As storms moved across South East Queensland this afternoon, residents were being urged to be storm-ready.

Today, the city’s latest resource in dealing with disasters was revealed.

Sam Smith reports.

TRANSCRIPT

Four specialised sandbagging machines, capable of pumping out 1,200 sandbags an hour, 10 times the amount made in previous years.

The Lord Mayor says they’ll equip Brisbane with world-class operational capability and preparedness ready for the summer storm season and natural disasters.

Graham Quirk, Lord Mayor: “We always have sandbags on standby at each of our depots, but again in a time of need these will create an extra capacity to speed up that process.”

$133,000 has been invested into the machines to be placed in major flash flooding areas across the city.

While the introduction of new sandbagger machines will drastically help during this summer’s storm season, measures to prevent storm damage in the first place remains a serious issue.

People are urged to check their properties to ensure all furniture and surroundings are secure to avoid causing damage to their homes.

Lowry Boyd, SES Local Controller: “Make sure that if there’s any overhanging tree branches on their roof that they engage an arborist to try to remove those. Have the gutters checked so if there’s any leaves in there, to remove the leaves.”

Storm season officially begins on October 1.

Sam Smith, QUT News.