MTA Queensland member and used car dealer, Rod Pether Motors in Rosslea, is slowly making its recovery after torrential flooding in the Townsville region last month.

Rod’s stock was engulfed in over a metre of floodwater.

The 30-year-old business went from 30 vehicles in his inventory to just five, after the flood.

Rod says, “Now we are back on deck, I have 12 cars we can deliver right now and I think we’ll be okay.”

The business was granted $10,000 support from the Special Disaster Assistance Recovery Grant which is available to assist with cleaning and reinstatement costs immediately following the disaster event.

“After the grant went into the bank, I started sleeping at night; we had no power for over a week so we borrowed a generator and started cleaning. We did dump runs, cleaned the mud and got on with it,” he says.

“Townsville has a lot of good people and good businesses; Townsville will survive, we just have to dust ourselves off and keep going,” said Rod.

He is also awaiting the outcome of his insurance claim before applying for an additional $40,000 grant as part of the grant package.

The Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA) manager Craig Turner says as of  27 March there were 127 small businesses in Townsville with approved grants, to the value of nearly $984,000.

“This is a stressful time for communities in the North and Far North as they come to terms with the impact to their small businesses, not-for-profit organisations and primary production businesses which is why we are doing our best to help with the recovery process,” Turner says.

Turner says the QIRDA funding is generally activated in around nine business days.

Source: http://autotalk.com.au/industry-news/rod-pether-motors-making-recovery

28 March 2019