Following the deluge, courtesy of Cyclone Fay, Telfer and its surrounding communities were isolated off from the rest of the world…at least by road. The torrential rains flooded huge areas and changed deserts into lakes. Many roads, if not swamped, were severely damaged and made impassable. The Punmu community, the Telfer mine site’s nearest neighbour and 115km to the east, was also cut off, without access to food or other services normally transported along the Telfer road. Telfer’s Emergency Services Coordinator, Andy French, received an urgent call for assistance from Punmu. The townsite was running dangerously short of food and general goods. With the assistance of Eurest Support Services executives Chris Wales and Ian Webber, and the services of a helicopter that happened to be at Telfer surveying the rain damage to the region, Andy was able to arrange the urgent delivery of 60 kg of food and other supplies to Punmu. Following this initial drop, the road between Telfer and Punmu became ‘navigable,’ and another two tonnes of food including fresh vegetables, fruit and meat were delivered, courtesy of Telfer with the assistance of ESS.

Because Telfer donated the food, the community was then able to afford to charter a plane to bring in more supplies from Newman and restore the community to normality. Khaliq Samnakay, the Punmu community coordinator, thanked all involved on behalf of the community. It wasn’t long before Telfer personnel were again on the road providing much-needed assistance to another group - travellers marooned on the Rudall River road. A party of three vehicles had left Punmu to travel to Cotton Creek soon after the cyclone, but failed to arrive at their destination when expected. They had split up after passing through Telfer when the going got particularly rough. Two of the vehicles couldn’t proceed. While the vehicle that kept going also became stuck soon after crossing the Rudall River, its occupants were able to contact Cotton Creek and get someone to come and assist in their recovery.

When the rescued party reached Cotton Creek they raised the alarm that there were two more vehicles still on the Rudall River road somewhere. Newman Police were now involved and contacted Telfer management with a request to deploy the helicopter Telfer was operating in the area. The request was supported, and next morning the helicopter took off, following the Rudall River road from Telfer. Somewhere between Camp Tracey and Rudall River, the helicopter crew located the first of the missing vehicles. The stranded party, which now included the driver and passengers of the second vehicle, were given food and water. The vehicle had two blown tyres and they had no spares. The second vehicle was nowhere to be seen. It was badly bogged and had been abandoned. The helicopter crew returned to the air, now with one of the Aboriginal men aboard, in the faint hope of finding the vehicle and salvaging its tyres. A remarkable instance of ‘air tracking’ ensued. The Aboriginal guided the helicopter directly to the stranded vehicle, which was far off the road and would not have been found otherwise. The helicopter crew marvelled at this piece of ingenious ‘indigenous’ navigation! Once the tyres were salvaged and fitted to the serviceable vehicle, the parties were once again on their way to Cotton Creek where, this time, they arrived safely.