Cyclone Hamish - Aftermath

Aftermath

Health officials hoped that rains from Hamish would help to reduce an ongoing dengue fever outbreak; however, little rainfall reached the coast, allowing further growth of the disease. On 10 March—following improved weather—rescue teams resumed searching for the three missing fishermen. During the second rescue attempt, one of the fishermen was found alive but alone in a large swell about 259 km (161 mi) northeast of Yeppoon, Queensland. The rescuers were able to find him when he turned on an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, which he originally thought was a stick. This beacon allowed the rescuers to pinpoint his location, though the other two fishermen reportedly did not have these beacons. On 16 March, a memorial service was held for the two fishermen who were lost at sea. About 200 people who knew the two men attended the service; many of whom signed a book honoring the fishermen.

Following the oil spill, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh declared two islands and parts of the Sunshine coast as disaster areas. Cleanup efforts were reportedly going to cost at least $100,000 a day and last more than a week as the oil continued to spread. The company in charge of the cargo ship is faced with a possible $1.5 million in fines for the incident. Several search parties have been sent to the spill area to attempt to find the potentially explosive materials that were in the 31 containers. Press reports stated that if the ammonium nitrate were to mix with the heavy fuel, it could ignite the ammonium nitrate and cause a large explosion. If the chemical did not react with the fuel, but still leaked out, marine life could be threatened by large blooms in algae. A team of 88 people were sent out to begin the cleanup process and another 58 were expected to join within the following days. On Moreton Island, a total of 290 people are working to clean up the oil with most of them focusing on Middle Creek and Cape Moreton. Even though hundreds of people were working on cleaning the spill, the average amount cleaned each day was 1 km2 (0.6 mi2). It was not until May of that year that Moreton Island was finally cleared of oil. The cleanup effort was undertaken by 2,500 people and led to the removal of roughly 3,000 tonnes of contaminated sand.

The estimated cost to clean the island was put at A$5 million ($3.2 million USD). Following the environmental disaster, the company is being fined an additional A$248.6 million ($163.5 million USD). In July 2010, the captain of the vessel which spilled the oil was brought to court on charges of disposing oil in coastal waters. In light of the worldwide infamy the ship received, a commercial decision was made by the Swire shipping company to rename the cargo ship the MV Pacific Mariner.

In June 2009, the name Hamish was retired from the list names in the Australian Basin; it was later replaced with Herman.