Insight Focus
- Far north Queensland receives heavy rain following Cyclone Jasper.
- Flood waters exceed 1977 record levels by 40%.
- Growers are assessing the extent of cane damage.
FAR NORTHERN DELUGE
Cairns was one of the six cane growing regions heavily impacted by record-breaking flooding in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Jasper at the end of 2023. The water reached 40% higher than the record 1977 flood levels.
In three days we received 1,400mm of rain.
I was luckier than many growers in the district as only one of my farms is in the low-lying area, where we lost 8 hectares (20 acres) of cane due to the flooding. I count my blessings.
The area most devastated, as you would imagine, was in the low country next to the rivers and creeks. Those paddocks didn’t fare so well with some growers losing as much as 60-70% of their crop. Much of the damaged cane was young and it spent 3-7 days underwater in places so it’s dead, even the ratoon cane has been affected.
It’s still early days yet, with a lot of work currently around assessing damage and seeking strategies to manage the repair work that will be required. But it’s safe to say the crop will be down this season. It’s not a great outcome.
There is a lot of erosion on the creek banks that will require remediation, and in the paddocks there has been a lot of movement of green trash into drains and onto the cane that needs to be cleaned up.
That’s what is keeping us occupied at the moment, cleaning up and clearing out paddocks after the deluge.
MSF Sugar has extensive rail network damage including the railway bridge over the Barron River that was washed away during the floods. They are working on strategies to provide road transport for the 50,000 tonnes of cane that would normally access the bridge for the 2024 crush. Luckily all the factories were spared but there will be a lot of rail network issues to be fixed over the district.
As a community we are looking out for each other and helping where we can. The federal and state government are providing programs and funding that we are currently looking at to see what might be appropriate for our growers and the industry. The far north Queensland community will continue to rally and support those that were heavily impacted and continue in the clean-up of the area, while we nurture the crop left standing as we move towards the 2024 harvest later in the year.
One bright note for me was an intensive ‘Rocky’ movie marathon while I waited for the rain to stop, I have finally caught up with every Sylvester Stallone ‘Rocky’ movie now.
