Creek still full of flood debris

THE clearance of debris from the Lockyer Creek is taking longer than expected.

THE clearance of debris from the Lockyer Creek is taking longer than expected.

Work to clear debris from the creek before summer was recommended by the Flood Commission in its interim report, however, the creek is still not completely clean.

Lockyer Valley mayor Steve Jones said while the Green Army had begun work on the project, there was a lot more work to be done.

"It's a massive project," he said.

"There has been only very minor funding for this so far.

"I said at the start it'd be a $6 million to $7 million job and we wouldn't have received a seventh of that."

Grantham resident Marty Warburton said residents were worried about the continuing presence of debris in the creek.

"It is a concern," he said.

"The amount of debris that was left in town after the flood was absolutely incredible.

"I think that 80% of the damage done to our dwellings and infrastructure was because of debris.

"They just became missiles.

"I remember seeing the first log hit a street sign and it was just like it was hitting a piece of foil."

Mr Warburton said he hadn't seen much work done on the creeks for much of the year.

"At the start, in February and March, there was a bit of clearing, but it looks like they've just cleared to where the eye can see. The stretches you can see from the road have been cleared but as soon as you get around the corner of the creek there is still a huge amount of debris."

Cr Jones said there hadn't been much debris removed from Lockyer Valley creeks since last year.

"There's still thousands if not tens of thousands of cubic metres of logs in there.

"If there is a minor flood and one of these logs kills someone or goes through someone's house then we're going to be hearing about why this hasn't been done.

"The Green Army has done some good work and there are definitely a number of sections where they have cleaned up, but there is still a lot left to be done."

Originally published as Creek still full of flood debris