More than 50-thousand insurance claims have been lodged in the wake of tropical cyclone Alfred across southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales. It's expected to put strain on the construction sector which is already under pressure adding to delays and a backlog of work.
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00:00Daniel Spindler and his wife are counting the cost of Cyclone Alfred.
00:07It is a roller coaster. There's a lot more to be done.
00:11The family had a lucky escape after a tree destroyed half their Reedy Creek home last weekend.
00:18They're hoping to salvage what they can, but have a long road ahead.
00:23My assessor told us it's at least six months, up to a year or even two years until we can come back here and live here.
00:30The family of four are in short-term temporary accommodation, but will soon need to find somewhere else to live.
00:37My little one, four-year-old, he's at Kindy and I've got an eight-year-old, he has Level 2 ASD and ADHD.
00:45He thrives in routine and stability.
00:48About 53,000 insurance claims have been lodged in the wake of Cyclone Alfred.
00:54The claims are quite spread, everything from power outage, so food spoilage, to leaking roofs and water inundation.
01:02It's expected the repair works will put more pressure on the construction sector.
01:08The state's peak building body estimates there's already a shortage of 20,000 tradies each year in Queensland.
01:16We've got the Olympics coming a few years down the track, so we're already stretched. This is just going to exacerbate it.
01:24The Insurance Council is trying to entice tradies from interstate and New Zealand to help with the rebuild in south-east Queensland,
01:32putting a call out for electricians, plasterers, builders and roofers.
01:37But for others, the clean-up is almost over.
01:41Just under 14,000 homes remain without power, down from more than 300,000 at the peak of the weather event.
01:50A flood-affected school on the Gold Coast will fully reopen on Monday.
01:55In Harvey Bay, the SES are wrapping up after responding to 400 call-outs.
02:01It's been pretty intense. The rainstorm came in, it was not super forecasted for that event to hit here.
02:08Life slowly getting back to normal.