Three rescued from flooded campsite at Toogoom in early hours
South Burnett residents have spoken on the shocking overnight inundation of their homes during a torrential downpour, with one saying the lower floor of their two storey home ‘had water through it’. WATCH THE VIDEO:
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A dramatic swiftwater rescue has been carried out at Toogoom in the early hours of Tuesday morning after heavy rain fell across the Wide Bay Burnett overnight.
It comes after an emergency declaration was made in the South Burnett on Monday night as the region experienced extensive flooding.
Four crews from the Queensland Fire Department were sent to the scene in Toogoom, arriving about 4.24am, a spokeswoman said.
Three people had become stranded at a camping site near Oregan Creek Rd.
The spokeswoman said the swiftwater rescue vessel, a motorised boat, had to cross two swollen creeks, which amounted to 50m of waters, to reach the people at the campsite.
The boat first rescued two of the people and then went back for the third, she said.
It took first responders an hour to bring everyone to safety.
The three patients were assessed by Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics at the scene but they did not require transport to hospital.
In the wake of storms and flooding in the South Burnett, a team from Maryborough’s State Emergency Service is on its way to help out.
Amanda Seiler shared footage of the new water view out the front of her Kingaroy home after extensive flooding.
She said the floodwaters had risen quickly but went back down quickly too.
A video submitted from Ms Seiler showed water almost coming into her home as it came into her yard.
“It was washing into the door as cars drove past, so we were very close to flooding,” she said.
She said a neighbouring home did get water inside it.
Kingaroy resident Lisa Thackeray said the rapidly rising floodwaters inundated the lower floor of their two storey home “ankle deep”.
She said two rooms in their house of two years were hit the worst but “the whole lower level had water through it”.
“A lot of people in our street were caught also,” she said.
“Our street doesn’t have adequate stormwater drains and it just flowed in.”
True to its name, the flash flooding “subsided just as quick as it came”, but not without leaving behind serious damage.
She said they had fortunately been able to move a lot of items out of the rooms but “but we’ve had to rip up all the flooring”
Ms Seiler said the water had remained at that height for about 45 minutes.
The Hervey Bay Golf Club is closed on Tuesday due to heavy rain and New Year’s Eve celebrations at Maryborough Cricket Club have been cancelled.
It comes as residents in the South Burnett were reporting huge rainfall totals, including 145mm of rain at Kingaroy, 93mm at Proston, 155mm at Taabinga and 125mm at Haly Creek.
Torbanlea experienced 180mm in the past 24 hours and Hervey Bay has had falls of 119.2mm.
Tin Can Bay recorded 101mm, Gayndah 72.4mm and Maryborough 59mm.
Water had poured into Kingaroy Shoppingworld Shopping Centre after heavy rain and Kingaroy Taxis stopped operating on Monday night during the emergency event due to safety concerns.
More to come.
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