Mud militias out in force after Mud Army told to stand down

The official Mud Army has been given orders to wait for passing storms to clear, but the mud militias are taking things into their own hands and getting the work done.

The official Mud Army has been given orders to wait for passing storms to clear the skies, but it’s the mud militias that are taking things into their own hands and getting the work done.

Friends and strangers alike were yesterday volunteering their time and manpower to clear houses of mud and remove destroyed belongings and debris from low-lying flood-affected properties.

The stand-down order came as the southeast was warned to brace for further bad weather as wild storms are expected to hit some parts of the state and Brisbane and surrounding suburbs prepare for further flooding.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner told the community on Thursday afternoon the Mud Army would be put on hold until at least mid-Saturday, following advice he had received from Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

“This is a result of the state government’s stay-at-home advice for all non-essential workers because of serious concerns about severe weather,” Cr Schrinner wrote online.

“I know thousands of you will be disappointed at this delay, however, we must put safety first.”

Alison Lees with a doll she saved from her flooded home on Cliveden Ave, Corinda. Picture: Liam Kidston

In Corinda, however, spirits were not dampened as the mud militia made its way through the house of single mum of three and pensioner Alison Lees, who managed to save only a few possessions before water inundated her home over the weekend.

Stranger Anne McTainsh on Thursday joined a group of about a dozen people as they got to work on Ms Lees’ Cliveden Ave home.

“I’m not directly affected by the floods and I don’t have the money to help out financially, but I thought I could give my manpower to helping those who have been hit by the flooding,” Ms McTainsh said.

“I didn’t know Alison. I had put a post up in a Lend a Hand Facebook group and said I’m available if anyone needs help. A friend of Alison’s contacted me and I went over and started helping.”

Nathan Lees, 33, of Clayfield, Anne McTainsh, 35, of Darra, Nathaniel Hanna, 21, of Indooroopilly, Jo Schravemade, 49, of Graceville and Jo Whiting, 48, of Oxley, helping clean up on Cliveden Ave, Corinda. Picture: Liam Kidston

Ms Lees, a single mum of three boys aged 10, 12 and 14, is living on a pensioner’s wage as the full-time carer for her autistic son.

She is insured, but all her belongings were damaged in floodwaters that came up to just under the roof of her one-storey home.

Ms Lees bought her Corinda home for a reasonable price about eight years ago, after it had been inundated by the 2011 flood.

She said after going through a divorce, a home in the flood zone was all she could afford.

She says she didn’t think that just 11 years after the devastating 2011 floods – described as a one in 100-year event – that her home would again be inundated.

But now, she’s relying on the kindness of friends, and strangers online, to get her up and running.

Volunteer Jo Whiting helping clean up in Corinda. Picture: Liam Kidston

“I have friends and friends of friends and mums and parents from the schools my kids go to helping me clean out the house and sort through my belongings,” Ms Lees said.

“I have other people here from Graceville Presbyterian Church who are strangers.

“And I didn’t know that lady in the striped top (Ms McTainsh) before she turned up at my house this morning ready to help.

“It’s been the job of those organising this to basically take worry and jobs off my hands. So they’ve come and sorted things out.

“This morning was really stressful because my brain is just jelly. So what’s been important is having people come in and just say ‘right, you’re doing that, we’re doing this and this is what’s happening’. It’s been amazing.”

Ms Lees said she has had a huge response from Facebook groups within the community, with locals offering food, water and toiletries.

She said moving forward, it would be the simple pleasures such as her and her youngest son’s book collections – which were sitting sodden in a pile on the side of the road – that she would miss the most.

Brisbane locals were impressed with groups of teenagers who turned out to help with the heavy lifting.

Alex Wu with Stella Moulis and a crew of young people helping clean-up flood-ravaged homes. Picture: Adam Head

Alex Wu had tears in her eyes on Thursday when eight young strangers showed up at her door to tackle the muddy mess.

She thought a civic-minded neighbour might have put a call out on social media after realising the Stimpson St woman was facing the fallout alone.

“I had no idea they were coming and I’m so grateful,” Ms Wu said.

“They’re literally giving me a new life after the flooding because there’s no way I could do this all alone.”

Furniture, buckets, beds and appliances lined her kerb on Thursday as the teenagers began to scrub Ms Wu’s walls.

Stella Moulis, who lives in the neighbourhood, was unable to go to school because of the floods and heard through friends that Ms Wu was gutting her home on her own.

“I saw there was a huge pile of rubbish outside her home and we had just finished cleaning up my house so I wanted to help someone else,” Ms Moulis said.

“I felt bad for what everyone is going through.”

Flood damaged homes in Fairfield. Picture: Adam Head

As the mud militia worked hard on Thursday, so too did the volunteers who have taken it upon themselves to feed them.

Shelly Stewart and Donna Bogaart donated their time to make and deliver sandwiches to the Corinda community, using Ms Stewart’s catering van as a makeshift delivery port.

The pair had spent the morning making sandwiches from 10 loaves of bread, 3kg of meat, three tubs of butter and 86 slices of cheese.

Ms Stewart, who runs events catering company On a Roll, said in 2011 she helped the Mud Army clean community streets, but now her “bones are too old.”

“I was laying in bed and I said to my partner that I just feel so bad all of this is happening and we’re not affected by it at all,” Ms Stewart said.

“And because my bones aren’t as good as what they used to be when I went out in 2011 and helped, I thought I could do something else to help and thought the van would be perfect.

“So here we are, making sandwiches and supplying water to the area.”