LOGAN residents are not eligible to receive new disaster assistance grants despite being among the worst-impacted by last week’s hailstorms.
Thousands of homes across the city were left without power following a devastating supercell storm on 24 November that bucketed down hailstones nearing 13cm.
Home and car owners were forced into clean-up mode, with insurance companies revealing local suburbs as among the hardest hit in the region.
However, new hardship grants funded by the state and federal government to help storm-hit residents recover are only open to certain residents in Moreton Bay, Redland and Sunshine Coast.
When asked why local residents were left out of grant eligibility, a spokesperson for the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) – the state government body that oversees disaster recovery and resilience policy – said the agency worked with councils and relevant state agencies to support requests for activation of assistance.
“Requests from councils for Personal Hardship Assistance are made through Community Recovery, within the Department of Families, Seniors, Disability Services and Child Safety,” the spokesperson said.
“When these requests come through from Community Recovery, QRA and the Australian Government’s National Emergency Management Agency progress them as quickly as possible to ensure disaster affected residents have access to the financial help they need.”
The grants include funding of $180 for individuals and up to $900 for a family of five or more to help cover the costs of essentials like food, clothing and medicine, while other support measures reaching $80,000 will target low income, uninsured residents.
Councils in Central Highlands, Fraser Coast, Noosa, and Sunshine Coast will also receive funds for their counter-disaster operations and the reconstruction of essential public assets.
The Bureau of Meteorology confirmed there were reports of hailstones between 6cm and 8cm last week, with locals reporting stones surpassing 9cm in suburbs like Cornubia and Eagleby.
Suncorp said the worst-hit areas in south-east Queensland were Beenleigh, Shailer Park, Cornubia, Loganholme and others.
“The largest hailstones and most substantial impacts occurred along a corridor from Logan Village through Burbank and Manly, where highly dense and spherical hailstones between eight and 13cm were observed,” meteorologist Andrew Buffalino said.
“While giant hailstones were the defining hazard of this event, damaging wind gusts were also recorded.”
He said the supercell outbreak was triggered by a similar weather pattern that produced other historic events such as the 2008 Gap Storm and the 2014 Brisbane Hailstorm.
The next day, more than 1300 residents across the city remained without power, including in the suburbs of Buccan, Greenbank, Loganholme, Logan Village, Mundoolun, Munruben, North Maclean, Underwood, Veresdale, Veresdale Scrub, Waterford, Wolffdene, and Woodridge.
By 1pm, Suncorp had received more than 6890 claims across the region – including more than 3060 home and 3700 motor vehicle claims.
RACQ Insurance said more than 3600 insurance claims had been made in the south-east following recent storms, including 24 November’s hail storm.
“We know the areas of Logan, Moreton Bay and Brisbane’s eastern suburbs bore the brunt with large hail causing damage to vehicles and homes, including smashed windscreens, water leaks through roofs and trees and debris blocking roads,” RACQ chief executive Trent Sayers said.
“To fast-track motor vehicle claims we have secured locations in the southeast to commence assessments and repairs for glass breakage so we can help keep our members mobile.
“Claims for building damage are being allocated to our builder panel and we are prioritising attendance for vulnerable members, however all claims are being actioned as rapidly as possible.”
