Normanby Bridge, Pengelly’s Bridge and Six Mile Bridge all open
The Mary River at Gympie continues to drop as the Bruce Hwy and major bridges reopen, power and internet service is restored to parts of the city and the massive clean-up continues. LATEST UPDATES, NEW VIDEOS
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The Bruce Hwy has reopened at Gympie and Tiaro, near Maryborough as the clean-up continues in flood-ravaged communities.
Queensland police are working to clear the traffic queue at Gympie.
The Mary River by midday was just over 14m and falling, as the Normanby Bridge, Pengelly’s Bridge and Six Mile Bridge were all reopened.
Power and internet services are being restored to parts of Gympie and Gympie Regional Council has stopped accepting donations which have been used in air drops to residents across the region who were isolated and running out of food.
The council has thanked the huge response from the local community in ensuring those most impacted were taken care of.
“The community spirit of the Gympie region is truly admirable,” it said. “The volume of donations we have received over the last few days has been incredible.”
The number of premises affected by internet outages across southeast Queensland has risen to almost 62,000 across Gympie, Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich, Gold Coast, Scenic Rim, Sunshine Coast and Noosa, Lockyer Valley and Moreton Bay.
Moderate flooding was still occurring in Gympie and downstream on Tuesday, but easing in the upper Mary River.
Gympie region residents with urgent medical issues flown to safety.
Goomeri, in the west Gympie region, was evacuated after a fuel leak from a nearby service station in the midst of the flooding.
Goomeri resident Jennifer Jackson told the Gympie Times on Sunday she “woke up smelling fuel” after the chemicals mixed with flood water in a gaping hole in Maudsley St near her home.
She claimed the water was “bubbling” and several areas in town, including another service station, the Goomeri showgrounds and the Moore St were evacuated.
A Gympie Regional Council spokesperson confirmed emergency services including police and SES attended the scene but said the fuel had not mixed with the town’s main water supply.
The Mary River at Gympie reached a peak of almost 23m on Sunday before starting to drop.
It is the second highest flood Gympie has ever experienced, beaten only by the great flood of 1893 when the reached reached more than 25m.
WATER SUPPLY THREAT, TERRIFIED ANIMALS ROAM STREETS
Gympie residents were warned to conserve water after major flooding interrupted the Gympie Water treatment plant power supply on Sunday.
In an alert sent to Gympie and Southside residents by Gympie Regional Council, water conservation was deemed “critical”.
It occurred as more businesses in upper Mary St were inundated on Sunday morning, after more than 100mm of rain overnight.
Multiple cattle were washed away from farms upstream of Gympie, with reports and photos of the terrified animals turning up in people’s backyards and shopping centre car parks.
A camel was found in flood waters at the corner of Iron St and Duke St in the heart of Gympie.
Flooding in the CBD exceeded the 1999 flood record on Saturday night, with water in the CBD stretching from Smithfield St to the pedestrian crossing in upper Mary St on Sunday morning.
Southside Woolworths reportedly had shelves stripped bare as desperate shoppers stocked up, but Southside cafe Farmer and Sun was kindly offering $20 and $30 relief hampers for those worst affected.
Bank of Queensland Gympie owner/Manager Jellina White said she had lived through at least eight floods in the Gympie region, but this one was “unprecedented”.
She said the entire bank building was under water, with flood waters lapping a back section of the roof.
The branch joined multiple businesses in packing up on Wednesday with the advice the water would reach roughly 20m, but chaos ensued once the Normanby Bridge – the last connection between Gympie and the Southside – was about to be closed.
“All the staff had to get out because roads were flooding and so forth, and then we got back over to the Southside, and then it was revised saying the river was going to reach 21m, 22m,” she said.
“At that stage it was really too late to do anything.”
A few staff members managed to break down the front door to retrieve a few items, but it was not enough to save everything.
Mrs White said she felt guilty for returning home to the Southside where she was effectively powerless to do anything, considering she usually stayed in town during flooding events.
“I couldn’t get accommodation, so I ended up coming home and I think I feel guilty of not being there and I could have helped get stuff out, or helped more people,” she said.
Gympie resident Sha Shen Holderness, who was helping clear debris from the slowly receding flood waters in Mary St on Sunday morning, said she had spent the last two days helping businesses in Mary St.
On Sunday morning, flood waters had reached the second storey of the Empire Hotel in lower Mary St, which Ms Holderness said was being evacuated on Saturday night.
“They were doing a daisy chain sort of moving stuff out … the water was rising quite rapidly,” she said.
The Bureau of Meteorology said they could not confirm if the Mary River in Gympie had reached its peak yet, but had “plateaued” in the meantime.
Three people and three dogs saved from flood waters
Three people and three dogs were flown to safety after the flooding of their Gympie region home, east of Kybong.
An RACQ LifeFlight spokesperson said the family and their three animals were found standing in knee-deep water after they evacuated their home and were cut off by deeper waters.
Two people were winched to safety first with one of the dogs secured in a basket and moved to higher ground with other evacuated residents.
The third person and the remaining two dogs were rescued and joined them a short time later.
The spokesperson could not confirm ages or genders for any of the patients, but said no one required medical attention.
Woman rescued from flooding home
Rescue crews were called to seven homes across Gympie and Monkland overnight on Saturday night, after another night of torrential rain lashed the Gympie region.
A Queensland Fire and Emergency spokesperson said seven rescues were conducted across Monkland and Gympie, including the rescue of an elderly woman from her Wises Rd home.
Two rescue crews were called to the home at 9.50pm on Saturday with reports of one person trapped inside, with water “quickly rising up to the windows”.
Rescue crews forced entry into the home, where they found the woman inside and rescued her at 11.43pm.
She was uninjured.
Earlier that night, three rescue crews were called to a Monkland home on Noosa Rd with reports of one person stuck in a flooded house.
A Queensland Fire and Emergency spokesperson said the water started at ankle height but quickly rose to shin height.
Two people were evacuated at 8.45pm.
Earlier Sunday morning
Gympie residents have endured another frightening night of life-threatening torrential rain, lightning and thunder storms and power outages as homes and businesses are swamped.
Video on Sunday morning, taken just before 9am, shows the extent of the deluge.
‘This is f ****ed’: Gympie’s historic flood nightmare
The Mary River at Gympie was at 22.91m and rising on Sunday morning, with major flooding across a wide area, impacting businesses in the CBD.
River levels are already above the flood levels reached in February 1999 (21.95m). The river is expected to remain above the major flood level (17.00m) across the weekend and into next week, the weather bureau said in its Sunday morning advice.
Further river level rises are expected during Sunday due to heavy falls Saturday night and with forecast rainfall.
Local resident Sandi Smith said she had seen many floods in the area but nothing like this. “I can only say this is fu$#ed.”
Ammie Roach said there had been torrential rain Southside Gympie since 7pm on Saturday night.
On Sunday morning there were five different power outages, affecting Tansey, Miva, Gunalda, Sexton, Curra, Gympie, Woolooga and Boowoogum.
On Saturday night about 700 locals were urged to flee their properties as the Mary River reached its highest level in over a century.
A man swept away in floodwaters at Goomboorian was found dead. He has been identified as popular Nolan Meats worker and former Gympie High student, Phil Sugg.
All major bridges, including the Normanby and Kidd Bridges to the southside, Pengelly’s, Inglewood on the Bruce Highway and Bells Bridge on the Wide Bay Highway were cut late Saturday.
The council set up evacuation centres at the Gympie Civic Centre in Mellor Street and at the Pavilion at the Gympie Showgrounds. Mary Street’s lower end was strewn with shipping containers, trucks and 4WDs as shop owners worked to clear items out of the path of the flood.
The weather bureau said widespread rainfall totals of 100-500mm had been recorded in the area since 9am Thursday with some totals up to 950mm.
Further rainfall since 9am Saturday of 50 to 250mm has been observed, mostly in the upper reaches of the Mary River above Gympie and in the headwaters of Tinana Creek.
“Significant river and creek level rises are being observed across the catchment during Sunday morning. Heavy rainfall is forecast for the remainder of Sunday, which is likely to lead to further river level rises.
CHARITY, BUSINESSES DEVASTATED
Popular charity Little Haven Palliative Care has lost thousands of dollars of stock as one of dozens of businesses across Gympie devastated by continually rising floodwaters.
Staff and volunteers spent most of Friday clearing stock from the Brisbane Rd shop ahead of the expected floods, but were unable to prevent significant losses as the store became submerged by the rising waters.
It was one of several businesses and a dozen houses around the One Mile Ovals to be inundated by flood waters from Deep Creek.
Volunteers Arthur and Margaret Brown said the floods would have a lasting impact on Little Haven.
“We won’t be open for … quite some weeks,” Mr Brown said.
“We won’t be taking donations for a few weeks.”
Shops along the city’s CBD continue to be affected with the Mary River’s height at 21.96m as of 5.02pm and still rising making it the worst since 1898.
The 1999 flood was 21.95m. That was the third highest flood on record. The second highest, in 1898, was 22m.
The Bureau of Meteorology is still unable to confirm when the river will peak, and what height that peak will be.
SOUTHSIDE RESIDENTS TOLD TO EVACUATE
The council issued an alert urging some residents to find higher ground.
“If you live at Southside and are in an impacted area, you need to evacuate now and seek shelter with friends or family on higher ground.
“If you live on the hospital side of the river and are in an impacted area you need to evacuate now and seek shelter with friends or family on higher ground. Take essential medication and secure your property.”
Gympie’s CBD is underwater and a number of homes near the One Mile and at the Southside, on the western side of the river, have been inundated.
The Bureau of Meteorology is still unwilling or unable to confirm what height the river will peak at and when that will happen, but it does say the major flooding of Gympie will continue throughout the rest of the weekend and into next week.
At Booubyjan, a person was taken to Gayndah Hospital in a stable condition after they were rescued on the Burnett Highway 3.37am.
A woman in her 20s was rescued at Widgee Crossing overnight, and Saturday morning a person had to be rescued from her home as it was threatened by flood waters.
According to the QFES, another person was rescued from a “grandstand” on Power Road on Saturday morning.
Gympie’s lowest-lying businesses were well under water on Saturday morning after water started entering the CBD Friday afternoon.
Ironically, at Kandanga in the Mary Valley residents have been told it is critical they monitor water use and conserve water because of a potential leak in the town’s water infrastructure.
Council crews cannot fix the situation because they cannot access the area.
Shops along Jaycee Way including Cooloola Paint and Panel were starting to flood by 3pm as the region braced for river levels to reach their highest in more than 20 years following a day of torrential rain.
Rescue authorities have pleaded with others to stay off the roads to avoid ‘life and death’ rescue situations in their cars.
Just before 4am on Saturday, the weather bureau advised that another 100 to 350mm of rain had been recorded on top of more than 300mm in the 24 hours to 9am on Friday.
A staggering 415mm had been recorded at Pomona, with the heaviest falls in the upper reaches of the Mary River above Gympie and in the headwaters of Tinana Creek.
The Bureau of Meteorology‘s automatic station recorded more than 920mm at Pomona between Tuesday morning and Friday.
About 880mm fell during the same period at Cooran, 620mm at Moy Pocket, and 720mm at Kin Kin.
“Significant river and creek level rises are being observed across the catchment during Saturday morning. Further heavy rainfall is forecast to continue during Saturday and into Sunday, which is likely to lead to further significant river level rises.”
A severe weather warning is current for the Wide Bay and Burnett and Darling Downs and Granite Belt forecast district.
Moderate to major flooding is occurring along the Mary River to Gympie.
Friday’s downpour arrived on the back of heavy falls on Wednesday which unleashed chaos across the Gympie and Sunshine Coast regions, tragically claiming the lives of two people.
Sixty-three-year-old Philippa Tayler of Belli Park was found dead in her submerged car on Skyring Creek Rd, Belli Park on Wednesday morning.
Gympie father-of-three Phil Lambert was found dead after being washed away in floodwaters while riding his motorcycle home at Cedar Pocket early Wednesday morning. His body was found after a 36-hour search of Greens Creek.
Emergency crews have carried out swift water rescues across the region.
Three people were rescued from a car almost completely submerged in flood waters on Wises Rd, Gympie, about 2pm on Friday.
A family was flown from their home at Amamoor Creek earlier on Friday after it became surrounded by rising floodwater.
Mary Street’s lower end was strewn with shipping containers, trucks and 4WDs as shop owners worked to clear items out of the path of the flood.
Toyworld owner Lorraine Broadley, who has dealt with several Gympie floods during her time running a Mary St business, said the uncertainty around exactly what will happen was proving a challenge.
“There’s a big difference between 17m, and 18.3m when it comes in the door,” Mrs Broadley said.
“17m is cool; 18.3m is a hell of a lot of work.
“It’s usually not getting the stock out, it’s getting it back in again.”
She said the authorities were doing the best they could, with the council conducting a CBD letter drop at 5pm Thursday, but the advice continued to be “look at the BOM website”.
“That’s what we’ve been doing for two days.
“Nobody’s got a crystal ball.”
There had been no shortage of people offering to pitch in.
“We’ve had good people come in that just want to keep the store functioning, new people I don’t know,” she said.
“Gympie’s always been very good with volunteers.
Royal Hotel staff member Jasmyn Miller said early Friday morning the pub was “playing it by ear” but expected the function room would go under.
Panini’s Bakery owner Nikki Ross hoped her Smithfield St business would escape the worst, but was worried about localised flooding.
She had been forced to sandbag her front door to keep water that was flowing down the hill from Zigzag Park and into Smithfield St out of her shop.
They removed all perishables from the store amid concerns the power would be cut to her shop, which will happen if waters hit 19m.
The flood would have to reach 21m before the shop was impacted, she said.
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