Community Liaison Officer Jamie Miller on his back verandah.
Santos’ local Roma employees responded quickly to help people to safety as Roma endured its worst flooding in over 80 years, with a quarter of the its 1,500 residents affected.
Roma-based Queensland coal seam gas fields area manager Sam Klaas said the crisis demanded a rapid response, and the local Santos team rose to the challenge.
“The chopper was busy evacuating people from rooftops and Santos personnel were involved in various capacities assisting with evacuations and overall coordination.
"The Roma team has done an incredible job in the community throughout the week during the recovery phase of the disaster. They have worked tirelessly in assisting many locals in pulling up carpet and removing ruined items from their homes as well as assisting in the coordination of helicopter evacuations and food drops at isolated properties.
Santos has been part of the Roma community for more than 40 years – and long-term employees were surprised by the speed of the rising water.
“Some of our guys – such as David Peak (Roma supervisor), John Flesser (operator) and Todd Jump (material controller) – used their personal boats to ferry people to safety well into the night on Tuesday,” Sam said.
“Bungil Creek rose to 8.1m – the highest peak in Roma since records began in 1924 and more than half a metre higher than the previous record. Their selfless actions and focus on safety speaks volumes about the character of the people who work for us.
“A number of our people were isolated by floodwaters and some had to be evacuated when the water entered their homes – but I’m happy to report that all of our Santos people (and their families) in Roma are now safe and sound."
The floods have had minimal impact on production, but have shut down drilling and completions work, flowline construction, and other development activities for a few weeks.
Filed under:
Community wellbeing, Employee achievements, Queensland