From the flood zone in far north Queensland. Townsville resident Amy Stevens says she's packed her bags and is ready to evacuate.
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00:00It's been pretty crazy the last couple of days.
00:04It's really windy at the moment.
00:07Definitely last night it picked up a lot more than we thought.
00:10Yesterday it was kind of on and off drizzles.
00:12As you can see, we've got the beautiful water embankment behind me here, but overnight it's
00:19definitely come down pretty hard.
00:21Definitely cyclone winds.
00:23Yeah, lots of fun at the moment.
00:26Yeah.
00:27And you're looking at that embankment, you're pretty close to it there, aren't you?
00:32Has it flooded at all?
00:35In the areas over there, there's like an underway to a bridge that crosses the highway.
00:40Fortunately, that's not flooded yet.
00:42And where it's at is there's quite a steep incline.
00:45So I don't think we're at any risk at the moment, but hoping that it doesn't get any
00:50worse.
00:51Townsville is, of course, in a prepare to leave warning state at the moment.
00:56What does that mean for you?
00:58What does it mean to prepare to leave?
01:00My beautiful grandparents who are watching right now, they actually have their bags packed.
01:04They're ready to go.
01:06My partner, whose video probably everyone has seen in Townsville, his four-year-old,
01:12she's ready to go.
01:13We've got two dogs.
01:14Just the essentials, the canned goods, the water, make sure that you've got all your
01:19important documents.
01:21And especially right now in the community, if you are in the position to help somebody,
01:25now is not the time to be a stranger.
01:27Help your friends, help your neighbours, help the community out.
01:31Where are you and your partner going?
01:34Are you going to an evacuation centre?
01:36Are you going to family?
01:38If that is the case, then yeah, we'll probably head there.
01:43All of our family kind of lives in the same area.
01:46So if we're all, if one's flooded, we're all flooded.
01:51Listen, you have been in this state of prepare to leave for quite some time now.
01:56Do you think the warnings that you've received have been adequate?
02:01Yeah, I'd say so.
02:04Definitely, like we were sitting at the dinner table the other night and everyone's phones
02:08was pinging.
02:09And I think I got about four in maybe an hour, I'd say.
02:13And they were all just different updates about the different suburbs around us and especially
02:17our area as well.
02:19Definitely telling us prepare to leave, you know, have your stuff ready to go and make
02:24sure you've got all your important documents.
02:26Amy, is this the first time that you're experiencing this or is this a normal annual event for
02:33you and your family?
02:35We've lived in town for our whole lives.
02:37So we were here for the 2019 floods as well.
02:41I definitely think that this, especially living so close to the lovely flood down there, is
02:48a little bit more amped up, but definitely nothing at this moment that we are directly
02:53alarmed about.
02:54Definitely those in other suburbs that are impacted more heavily.
02:58Yeah.
03:00I've been told that people in Townsville and in, you know, in Queensland are pretty hardy.
03:07They'll just take it in their stride.
03:10It's a question I think the rest of the country may start to ask.
03:13Well, if this happens every year, would you consider moving?
03:19I don't think so.
03:20I think a part of Townsville culture is that we're built to last.
03:25I think we are pretty strong and pretty headstrong.