The Landsborough-Mitchell-Warrego Highway closures brought on by flash flooding late last week highlighted discrepancies in the information sources travellers were relying on.
Kylee Smith, well-known as the maker of Gidgee Smith Bags, stepped in to help the Morven Progress Association at the south west community's Visitor Information Centre, when somewhere between 250 and 400 people swamped volunteers over two days.
"It was a bit crazy," she said. "We were caught in a situation where there were not enough people on the ground - some of them had been caught out by flooding themselves."
She said some hadn't been told about road closures earlier in their trip, or they hadn't found current information, including travellers who were trying to get to Quilpie that could have turned at Roma and taken a southern route, or others going to Winton's Way out West festival who had to backtrack from Morven to Roma, to get there via Emerald.
But Ms Smith said one of the biggest issues she encountered was travellers relying on Google Maps, which was rerouting them onto other roads that she as a local knew were either flooded or boggy.
"Google Maps doesn't seem to work well in the country," she said.
"People didn't realise the state of the roads they were being sent on, and we were in danger of getting bogged trucks and vehicles.
"I was trying to take the pressure off - the last thing we needed was to have to go and rescue people."
A Google spokesperson said they used a variety of sources to keep Google Maps up-to-date and reliable.
Those included imagery, feedback from its community, and third party and official government information.
"When there are inaccuracies, we work to fix them as quickly as possible," they said.
Ms Smith said she was confident in the information she was giving out, thanks to the good local network she had, adding that she was mostly referring people to the Murweh Shire Council's disaster dashboard on its website.
"In the space of hours, a lot can change though," she said.
Inconsistent information
Murweh shire mayor Shaun 'Zoro' Radnedge said one take-out for the council as a result of the flood emergencies was differences in the information the public was given.
"Main roads are controlled by TMR - the council is the steward and we work with them," he said.
"It was definitely a challenge for us when we got the all-clear to open roads but that wasn't showing on the computer.
"There was lots of frustration - it's one thing we'll definitely work on."
Despite having so many transiting people caught in the community, Ms Smith said everyone seemed to be well behaved.
She said the line of trucks went from 'hospital hill' on the western side of town to the roadhouse to the east of Morven, and caravanners had taken up available spaces in the truck stops.
"One truckie spent three days at Morven, running a refrigerator that whole time," she said. "The roadhouse and motel looked to have done very well out of the whole thing."
Locals tried to accommodate as many people as they could, and Ms Smith, who operates a coffee van, 'paid it forward', offering travellers "looking desperate" a free cup of coffee.
Sally Gall
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
