Residents in areas worst hit by severe weather in south-east Queensland are hoping extra boots on the ground will help them finally get the lights on after days of darkness.
More than 6,000 homes and businesses are still without power after powerful Christmas holiday storms ripped through the region.
Tamborine Mountain resident Liz Meffan said locals were exhausted after days without access to power or running water.
"We're really desperate for electricity more than anything else," she said.
"We're all tired from carting water because we can't flush toilets."
Despite the extreme conditions, Ms Meffan is remaining upbeat about the situation.
"Energex have been amazing, but unfortunately the weather has hampered their efforts," she said.
Linda Gray from North Tamborine said she's treating it like a "glamping" experience.
"We've got no running water, no power, no internet so we don't know what is happening in the world out there," Ms Gray said.
Defence help arrives
Energex spokesperson Chris Graham said the level of damage done to the network was unprecedented, with kilometres of wires down and poles "snapped in half".
"It's a very dense network down here in the south-east with lots of customers and to have that hurricane go through such a populated area, it's completely obliterated the network," Mr Graham said.
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Australian Defence Force personnel will begin arriving in south-east Queensland from Thursday to assist with the storm clean-up.
It's hoped the extra help would aid in getting power restored to thousands of residents.
A smaller specialist team hit the sodden pavement on Wednesday, working with emergency services to determine which infrastructure will need to be repaired first.
Loading...A defence spokesperson said personnel and vehicles would be used to assist with "clearing access to essential infrastructure."
"The clearance skills of the ADF will allow essential workers to provide timely restoration of essential services and the ability for communities to return to everyday activities within the Gold Coast, Logan and Scenic Rim areas," the spokesperson said.
Tens of thousands in stock losses
Restaurants and catering businesses on Tamborine Mountain are among those losing thousands of dollars worth of stock while waiting for power to be restored.
"I'm hearing stories of people who have lost $50,000 worth of stock and food," Tamborine Mountain Chamber of Commerce president Geoff Baldwin said.
Mr Baldwin — an electrician who owns his own business — said demand is so high, tradies from Brisbane and other areas were coming into the region to share the workload.
"We've been very busy because we've been installing so many generators to keep people going as the main infrastructure for the electrical grid is not back on yet," he said.
A local community group on Tamborine Mountain has also banded together to purchase dozens of generators for locals without electricity.
Ange Wild started the Tamborine Mountain Storm Relief Fund after the destructive Christmas night storm.
Ms Wild purchased 25 generators before starting a fundraising effort for more.
"People are coming up to me that I've never met before thanking me with tears in their eyes," she said.
She said the generators were essential to helping vulnerable groups of people living on the mountain run medical devices and use electrical water pumps.
Some grocery shortages inevitable
Supermarket chains are experiencing minor shortages due to the wet conditions across Australia's east coast.
"We are experiencing supply impacts across some fruit and vegetables including baby spinach, some leafy veg, beans and peas, broccolini, blueberries and lemons," a Woolworths spokesperson said.
A Coles spokesperson also said Queensland-grown fruit and vegetables had been damaged in severe weather.
"We have seen some impacts and damage to a variety of Queensland-grown products from mangoes, bananas and lemons to baby cos lettuce and green beans," the spokesperson said.
Milk has also been in short supply.
EastAUSMilk president Joe Bradley said severe thunderstorms caused a power outage at the Norco dairy plant in Labrador.
"I understand that they're now back up and running, but they did lose power," Mr Bradley said.
"In some cases, farmers weren't able to milk the cows at all because they had no power and stand-by generators weren't available."
Chance of storms returning
Senior forecaster Angus Hines said there was a chance of severe thunderstorms developing around Queensland's south-east from Friday evening.
He said at this stage, severe weather was being pushed inland and away from the south-east coast.
"We could see one or two severe thunderstorms possible around the likes of the Darling Downs on Friday evening that risk could linger into Saturday morning," he said.
"We expect to see that activity ease back into generally clearer and calmer weather for the remainder of the day on Saturday."
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2024-01-03 19:58:08Z
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