Speaker 2: had to leave their property and go stay with friends.

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Speaker 2: So one of them is moving back into their house today,

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Speaker 2: I believe, and I think another lady just got win

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Speaker 2: that she could possibly go home. But you know, there

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Speaker 2: were the numbers that the evacuation centers were holding I

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Speaker 2: think were two to three hundred in capacity, so a

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Speaker 2: lot of people were really, you know, trying to stay

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Speaker 2: with friends, trying to stay with family. I know that

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Speaker 2: I opened my home to people that I knew if

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Speaker 2: if they had to go to an evacuation center, So

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Speaker 2: especially people with pets. It's great that we have these

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Speaker 2: facilities here in Townsville, which is wonderful. I think there

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Speaker 2: were three facilities open, but two of them didn't allow pets.

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Speaker 2: So it's the people. You know, if it was me,

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Speaker 2: I know I'd be I'd be in my car with

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Speaker 2: a Great Dane and a friends bulldog.

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Speaker 1: So well, and you know, if you're a pet owner,

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Speaker 1: I think you'd be hard pressed to find one that

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Speaker 1: would be prepared to leave their animals at the house

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Speaker 1: without So yeah, you know, I'd feel exactly the same

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Speaker 1: before I let you go this morning. You know, there

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Speaker 1: is there much sort of reaction or much assistance I

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Speaker 1: suppose announced by the government in terms of helping people

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Speaker 1: that might be in that hardship, and and you know,

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Speaker 1: what's it sort of been like on the ground in

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Speaker 1: that sense.

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Speaker 2: I think they're really focusing right now on the people

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Speaker 2: that have been evacuated, making sure that supplies and stuff

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Speaker 2: come in. I don't think there's been in any announcements

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Speaker 2: yet from David Chris and fully that I have come across,

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Speaker 2: but I'm sure there will be. He's very passionate about

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Speaker 2: the Queensland people. So you know, we're just sort of

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Speaker 2: going to go through these next three to five days

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Speaker 2: and see how that rain comes in, what it looks like,

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Speaker 2: what the rising flood levels will be, because I think

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Speaker 2: that's the major concern, even though the rain has subsided,

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Speaker 2: and you know, obviously there's there's some sadness as well.

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Speaker 2: You know, there was a life sadly lost during this

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Speaker 2: turbulent time.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, oh well, Danny, we really appreciate you

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Speaker 1: having a chat with us this morning. I know you've

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Speaker 1: been pulling some long hours as you know, as happens

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Speaker 1: when there is an emergency situation like this. So we're

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Speaker 1: thinking of you, We're thinking of all of your colleagues, friends,

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Speaker 1: everybody in Townsville and the greater North Queensland region at

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Speaker 1: this point in time. And I hope you get a

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Speaker 1: bit of clear air so that yeah, so that people

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Speaker 1: are able to get back into their homes and recover.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Katie, and I miss Darwin.

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Speaker 1: So lovely to talk to you this morning. Thanks so

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Speaker 1: much for having a chat with us.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you