After a year of meticulous geo-testing, working with agencies on approvals, earthmoving and road maintenance at Noah Range, Council and contractors will be downing tools over the festive season.
However, there are contingencies in place if there are further landslips on Cape Tribulation Road during the December 21 to January 6 shutdown.
An excavator and tip truck will be positioned on either side or the Noah Range worksite while a skeleton crew of workers will be based nearby if they are required for unplanned works.
There will also be an 18,000-litre diesel tank on site to fuel the machinery and generators at Cape Tribulation while a radar, which provides 24/7 monitoring of the slip face, will remain in place.
Douglas Shire Mayor Lisa Scomazzon said the extra resources should provide local residents with a sense of reassurance over the coming weeks.
“Congratulations and well done to all the workers who have worked on the Noah Range restoration project this year. The site has certainly come a long way since engineers first inspected the mountain of debris covering the road in December of last year,” Mayor Scomazzon said.
“It is important these workers take a well-deserved break but equally important is the need to provide ongoing support to the local community.
“We know the struggles and the isolation the residents of Cape Tribulation, and other Daintree Coast communities, endured following the flooding a year ago. By parking the heavy machinery and the diesel tank on site means Council and contractors can react quickly if a severe wet weather event impacts on Noah Range.”
2250 truckloads of debris was removed from the Noah Range site between January and March of this year. An estimated 3000 extra truckloads will be removed once the current remediation works are completed.
The contractors have made significant improvements to the safety of the site, felling vegetation on the unstable slope, installing enhanced rock fall protection and shaping the slope to provide a catch area for debris movement. Restart on the full rehabilitation and road reconstruction works at Noah Range is weather dependent but is currently expected in May 2025.
