Vast areas of northern NSW and southern Queensland are dealing with record rain and floods, pushing river levels to heights unseen for a century.
Deluges of rain for days inundated the Mary River, which passes through Gympie. Locals were told the River was predicted to reach a height of 17-20 metres, and many residents stayed put – many remembering the previous record for the largest flood in living memory, at 21.95 metres, back in 1999.
The last time it surpassed that was in 1898, when it reached 22 metres.
On Saturday the Mary peaked at 22.96 metres, taking many by surprise and bringing chaos as the last connection between Gympie and south of the river, the Normanby Bridge, was set to be closed, joining the Kidd Bridge, Pengelly and Inglewood Bridges on the Bruce Hwy, and Bells Bridge on Wide Bay Highway, which were all cut off Saturday afternoon.
Gympie’s CBD and commercial district were heavily impacted.
The Empire Hotel on Upper Mary Street saw water to the top of the door frame, and street level of the Railway Hotel, two doors east on the corner of Monkland Street, suffered a similar fate. The Bank of Queensland Gympie building was completely underwater.
Empire Hotel owner Craig Mylrea has been without power since Friday, and doesn’t expect it back on until at least Thursday. He and his son were trapped in the dark in their residence above the pub during the height of the flood, relaying he had no choice but to “sit back and watch everything go under” as the lower level was destroyed, including EGMs and his car, which was swept away by waters.
He estimates it will be at least three to four weeks before they can reopen.
It’s been reported that across south-east Queensland more than 50,000 homes and businesses have been without power, as emergency crews struggle to repair damage.
Gympie‘s water supply went down as the treatment facility lost power, and residents were ironically warned to conserve water.
Local power supplier Energex issued notice it has been unable to restore power to many until floodwaters recede, due to the danger of accessing damage to assess.
There have already been several reported deaths. A man was found dead on Saturday, after being swept away by floodwaters at Goomboorian; a 63-three-year-old Belli Park woman has been found dead in her sunken car; and another man taken by floodwaters, a Gympie father-of-three, was found after attempting to ride his motorcycle home.
Even cattle have been washed away, from farms near Gympie, some turning up in backyards and car parks.
This week the worst of the S-E Queensland flooding has peaked and is gradually falling. The Bruce Hwy between Brisbane and Traveston reopened Monday, and the mighty Mary River had dropped to 18.9 metres.
Rescue efforts across northern New South Wales have been going around the clock, and food drops have begun across the region, as so many remain isolated.
Hundreds of people are still unaccounted for, most presumed trapped in ceilings and on roofs, waiting to be rescued.
More than 300 kilometres south of Gympie, Lismore braced as the Bureau of Meteorology warned floodwaters may peak at 14.2 metres – being almost two metres higher than the area’s worst ever floods, in 1954.
The Wilsons River peaked at 14.4 metres on Monday afternoon, turning the city’s roads into rivers and leaving hotels and buildings on main street underwater.
An armada of rescue vessels have been cruising main street, ducking under power lines to rescue residents from rooftops.
A week of rain has finally begun to ease, the Wilsons River is receding and the clean-up has begun.