LAIDLEY parishioners in the Lockyer Valley west of Brisbane are relieved after floodwater rose to the top step of St Patrick’s Church, narrowly avoiding any damage.
While the church was spared, Laidley’s main street was inundated as water rose quickly over the weekend, causing major losses to businesses.
“We were copping it from every direction,” Laidley resident, Ryan Beaumont said.
Residents have banded together with mops and hoses to begin a major clean up.
The Lockyer Valley has sustained major flood damage during the past twelve years, including the surge of water that hit Grantham in 2011 claiming 33 lives and destroyed 29 houses.
A levee bank near Laidley protects the town from moderate flooding but major floods remain high risk. In 2011 and 2013 – shin-deep muddy water sloshed through St Patrick’s causing damage to the carpet and furnishings.
“Thankfully this time it didn’t go through the church,” parishioner Chris Pingel said, as roads and bridges across The Our Lady of the Valley parish started reopening.
Lockyer Valley mayor Tanya Milligan praised the efforts of volunteers who have rolled up their sleeves to help clean up.
Further west in Warwick, a flood warning remains active for the Condamine River, after emergency services crews rescued 73 residents and brought them to higher ground.
One evacuee, John Theaker, who returned to clean out his flooded home described how he had found looters trying to steal his whitegoods and had to chase them away using a baseball bat.
“All I have to say to them [the looters] is ‘shame on you’,” he said.
In Gympie, the Mary River peaked on Saturday night at about 16metres, more than four metres lower than during a flood in February.
It meant that the Bruce Highway was quickly reopened to motorists on Sunday morning.
Downstream in Maryborough the river was expected to rise but flooding is not expected, according to Fr Leo Burke, who has returned to relieve as parish priest in the St Mary’s Catholic parish.
“There are no roads or bridges closed at this stage,” Fr Burke, who first served as parish in Maryborough in 1964 and knows the Fraser Coast region well, said.
