TELSTRA’S flood-damaged fibre optic cables caused chaos in Mount Isa yesterday with most of the city without communication lines or access to Automatic Teller Machines (ATM).
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Residents were unable to call loved ones caught up in the Queensland flood crisis with phones and internet down.
ATMs and EFTPOS were also out of action, leaving many without cash on the public holiday or unable to pay for goods and services using their ATM card.
In the same predicament as Mount Isa were Mackay, Freshwater, Cairns, Rockhampton, Townsville and Gladstone.
City trading in Mount Isa was thrown into turmoil as people scrambled to use the last functioning ATM machine at the ANZ bank.
Staff at the Rodeo Bar and Grill reported a queue stretching from the ANZ bank ATM to Woolworths on Miles Street.
The Bullring Bar and TAB was also forced to closed when the fault caused a loss of communication for their betting operations.
Rodeo Bar and Grill general manager Oliver Sweeney said EFTPOS had been unavailable since 5pm on Sunday and they had been referring people to the ANZ bank ATM.
He believes ANZ’s ATM was out of service early on Monday due to running out of dispensable cash.
Mr Sweeney summed up the sentiment of the day perfectly by saying “I expect (yesterday) to be a total write off”.
Mr Sweeney said he would not close, but said operating in the circumstances were difficult.
“I have not been able to ring people to cancel shifts, but we still want to provide a service to people,” he said.
“A lot of people seem to want to blame someone in these situations, but no one can do anything about it.”
A United Cab Co taxi driver waiting outside the Isa Hotel said it was a “cabbies nightmare”, with customers unable to ring for a taxi and drivers were resorting to driving around the city in a “hail the driver” situation.
Mount Isa Cinema, Bottle-o and McCarthy’s Newsagency were all operating with no EFTPOS service, experiencing a significant loss of expected patronage.
“These things can’t be helped, but it is definitely quiet here today, a loss of eftpos is a massive disruption to usual trading,” Mount Isa Cinema manager Jodie Saunders said.
The Irish Club also lost all forms of communication and eftpos at 5pm on Sunday and expects the club to be very quiet until it is restored.
Receptionist Kelly Butler said it affected the overall operation of the club, including the gym and courtesy bus, both of which rely on internet and phone systems.
“I was talking to the police on Sunday night and they suggested that communications could be out for the next 24 to 48 hours,” she said.
The Irish Club gaming manager Larissa Morgan said up to 20 pokie machines have been affected as they are statewide and run on the Telstra line.
“It’s very quiet now, I expect most people will stay at home today,” she said.
In a stroke of luck for the Coffee Club, it’s EFTPOS lines remained online.
The business was doing a roaring trade, with manager Lenore Saunders at a loss to explain why they still had EFTPOS service.
However, they were still experiencing some problems with internet and were unable to process staff payments.