We are a local family, with my parents having originally moved us into the area 39 years ago. Since then, the next generation have bought two further houses in the same street as the family home, so now there are 11 permanent residents in the street, and other family members come and go. Between us, we have experienced the 1974, 2011 and 2022 floods in this area.

In 1974, Mum and Dad were placed as social work students, assisting in the local area. In the first week of the floods, Dad was in the boat with Queensland Police when they found a man who had drowned, at St Lucia. Grandma came across a man on the streets who had dementia and was lost. She found out where he lived and took him home. She and Dad spent weeks cleaning his flooded home and helping him move back in. Affected residents used garden hoses to clean out their homes and wash off their furniture, then moved back in. There was no concern for mold or mud. 

Mum was working with Queensland Health, and they set up in the basement of the Uniting Church at Graceville, along with other support agencies such as Centrelink and the Brisbane City Council, to support residents. Dunlop Shoes joined the group also, and handed out many pairs of their trademark white shoes to flood victims. After a few weeks, Queensland Health moved to another premises in Sherwood, where they stayed for 12 months. Mum and two welfare officers spent that year door knocking in the area to check on people, as well as writing a research paper on how people were coping emotionally and financially following the floods. Then Cyclone Tracy hit up north, and Mum moved to supporting people who were transferred to Brisbane to the Wacol Migrant Centre. 

In 2011, we mobilised as a family to support neighbours at the two ends of our street, who flooded, as well as other neighbours in our estate. Key support we provided included furniture removal and storage, and then, for weeks, working in the homes of our neighbours, helping them salvage belongings and clean out debris. We learned that you can save a lot more household items than you think possible, if you're prepared to be patient and put in the work. 

In 2022, with the experience of 2011 under our belt, we were quick to encourage our neighbours to act promptly to move their furniture and belongings to higher ground and vacate their property if necessary. Some took heed, and others did not, and then required urgent assistance as the water rapidly rose around them. In some cases, people were frozen with indecision and we just had to step in and take over, before they lost everything. The items people most often wanted to save were whitegoods. We have access to a ute and moving trolleys, and were able to provide lots of storage space in our garages and on our decks. This turned out to be for a long period of time. In the chaos, there was no time to take note of what item belonged to whom, we just had to hope people knew what belonged to them when they eventually came back months later! We also focussed on sandbag collection and distribution, loan-out of a kayak and canoe so that people could check the water levels at their homes, and rescue of residents who found themselves suddenly trapped in their home with a long wait for the SES. Even the children were involved in floating sandbags down to residents. 

Although there was no power to the area for eight days, we drove around with empty crates, salvaging linen and clothes from 'throw-out' piles on the footpaths in our estate (with permission from owners) and outsourced the laundry to willing volunteers from other local suburbs with power, through Facebook. Everything was beautifully washed, folded and returned, and we kept a spreadsheet so it could be returned to its owners. 

We also salvaged many hundreds of photos, by carefully washing off the flood water, then drying them out.  The older the photo, the better they recovered! Another service we provided was the collection of rotting food from fridges and freezers, and then delivery to a local skip bin. Neighbours were being inundated with kind offers of help from different sources, so we created a set of two signs for every house, and delivered them. One side read, "Yes please, I'd like help" and the other read, "No thanks, I don't need any help". We suggested that they select one and attach it to their mailbox. We also included information about financial support options they may be eligible to apply for. 

Then the real work began! For a number of weeks, we helped neighbours clean out the (sewage-contaminated) interior of their homes, cutting soaked carpets up and hauling them out windows, pressure-hosing entire floorplans and then scrubbing the whole house with disinfectant and wiping walls over with clove oil to prevent mould. Some families, especially those from EAL backgrounds, who hadn't experienced flooding before, didn't know where to start, and we found that typing up a written list of action items, including everything from practical cleaning information to links to support organisations, was the best strategy.

In 2024, I took on the volunteer role of emergency coordinator for the estate, backed by the extended family. Basically, everything we would usually do, but more formalised! Completely by coincidence, we had just finished distributing the final of the 160 or so surveys to estate residents when news arrived that Cyclone Alfred was on its way. It was time to test out the new role! I quickly entered all the returned surveys, which allowed us to focus on those neighbours who required assistance and match them with neighbours who could offer assistance. In particular, we were able to direct sandbags to those homes we knew were most at risk of flooding, and to push out a lot of useful local information from legitimate sources, via the estate's Facebook group. 

In times where there is no threat of an emergency, we can turn our attention to coordinating social activities for estate residents and welcoming new residents to the estate with a door-knock and survey form. 

How does a very traumatic event like being devastated by a flood affect the survivors.

What it is like to be a disaster survivor. You see floods, fires and earthquakes on the news and the reporter comments – It will be MONTHS before things are back to normal. NO – not months, not years, NEVER. These things permanently change the survivors.

We moved to Oxley in 2019, we were aware of some flood potential but believed the street (real estate) talk that remedial work had been done near Ipswich Road. Only the back half of our sloping block was on the flood map so we could justify the risk. We checked out the cost of insurance, including flood insurance, and it was quite reasonable.

When the flood waters started rising we were deep in denial because we had been told it could never happen again. The flood event was almost 3 years ago and the emotional impact is dulling but I do remember the phases of working through the trauma.

There are 5 stages flood victims encounter during their recovery from trauma or disaster – Numbness, Despair, Resolute, Busy, Crash.

The first weeks after a flood are just a blur.

Evacuation Centre, staying with relos, clearing mud and debris, charity food.

Then – start emergency repairs. We had 3 pets so we camped on our deck for a few weeks so they could be at home. One of our cats spent the rest of her life on anxiety pills.

Floor coverings, furniture, all appliances, photo albums, books, clothes, personal treasures, lots of bits and bobs. My husband said I used to be a hoarder, but no longer.

To ease the initial pain random strangers started offering help. Six young men from a plumbing company cleaned out the ground floor underneath our high set house. Some police cadets and firemen removed our carpets - maybe they were the same firies who evacuated us in the pitch dark and howling rain storm late at night in a rubber canoe.

The government offered us $1000 each and $150 each from Federal and State. Not enough to make a difference but it was heartwarming to know they wanted to help. We were fully insured for flood up to 2 months beforehand when our insurance suddenly tripled. They knew something we didn’t?

Then Paperwork. By this time I had my iPad online – my computers and printer drowned.

Disaster Grants became the go. Sorting through all the information on the grants and scrabbling all the required documents and things together to apply for them was almost too much for addled headed flood victims - but somehow we managed it.

A local electrician connected us (and our neighbours) to power; it was 10 more weeks before our supplier replaced our meter. We loved it, we could boil the kettle and watch TV and our cats were settling down.

We qualified for the grants, now we can start. Except – No tradesmen, No appliances in shops, No furniture in stores – you must place an order and wait 12 weeks.

We finished structural repairs after 12 months, have been inspected by Public Works and waiting the finalization of our paperwork. Now we are moving ahead with the Resilience refit to make our house more flood resistant.

After the busy, busy period, when the work is finished comes the Mental Crash. You start to question yourself, argue a lot, not want to join in, have nightmares, feel anxiety and fear when it rains, etc.

Benarrawa recognised the signs and referred us to Metro South, problem fixed.

The water went down in a week but I will never get that year of my life back. Any act of kindness by neighbours or by strangers, and there were many, lifted my spirits. I try to be just as kind to others as I know some of them are still fragile - like my neighbour who sold for a pittance and wanted a payout on his insurance. He finally received it after a more than a year of chasing. Then he can move on.

Without Community Support would we have made it?

During this time we had many and varied door knocks:

• local churches with sandwiches and hot coffee,

• other charities with bags of tinned food,

• the Salvation Army

• St Vincent de Paul,

• Red Cross (for grocery vouchers, and pre-cooked and packaged meals).

• Tzu Chi (the buddists) We were surprised by $1000 in vouchers and 2 blankets. Gob smacked.

However, every single doorknock was uplifting and mood changing. You realised you were not alone and people wanted to help.

Every one of these helped a little - but it all added up to a lot and All of this was very, very, gratefully received. Everyone was practical and efficient, filling out forms, taking copies of our identification documents, but in particular Benarrawa was KIND. They related to us in a way none of the other organisations did.

A group of locals with assistance from Benarrawa formed a group called Oxley Creek flood Action Group. As well as creating preparedness and disaster planning for locals this group is trying to find out what the Council and State Govt are doing to mitigate the flood levels and we want insert ourselves into the appropriate discussions to be able to put forward our ideas and concerns about the NEXT flood. This is not an easy task as Govt Departments try and fend off all approaches. Council refers us to State, State refers us to Council, Departments refer us to anyone they can think of. We finally had a good meeting with two engineers from Council who explained to us in detail exactly what is being done inside their department regarding mitigation of the Oxley Flood plain - Nothing.

Immediate assistance – the Mud Army.

Didn’t happen!!!!

Volunteers turned up at meeting points and were bussed to suburbs needing assistance. Once there they stood around for half a day and were forbidden from helping, then they were bussed home. Apparently the highly commended Mud Army from 2011 included a few bad apples and some things went missing. My opinion is they might have been tossed with the rest of the stinky rotten mess that was piled 8 foot high in the street. Really – NOTHING was salvageable. The authorities withdrew the mud army with No assistance being given.

Government Financial Assistance. The authorities were able to assist us financially with grants HOWEVER each grant we applied for required super human efforts to wade through the red tape they required. Remember our computers and printers were unusable. ALL the documents needed to be found in the mud or applied for from authorities. Then scanned and submitted through Govt portals and online submissions. The amount of technical reading necessary to know what we were eligible for and how to apply was overwhelming.

I collected up this swathe of documents at least 7 different times, and each time I needed to update the utilities, or perhaps back date them to prior to the flood. We are not with Origin but they are responsible for all street connections and all electricity meters. Origin couldn’t replace our meter for more than 2 months, but our supplier insisted on charging us for electricity at an estimated level for the whole time it was off. These stupidities raised their ugly head time and time again, EVERYTHING was harder than it needed to be, for a couple who were hanging on by a thread.

As of Now - Yeronga Community Centre is helping people with this paper war, but back then they were not yet set up. My first Resilience Building Grant application was done in conjunction with Melinda and Jo both and it was their first also. We spent hours on the phone to QRA getting it right. If I hadn’t been working with the Yeronga girls that would not have been possible. The Govt Departments were efficious and efficient but distant and relatively unhelpful. For me it was a fulltime job, making applications, supplying necessary documents of identification, Rates certificates, Electricity bills, Bank Statements, Drivers Licences, Insurance documents to prove no flood insurance, Proof of income, Centrelink and Medicare cards, Pension cards, Birth certificates and Marriage Certificates, Passports. Remember my inundated filing cabinet was upside down on the pile of personal belongings in the street.

The end result almost 3 years after the flood.

We have a nice fresh start. We lost 2 accumulated lifetimes of personal possession that can never be replaced, but we are fine, healthy, happy with a nice house to live in. Even though we had excluded flood from our insurance we have replaced everything and not broken the bank. I am not saying the grants covered it all – but we got enough assistance that we could do what was needed and still go out for dinner occasionally.

All agencies who try to assist in emergencies have good intentions, and of course we are more than grateful for their help – but sometimes their approach seems, to the receiving person, a little brutal.

I want to emphasise of all the door knocks we received in 2022 and since, I consider Benarrawa’s the most important - and the most effective. There was not a single $ involved but it was invaluable.