A FORMER Alton resident has received a National Emergency Medal in recognition of her work within the Department of Transport and Main Roads in Australia.

Emma Jane Rix received a commendation in recognition of her service during Tropical Cyclone Debbie.

The National Emergency Medal was created to recognise the contributions and commitments of persons who have provided services during national emergencies.

A former Amery Hill and Alton College student, Emma emigrated to Australia back in 2005 and has lived there since.

She was the team leader for the communications and stakeholder management team during Cyclone Debbie, a tier four cyclone that devastated parts of Queensland back in 2017.

Her role included coordinating and preparing situation reports leading up to, during and after the cyclone, and she was responsible for the management of communications for the state-wide traffic management centre, as well as responsible for media enquiries, executive correspondence, and ministerial requests. .

On her award, Emma said: “It was a bit of shock!

“Cyclone Debbie was a tough time as the cyclone sat over us for three days and I was the only one in my team with power and internet. Therefore, all our preparations for fatigue management went out of the window. We had a lot of damage to the road network, so it was a busy time.”

She hopes for the sake of her and her team that “hopefully there are no more cyclones for a while”.