Community encouraged to help residents without electricity

As the clean-up continues following yesterday’s wild weather, council is calling on family and friends to help those in our community who are without electricity.

Energex crews are assessing the wide-spread damage to electricity networks and will be working around the clock to get communities without power reconnected as soon as possible.

For some areas, reconnection could take a number of days.

For a list of impacted areas visit https://www.energex.com.au/home/power-outages/emergency-outages

Deputy Mayor Cr Tim Dwyer encouraged impacted residents to stay with family and friends where possible, until their power is restored.

“Residents in areas that are expected to be without power for a number of days are encouraged to stay with family and friends and arrange the relocation of your cold and frozen food where possible.

“If the power supply is off for more than four hours, food in refrigerators can spoil and may no longer be safe to eat.

“If you are in doubt, throw it out.”

Queensland Health provides the following advice relating to cold and frozen food after a power outage. It is recommended to dispose of:

• Refrigerated food – perishable food (including meat, poultry, fish or dairy products) that has been left unrefrigerated or above 5°C for more than four hours
• Frozen food – after 48 hours if the freezer is full of food or after 24 hours if the freezer is only half full.  If frozen food has partially thawed, the food should be eaten as soon as possible.

Where food cannot be relocated into a working refrigerator or freezer, extra waste collection services are available to dispose of the perished foods by contacting council’s customer contact centre on 5475 7272.

The extra collection fee per service is $15.80 for general waste collection up to a maximum of 80kg within the wheelie bin.

Residents who do not want to arrange an extra collection service are encouraged to double bag their perished food waste and ensure the bin lid is fully closed so as not to attract vermin and minimise odour.

SAFETY MESSAGE: if you are operating a generator, please ensure it is in a well-ventilated area, as the build-up of carbon-monoxide produced from this machinery can be fatal.

Residents are also advised to be vigilant in regards to mosquito breeding that can increase after a rain event such as the one just experienced.

Remove ponded water sources from around the house by tipping out containers, pot plants or items holding water and clean gutters when safe to do so.

In response to the weather event council officers are undertaking additional mosquito monitoring and will be treating salt marsh areas as required.

Road closures continue to be updated on Disaster Hub at www.disaster.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au.