Geraldton-Greenough SES crew and DFES district officers on helping out with NSW, Victoria flood relief

Geraldton volunteers have leant a helping hand to their exhausted counterparts faced with floods in the Eastern States, describing it as a well-earned and compassionate return of favour for the assistance they received after cyclone Seroja. Since October, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services has sent more than 200 volunteers and staff from across WA to the Eastern States to help communities hit hard by the floods. Of those, 118 have been State Emergency volunteers. Three Geraldton-Greenough SES volunteers and Mid West-Gascoyne district officer Joshua Gardener worked across Bourke, Brewarrina and Nyngan in NSW with a taskforce of 18 DFES crew members from Geraldton, Bunbury, Collie, Boddington, Merredin, Karratha, Perth and Broome. The crew left on November 7 in a bid to help fatigued emergency services workers in NSW and Victoria. The week-long trip was thought of as returning the favour after WA volunteers were assisted during the devastation of cyclone Seroja in April 2021. DFES Mid West-Gascoyne district officer Felix McQuistan went to Mildura, Victoria, with an incident management team as homes were facing flood threats in low-lying areas. “It was an opportunity to give back to the Victorians after they come across to assist us with cyclone Seroja and it was a good learning experience to see how other organisations manage emergencies,” he said. Mr McQuistan said he discovered new skills in options analysis, inspecting an incident and determining a course of action and valuable knowledge in the flood mitigation and management space. “It’s realistically just doing the neighbourly thing; one day we’re going to rely on them to come and assist us, so we take the opportunity when it presents itself,” he said. Mr Gardener led the taskforce and said the work included sandbagging remote and in-town properties to assist with flood rescue boat operations. Other work included preparing or reinforcing large levee banks to retain the flow of floodwater, flying helicopters and conning flood rescue boats for re-supply tasks to remote properties and flood rescue operations. “It was certainly an opportunity for our crews to learn because the environment is very different to what we typically work in,” Mr Gardener said. Geraldton-Greenough SES deputy manager and volunteer Amy Drage said it was rewarding being able to provide some fresh energy to the fatigued community. “The fact that I could go was good, and to be able to help the community and assist them, we’re very fortunate over here at the moment,” she said. “They were really in need when we went to Bourke; they’d been on a flood level warning since about December last year, so they were obviously tired.” Geraldton-Greenough SES logistics officer and volunteer Joseph Mihaly compared the floods to cyclone Seroja and said although there was destruction on both sides, the impact was quite different. “The damage in Kalbarri was just huge ... with the floods, there was a lot of water everywhere that was contained. It was only if (the water) went over the wall, that’s when the town would be in real trouble,” he said. Although the volunteers were well equipped, they said no preparation was enough to comprehend the level of water across the land.