Mud and mess as Giru clean up begins after major flooding at Haughton River
Families and neighbours in Giru are rallying to clean up their town after devastating flooding, with longtime residents calling it the worst they’ve seen. See all the photos here.
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When Zac Herlihy recently returned to Giru, he was met with a heartbreaking sight — his car and home swallowed by floodwaters that swept through the rural town.
He was among many residents left cleaning up piles of mud and assessing the damage on Tuesday after the Haughton River hit major flood levels over the weekend, inundating several homes.
“I’ve lived here for 10 years and this time it was worse than 2019,” he said.
“It’s the worst I’ve ever seen it.”
The Giru dad recalled the harrowing experience of returning home to his pregnant wife and kids on Friday to find everything cut off.
“The street was already gone, it was too late, I couldn’t get the car out,” he said.
“By the time I finally got home, it was close to 7pm and the car was almost completely under water.”
“Yes, it is my pride and joy but honestly, it’s just a car really. What mattered most was that the family was okay.”
Meanwhile, machinery and property stored in the lower part of his house were left floating and covered in debris and mud.
Mick Parison, who runs the Giru Store, was back to work on Tuesday, scrubbing floors and clearing mud.
Fortunately, his business was not badly damaged, with stock kept high enough to avoid the floodwaters.
Sisters Mia, 15, and Makayla Bass, 18, were also out and about, giving their horses a well-deserved stroll after they had been confined to a shed for days due to the flooding.
“Luckily we didn’t have any damage from the flooding and all the animals are okay,” Makayla said.
Thecla and Demetrios Papadimitriou said they lost power for two days as a result of the floods which reached one of the highest levels they’ve seen during their two decades in their Giru home.
Mrs Papadimitriou compared this flood to the 2019 disaster, noting that while the water didn’t rise as high this time, losing power made the experience more difficult.
“(Losing) power doesn’t really bother us that much, it’s inconvenient, but it was more the phones that bothered me,” she said.
“(We couldn’t) let our family know that we were OK … everyone thought our phones went dead but we actually just couldn’t do anything.”
Forced to go old school, the couple relied on their battery-powered radio for flood updates.
“It was the only way we could get information,” Mrs Papadimitriou said.
However, she criticised the Burdekin Shire Council for its communication, saying they were not given enough timely updates.
“We got a lot of Townsville (information), the Burdekin council was a little bit disappointing with their updates, they weren’t really giving us much,” she said.
Mrs Papadimitriou also pointed out the irony of the council directing residents to check their website for disaster updates when many had no phone or internet access due to the floods.
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Originally published as Mud and mess as Giru clean up begins after major flooding at Haughton River
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