Townsville Floods 2019

In late January and early February 2019, Townsville experienced unprecedented monsoonal flooding when over 1,100mm of rain fell in less than a week. The controlled release of Ross River Dam exacerbated flooding, with over 3,000 homes inundated across Townsville suburbs including Aitkenvale, Idalia, Rosslea, and Railway Estate.

Events of this scale test every aspect of a disaster recovery operation — contractor availability, equipment logistics, insurer coordination, and project management across multiple sites simultaneously.

Our North Queensland contractors activated within hours, joined by surge teams deployed from Brisbane and Cairns. Initial response focused on emergency water extraction from severely inundated properties, followed by demolition of water-damaged materials, industrial drying, and mould prevention. Teams worked around the clock in extreme heat and humidity conditions.

Throughout the response, our project management team maintained communication with affected property owners, insurers, and local authorities to ensure coordinated and efficient restoration across all sites.

Our network restored over 100 properties in the Townsville region over a 4-month period. The combination of extreme heat and contaminated floodwater created aggressive mould growth conditions, making rapid intervention critical. Properties where our teams started within 72 hours had 60% lower overall restoration costs than delayed-response properties.

The Townsville floods demonstrated the unique challenges of tropical flood restoration — extreme heat accelerates mould growth, contaminated floodwater requires Category 3 protocols, and remote location logistics complicate equipment and material supply chains. It reinforced the need for regional contractor networks and climate-appropriate restoration protocols.

These learnings have been incorporated into our standard operating procedures and contractor training programs, improving our preparedness and response capability for future events.

If your property has been affected by a disaster event, our team is ready to help 24/7. We respond to emergencies within 60 minutes, work with all major Australian insurers, and direct-bill for covered events — meaning no upfront costs for you.

Whether it is a single property or a large-scale event, our nationwide contractor network has the capacity, equipment, and expertise to restore your property to pre-loss condition.