When flood water retreats, it leaves a stench; stale mud caked into the street, into the floorboards and up the walls.
In Brisbane two separate flood stories are unfolding on Monday morning. As the Brisbane River peaks, many of the surrounding areas, including parts of the city centre, are expected to be inundated.
At the same time, suburban areas that were flooded on Sunday, mainly from tributary creeks, have been given some respite after the torrential rain stopped about midnight. The flood threat is not over but the morning has presented an opportunity for many to return home and assess the damage.
Yesterday vs today pic.twitter.com/4RmJYbZRaw
— Ben Smee (@BenSmee) February 27, 2022
“We left about 3pm yesterday, the water was up to here,” said Nirin Giri, pointing to a spot just below the front balcony of his home at Newmarket, in Brisbane’s inner north.
The surrounding houses on Ashgrove Avenue, near the bridge over Enoggera Creek, all suffered significant damage. The water overturned a large garden shed in a neighbour’s yard.
Giri said his family left to stay with relatives. About 6.30am he walked through the house, which had about 30cm of water above the floor, before attempting to hose out some of the mud.
“There’s mud right through, you can see it has come right up along the wall there,” he said. “We are not alone, this has happened to everybody.”
The sorts of items claimed by the rising flood on Sunday – ladders, a massive water tank, white goods, garden fences, children’s toys – were indiscriminately scattered as it receded.
Megan Smit has begun the task of clearing rubbish, old items and mud from underneath her home in Wilston.
“There’s still a bit of water in there,” she said, “but it’s now gone down enough to retrieve some things. We’ll see what’s salvageable and what’s not.”
Smit’s home is a Queensland workers’ cottage; unlike many others in her street, it does not have living areas or bedrooms built in underneath the main floor.
“I guess we’re lucky. I was thinking we should do that, build another couple of bedrooms under there. We only used it for storage for laundry, thankfully.”
As the suburban clean-up continues, flood waters have started to invade Brisbane’s central business district and riverfront areas.
Who’s in for a walk? Or swim rather!#brisbanefloods #brisbaneflood #howardsmithwhatves #wilsonlookout #brisbane #floods pic.twitter.com/AMB6BQenqP
— Mansour Vahedi (@oz_bird_) February 27, 2022
When more than three days of unabated heavy rainfall ended in Brisbane about midnight, storm warnings shifted to Logan, the Gold Coast and northern New South Wales. But concern remains about the potential for river flooding in the Queensland capital, given the extraordinary volume of water in the catchments.
Brisbane city council estimates more than 4,500 properties will be flooded by the time the river reaches a 4m peak on Monday, including more than 2,100 homes.
Wivenhoe Dam is at 182% capacity and has been strategically releasing water into the system. It is unclear how long those releases may continue.
The level of the Enoggera Reservoir, which feeds Enoggera and Breakfast creeks and other suburban waterways, has dropped marginally but is still more than 200% full. More than 4bn litres will continue to flow into the creek system until the reservoir spillway kicks in.
