Lloyd and Jean Warr, who survived flash flooding in 2011, have narrowly escaped with their lives once again after being rescued from Helidon in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley.
Terrifying memories of the disaster a decade ago were reawakened this week across the valley where 23 people died in 2011.
Memories of the Warrs’ ordeal rushed back to the surface on Friday as they huddled together on the roof of their ute.
“It was scary for Jean,” Lloyd says. “I had trouble getting her out of the window of the ute.”
Despite their planning, preparation and best efforts to leave early, the couple’s lives were again at risk late last week.
Lloyd spent Friday morning packing a load of clothes and essentials and tried to take them to Toowoomba but the road was blocked and he had to return home.
As they became concerned about rising levels in Lockyer Creek, they decided to take their two cars to higher ground.
By the time they reached the creek causeway it was obvious Jean’s car would not be able to cross so they returned it to the garage and both got in the utility vehicle. The ute stalled on the causeway as the creek was rising alarmingly quickly.
Jean feared they would die but Lloyd was determined they would survive – just as he was 11 years earlier – when they were trapped in their house in dangerous swift flood waters.
On that occasion, they clung to their veranda posts and rose with the water level. Once close to the roof, Jean grabbed the gutter and received an electric shock that threw her off.
Lloyd managed to grab her and then took four electric shocks himself testing the gutter until it was safe to climb on to the roof and help his wife up.
Once on the roof, the water continued rising until only the peak of the roof was exposed but then subsided and they climbed down.
This time, Lloyd again was determined they would survive. He told his wife to climb out the window of the ute and sit on the roof.
Fortunately, some residents who were out checking local creek levels saw them stranded on the causeway and called police who alerted swift water rescuers.
As the couple clung to each other hoping to be rescued, the water level rose almost to the roof of the ute.
Lloyd realised they could not wait for help and decided to swim back to his property to get his boat to rescue Jean himself.
He didn’t make it but managed to cling to a tree until help arrived to rescue Jean from the roof of the ute and Lloyd from the tree.
While authorities tell people not to attempt to drive across flooded roads – “if it’s flooded, forget it” is the mantra – the couple had to flee, given that their low-lying home was completely submerged in 2011.
“We have experience that not many will talk about,” Lloyd says of the trauma they’ve suffered.
After the 2011 flood, their insurance payout was enough to fix the house but not enough to move it.
They could not afford the house insurance premium that had risen to $34,000 a year so found an alternative insurer.
Friday’s rescue has led them both to a firm resolve to move – but finding a buyer for their house might prove difficult.
The Warrs were not able to access psychological help as they worked through their trauma after the 2011 event.
“We were offered psychological help but we had to go to Brisbane to get it,” Lloyd says. “I can’t drive in city traffic, so we couldn’t access the help.”
He admits now that for up to five years after the 2011 flood he felt suicidal, and it was only his mates who kept him going.
In the past couple of years, the couple have decided to downsize and were ready to put up the “for sale” sign. Their plans have now been interrupted by another flood and weeks to months of cleaning up.
They have a message for anyone helping in the clean-up. “In the clean-up, people who helped us threw a lot of things away – like clothes and electrical goods – that could have been saved. If you are helping, wash everything that can be washed and clean everything that can be cleaned,” Lloyd says.
For now the couple are staying with relatives, washing the clothes they packed in the ute, hoping the rain stops and the creek level doesn’t rise again.
Six inches of water flowed through their house, leaving a thin layer of mud. Insurance assessors are due on Monday.
Lockyer Valley’s mayor, Tanya Milligan, says her focus is on preserving lives.
The Australian defence force has been called in to assist with helicopter rescues of travellers from stranded cars and residents from the roofs of their houses.
Grantham, the centre of flooding deaths in 2011, received almost 500mm of rain at the weekend – almost five times the monthly average for February, Milligan says.
More than 140 travellers and residents who have evacuated their homes are sheltering with local fire brigades and at RSL halls.
The repetition of a disaster like the 2011 flash floods has been challenging, the mayor says. “When I see footage of the floods, all I see in 2011,” she says. “The footage is devastating.
“It breaks my heart but we will rebuild. We just want us all to get to the other side of this flood.
“I’m holding my breath. We don’t want to lose anyone. We went to lots of funerals after 2011 and we want everyone to survive.”
Milligan has asked people to be patient waiting for roads to open and urged them to check the Lockyer Valley disaster dashboard for updated information.
The Brisbane-Toowoomba Highway is impassable due to flooding and road damage at Glenore Grove. It is expected to take several days for the damage to be assessed and repaired.
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