HINKLER Avenue in Bundaberg North. Source: The Courier-Mail
ELIZABETH Pomfrett stood at the top of Hinkler Ave in blazing sun, peering down towards her North Bundaberg home, which she knew was flooded but couldn't reach due to a police exclusion zone.
The 69-year-old's hands shook as she told of the evacuation of her frail husband, Alan, 70, and how she turned back in her rescue dinghy to see water reaching the roof of her home of 22 years.
"It was still rising then," Mrs Pomfrett said. "It would have gone completely over the top. I got almost nothing out."
See more pictures of the flood crisis
She was upset, too, for her neighbour, Isabella Schulze, who turned 80 on the Australia Day holiday as water engulfed her house.
Mrs Pomfrett had just learnt that Mrs Schulze's house was one of several that used to line Hinkler Ave that are simply no longer there.
As she spoke, surrounded by North Bundaberg residents desperate to get back to their sodden homes, the surreal beep-beep of a smoke alarm sounded from Queen St, several hundred metres away.
It came from a crumpled weatherboard home that had been swept off its stumps in Hinkler Ave by the floodwaters and travelled at least 400m before being brought to a halt by a street light
The Courier-Mail was escorted by police into the exclusion zone and down to the crumpled house yesterday.
LONELY SEAT: The toilet held firm while all around it was flushed away at this North Bundaberg property. Picture: Mark Calleja
We passed the flotsam and jetsam of people's lives before reaching the kitchen of the home, the cabinet and sink ripped from the wall. An unbroken glass sat upright on the floor, filled with muddy water.
Insulation bats hung like massive cobwebs from the ceiling, the tin roof was crumpled on the sides but still intact - and the alarm kept beeping.
Police believed it was Mrs Schulze's home but there was reason for doubt - the house at 36 Hinkler Ave and an old Wesley Methodist Church at 18 Hinkler Ave were also gone.
As we walked back from Queen St and down Hinkler Ave, the extent of the damage, the impact on people's lives, was almost too much to take in. All manner of debris, from tyres to laundry baskets, sat high in tree branches, cars were stuck against trees and mud covered the road.
At No. 26 - the house Mrs Schulze shared with her carer, Mal Shannon, 70 - all that was left was a blond brick veranda and a few stumps.
The two were safe, though, taken to their friends, John and Ros Blackwood, as the waters rose on Sunday.
Mrs Blackwood had helped them out during the 2010 floods and had made her way from her home on Moore Park Rd to see if they needed help.
Mrs Schulze and Mr Shannon stayed Sunday night with the Blackwoods, were later evacuated to the other side of Bundaberg and are now staying with friends.
While Mrs Schulze and Mr Shannon saved their belongings but lost their home, neighbour Mrs Pomfrett lost her belongings but still had a house.
A dislodged house from Hinkler Ave, North Bundaberg that ended up about 400m away in Queen Street. Pic Mark Calleja
She said she didn't have anyone to help move her things, which she had managed to salvage in the lesser 2010 floods.
As the waters rose, she was darting between her daughter Victoria's nearby place and her own home, concerned about getting her husband to safety.
An SES dinghy came and evacuated Alan from Victoria's home, returning later to rescue Mrs Pomfrett and Victoria, whose house was also flooded.
"We were watching it come up and then they said it was coming up another 3m and that's when we thought 'we better get out of here'," Mrs Pomfrett said.
"So the SES helped me through the running water and over to the Globe Hotel, then they put us in little dinghies and brought us around here, passed my house and that's when I saw it (the water) at the roof."
Further along, at No. 18, the old Methodist church where Katie Holden was married had also disappeared, only the stumps and a washed out sign remaining.
Mrs Holden, 31, had also waited at the roundabout to find out if she could get through the exclusion zone - in place to allow police, army and services personnel to check for safety - to get through to her parents' place.
Gaylene and Terry Adams, 53 and 49, never expected their home at 14 Hinkler Ave to be swamped as the last flood had only come up ankle deep on the lower level.
Mrs Holden said they had been hearing reports that the water would peak at 8.5m. But it went higher, eventually peaking at 9.5m. About 2.30am on Monday, the pair swam to a higher house next door.
Flood damage in Hinkler Ave where several houses were washed off their stumps. Pic Mark Calleja
"They swam out in the middle of the night - with water up to their necks and their six cats and a dog - into the next door neighbour's," Mrs Holden said.
"They put the cats in a plastic box with a lid on and the dog swam beside them. They weren't leaving their animals."
With Mrs Holden was her sister-in-law, Nicola Patrick, 21, who had also lost everything in her rented home she shared with her husband and eight-month-old son.
"We're a tough family," Mrs Holden said.
"We'll get through this together."
Hinkler Ave leads on to the Tallon Bridge, which could be closed for weeks because of a massive washout.
Off Hinkler Ave, on Thornhill St, a dozen cars and a large truck, all covered in mud, sat higgledy piggledy across the road, seemingly parked there by their owners with the hope it was high enough ground.
It wasn't.
A brick house in Thornhill St has also disappeared - all that remains are bricks all over the road and the adjacent cricket ground, where mountains of debris had collected.
Nine News shows the damages of the Bundaberg floods up close, as army personnel come to help the clean up effort.
Around the corner in Wilmot St, the army was checking door to door to make sure properties were safe.
The devastation is huge, but the heart of Bundy is bigger and its people will bounce back.
But it will need help - lots of it.
A boat lodged into trees and fence on Hinkler Ave. Pic Mark Calleja
The Prime Minister Julia Gillard has toured flood ravaged communities in Queensland's Wide Bay region.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
The street that washed away
Dengan url
https://duniadiggi.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-street-that-washed-away.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
The street that washed away
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar