As usual , the mainland media coverage of Magnetic Island -Townsville's "Jewel in the Crown "- was revealed as extremely poor during the monsoon downpour . Here is a quick roundup :
- At the island bakery, part of the ceiling fell in .
- There is activity at the Man Friday Mexican restaurant which was flooded by heavy rain during the night .
- Several houses down at Horseshoe Bay have been flooded .
- Beaches have been damaged , part of the foreshore eaten away near the Picnic Bay Surf Life Saving Club .
- Alma Beach , popular with the late author Inga Clendinnen and her husband , has had a large part at the creek end washed away , pumice, leaves and rubbish spread throughout the rest . There is an expanding hole on the side of the creek near the footbridge .
- The recently opened Rock Paper Scissors van has closed at Nelly Bay due to the weather . Water is visible under the new seafood café .
- Extensive damage has been done to roads , surfaces floating in some areas .
- Police car and ambulance seen at a house .
- A resident was removed to Townsville with pneumonia and possibly melioidosis , in Darwin called Nightcliff Gardener's Disease because of a deadly outbreak there years ago .The Northern Territory puts out a fact sheet on the disease. It is said to lie dormant in soil and released during heavy rain and floods . If this is a confirmed case, the public needs to be alerted promptly throughout the area , the symptoms made known .
- When a large tree fell over it broke a water pipe ; a nearby power pole was blown at an angle .
- Several tall hoop pine trees near the main roundabout are bent way over .
- Numerous houses have leaks , some with water coming out of power points .
- Townsville City Council rate notices arrived .
- A community known as Hideaway was cut off due to flooding at one stage .
- One aspect of the disaster which received surprisingly little coverage by the mainland media was the state of the Queensland Nickel ponds which could overflow into the Great Barrier Reef area .
