FNQ PRINTERS BATTLE THE ELEMENTS
Printers in northern Queensland have been through the wringer in the last few days with torrential rain impacting many towns in the area and closing print businesses.

Townsville has borne the brunt of the weather, with printers forced to close the doors and bunker down from last Friday morning as power outages and flooding have hit the regional centre. A few printers are reopening today, others are still closed.
Printers in smaller towns such as Ingham remain closed, with roads washed away and power remaining cut off. The Bruce Highway, the main north-south route out of Townsville is impassable, with a bridge being swept away, leaving a gaping hole where the road should be.
Stephen Lamont, owner of Townsville-based trade sign and display operation Lamont Graphics said, “It started teeming down on Friday lunchtime, we went straight outside and dug a trench in front of the building to prevent any flooding, which thankfully did the job. The staff are ok, we’re running again now, but many of my customers remain challenged.”
Ironically the first job Lamont did was 100 coreflutes for an energy company to nail to power poles advising the public of the latest floodwater and power situation.

Cairns was not so badly affected. The major trade printer CMYKhub remained open throughout the rain. Glen Francis, national communications manager at the company said, “Our hub manager Tom Cleator has done a great job. He is a local and knew what was coming, he ordered a fair amount of advance stock as he thought the roads may be impacted, which they were, so the Cairns hub has been operating as normal throughout, with no issues there.”