Government offer grants to evacuated residents

About 1000 people crammed onto the Leschenault Leisure Centre’s basketball courts for the community information meeting.

Many of them were clearly distressed and some of them knew their home in Yarloop had gone.

Among them were evacuees from Yarloop, Cookernup, Preston Beach and Harvey as well as hundreds of residents from Australind and Leschenault.

Harvey Shire president Tania Jackson opened the meeting with representatives from the emergency services, Department of Child Protection and Acting Premier Kim Hames all addressing the audience.

DFES representatives gave an overview of the situation and all emphasised the significant size and complexity of the fire front.

In the north the fire had crossed the Murray River and was moving West and it was predicted the fire was moving down south towards Myalup which has been evacuated.

At the time of the briefing the fire was in the Cookernup area, about 8km north of the Harvey town site.

Acting Premier Kim Hames said the government was providing $3000 emergency funding for people who had lost their home and $1000 for families whose house was damaged.

These funds were available immediately through the local government authorities.

The question and answer session following the briefing expressed the concerns of people wanting to get back to see whether their home had survived and predictions of where and how fast the fire would move from there.

The next community meeting at the centre is scheduled for Saturday, January 9 at 1pm and will include a clearer assessment of the damage to Yarloop.

According to emergency services, 375 people have registered at the centre.