10 years on: Cyclone brings back memories of record breaking 2013 Bundaberg flood
As Queensland’s north faces a heartbreaking flood, another region is marking 10 years since devastating tornadoes and a record-breaking deluge displaced more than 7500 people and saw 1000 rescued by emergency helicopters. SPECIAL REPORT
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As Queensland battles through the fallout of supercell storms and ex-tropical cyclones, many have paused to remember the powerful natural disaster which continues to linger in the memories of thousands of Bundaberg and Burnett locals.
Walking through the streets of Bundaberg, through crowded shopping centers and popular pubs there is little indication of the devastation the region witnessed 10 years ago when it was inundated in one of the worst flooding events the region and state had ever experienced.
Eagle-eyed visitors will spot the plaques, signposts and markers showing the height of the waters which destroyed homes, stripped farmland and displaced thousands of locals.
In its wake the flood waters left a trail of devastation and thick, smelley mud which coated everything in its path, clinging to the legs of volunteers and helpers manning the streets with shovels in the hopes of repairing the town.
The disaster started on January 26, 2013, when ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald bore down on the Queensland coast, bringing extreme rainfall and damaging winds powered by mini-tornados.
Within three days Bundaberg was flooded by the highest flood water levels in recorded history, with the Burnett River peaking at 9.53m on January 29.
Photo: Max Fleet / NewsMail
Much of the Bundaberg and Burnett region was impacted, with flood waters displacing locals from Gin Gin to South Kolan.
North Bundaberg was the hardest hit suburb, with the lower lying part of the city succumbing to the flood waters spreading across the area.
7500 PEOPLE DISPLACED, 3000 HOMES EVACUATED
Homes along the riverfront were washed away in waters so powerful they swept away the Bundaberg Sugar ferry.
At its peak, the flood waters displaced more than 7500 people and up to 3000 homes were evacuated.
Then-Premier Campbell Newman said roughly 1000 people were rescued by emergency helicopters during the evacuation process, with 94 people rescued in one night from North Bundaberg.
Perhaps more powerful than the flood waters was the community response in the disaster’s wake, with locals banding together to clean up and rebuild.
The efforts were supported by more than 100 military staff directing and managing the recovery efforts.
MP Stephen Bennett, who has remained the Member for Burnett since the catastrophe, said his key memory was the legacy of the city’s sense of community.
‘FREAK TORNADOES WILL STAY WITH ME FOREVER’
“It wasn’t just the flood that caused damage, the devastation caused by freak tornadoes in Bargara and Burnett Heads is something that will stay with me forever,” he said.
“The anxiety and fear felt my many over rumours of the Paradise Dam wall failing is also something we’ll never forget.”
“But the image that remains clearest is that of the Bundaberg community coming together to rescue, support and recover.”
Mr Bennett’s own home was impacted during the devastation.
A decade on he remains grateful to the emergency services and “local heroes that we kept our most precious possessions safe – our family and friends”.
“People came from everywhere to clear the mud, wash clothes, make sandwiches, look after pets, and rebuild homes.”
In January of 2023, the community came together ten years on to reflect on the natural disaster which defined the region.
LNP Opposition Leader David Crisafulli travelled to Bundaberg for the memorial event shared his own memories, from chopper rescues to mass evacuations.
“I can remember talking to an SES volunteer, talking about the damage, and I asked him how his own home was going,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“He mentioned he hadn’t been back to his home yet, he didn’t know the extent of the damage, and there he was helping someone else.”
The region is now looking to the future.
$174M FLOOD LEVEE TO PROTECT REGION
The ongoing concerns have prompted a push for flood mitigation, with many placing their hopes in the approved Bundaberg flood levee.
The project, given the go-ahead in June, 2023, will build a a 1.7km concrete structure parallel to the southern bank of the Burnett River at a cost of $174 million.
According to the Queensland Reconstruction Authority the Bundaberg levee was the most beneficial of four options identified under the Ten Year Bundaberg Action Plan as best placed to reduce future flooding.
“The Bundaberg East Levee will be a shining example of flood-resilient infrastructure and a valuable, long-term asset for this wonderful region,’’ the QRA said.
Federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said the project would significantly improve flood protection for families, particularly across areas hardest hit in the 2013 flooding event.
“We know that every dollar spent on disaster resilience and mitigation delivers a return on investment to governments and households nine times over, while also putting downward pressure on insurance premiums,’’ Mr Watt said.
Over the past decade, the NewsMail has asked their community to share their recollection of the 2013 and what has remained in their memories.
The displacement
The displaced houses and the huge scours in Kolan and Queen streets.
The shock and trauma on the faces of not only the victims but the mud army who turned up to assist.
- Jon Carman
Community Spirit
Just moving into a house 11 days earlier and 37 weeks pregnant then hearing the roaring of the water down the road and being evacuated, having strangers going from house to house getting everyone’s stuff either out their house or moving it up stairs.
The community spirit of everyone helping out.
- Juanita Bacon
The destruction
Hearing the hole in the bridge happen, it sounded like a jet engine going off.
- Wendy Klein
Losing everything but fruit
Walking into my muddied and flooded home and seeing my bowl of fruit sitting on the muddy floor in my dining room with the fruit in it. The inside of the bowl was clean and the fruit was fine.
I lost everything in my home, I had 4.5m of water through my house.
And the mud army who came to my house, one woman saw me crying over that stupid bowl of fruit and she held me and I cried my eyes out … it was so uplifting seeing complete strangers showing compassion and providing help because they cared.
- Jackie Marshall
The weeks of shovelling mud
The smell, the deafening roar of the river, the rescue choppers, the mud army, family, friends and complete strangers who helped clean up.
Army vehicles driving down my street, driving over the old bridge for the first time, we were allowed back into ‘the exclusion zone’ and seeing the utter devastation.
Houses down sink holes, a fishing trawler on the footpath, the piles of cars, debris and who knows what else that had been bulldozed to the side of the road to allow us to drive down the streets.
The amount of clean river sand around my house and the neighbourhood with stinking mud right next to it, the days and weeks of shovelling mud and more mud.
- Marika Lynch
The fellowship of Bundaberg
Walking over the bridge to check out our house, horrified to see other people’s houses in utter devastation, mud everywhere in the house, the crazy/scary rapids of the Burnett River.
Seeing footage of our house underwater in a matter of hours, snakes hiding under the fence sheets, the army and the amazing generosity and concern by family, friends, volunteers and strangers.
The people of Bundaberg showed such strength and pulled together to help one another.
- Erin Curtin
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