Flood and cyclone affected communities to receive grants

COMMUNITIES impacted by floods and cyclones will benefit from more than $4.5 million in grant funding to speed up their recovery and boost resilience.

Sixty-nine projects across 39 Queensland LGAs affected by severe weather and flooding during 2021-22 will benefit, through Round Two of the Flexible Funding Grants program.

Projects include solar towers to provide power during outages, remote flood warning systems, emergency preparedness education programs, mental health services and resilience activities for people with disability. 

Federal Minister for Energy Management Murray Watt said the grants program empowers local organisations.

“This grants program empowers local organisations to bring their projects to life, like securing emergency backup power, connecting with vulnerable members of the community, or mental health and wellbeing support programs,” he said.

“These projects will equip communities with the tools to recover from previous events, while also building resilience to prepare them for future disasters.”

Queensland Minister for Communities Leeanne Enoch said the second round of Flexible Funding Grants supports important initiatives, such as preserving local landmarks and disaster preparedness information for vulnerable community members.

“Queenslanders are no strangers to extreme weather and have a strong tradition of helping each other through the challenges of natural disasters,” she said.

“The rapid succession of severe weather events during 2021 and 2022 highlights the need for ongoing vigilance and resilience as we see continued changes in the climate.

“By funding locally led projects, we can support local recovery and ensure communities are better prepared for future severe weather events.”

For the full list of grant recipients, visit: www.housing.qld.gov.au/initiatives/category-c-funding 

The Flexible Funding Grants program is jointly funded under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA). Under these arrangements, up to $20 million was made available for eligible projects to support human and social recovery in the affected areas.

Across both rounds of the program, Queenslanders in 39 communities have benefited from more than $7.5 million in funding for 123 projects to boost their recovery and disaster preparedness.

The grants were made available to communities affected by Central, Southern and Western Queensland’s rainfall and flooding event in November and December 2021; Ex-Tropical Cyclone Seth in December 2021 and January 2022; South East Queensland’s rainfall and flooding from February through to April 2022; and flooding in Southern Queensland in May 2022.

Councils, industry and community groups, peak bodies, Queensland-based non-government organisations, and research bodies could apply for multiple grants, with small grants from $2,500 up to $50,000 and large grants from $50,001 up to $100,000.

For more information visit the Flexible Funding Grants website.

Keep up with the latest news in Cairns and the Far North, and check out some of our top stories this week: Still time to register for NQ Games and Free flu shots for Queenslanders.