ONE MONTH ON : HUNDREDS STILL WITHOUT POWER
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting : "Ergon Energy crews are attempting to reconnect about 200 homes and businesses today and over the weekend, despite having promised to have power restored by Easter.
"The supplier today said it had cost $30 million to reconnect power wiped from 135,000 of its customers during the devastating category-five cyclone on March 20.
"Most homes and businesses without electricity are in remote parts of the Atherton Tablelands, west of Innisfail.
PORTABLE HOMES FOR THOSE STILL TRYING TO FIND SOMEWHERE TO LIVE
Portable homes will be pieced together and trucked or trained into the Innisfail region for up to 50 families still without a place to live.
Recovery task force leader General Peter Cosgrove referred to the figure as "a handful of families" on ABC Radio.
The temporary homes will not have the amenities of a permanent dwelling, such as basic kitchens.
The rush is now on to complete rebuilding work within nine months, before the start of the next 'wet' season, when rains are at their heaviest and the area becomes prone once more to cyclones.
More than 10,000 tarps still cover damaged roofs. Broken windows in hundreds of homes are boarded up with plastic sheeting, sheets of plywood and corrugated iron.
