Communities still isolated

The clean-up is in full swing after the category 5 storm tore through central Queensland last Friday.

Ms Palaszczuk says rapid damage assessment teams have found that at least 350 home owners won’t be able to return to their houses.

‘‘That is quite significant,’’ she said.

‘‘We are standing with these communities.

‘‘It’s not easy losing your home, it’s not easy losing your possessions.’’

The premier said the state government’s key priorities were restoring power in Rockhampton and Yeppoon and making contact with the more isolated communities like Byfield and Marmor.

Ms Palaszczuk said 937 staff were on the ground trying to reconnect the power supply and she urged locals not to touch fallen power lines.

Ms Palaszczuk said damage assessment teams would shortly begin surveying farms, especially beef, cotton and citrus growing areas that had been badly hit.

Teams were due to arrive in the community of Byfield, near where the cyclone made landfall, later on Monday afternoon.

But at least two communities – Stockyard Point and Stanage Bay – don’t know when help will arrive.

‘‘We have had no radio, no TV and no news on how everyone else is going,’’ Stanage Bay store owner Maree Haynes wrote on Facebook on Sunday.

The Livingstone Council said power had been returned to the Yeppoon Hospital and about 1700 homes in the area, but the community of Emu Park was still blacked out.

Water treatment plants are also still waiting for power to be returned, with the council urging residents to conserve their water use over the coming days.

Telstra has set up free Wi-Fi and charging facilities for mobile phones in Yeppoon and the Red Cross is handing out free prepaid mobile phones to residents.

The Australian Defence Force sent 100 troops from Townsville into the worst-hit areas of Rockhampton, Yeppoon and Mt Morgan on Monday.

Meanwhile, Queensland Fire and Emergency Service reinforcements are on their way from Brisbane and other parts of the southeast.