‘No warning’: Family devastated as flash flooding inundates home

A family in Brisbane’s south have lost irreplaceable items after flood waters inundated their home during torrential downpours across the southeast on Sunday. WATCH THE VIDEO

A Holland Park family have lost countless sentimental belongings and appliances after rainfall from a slow-moving storm inundated the downstairs area of their home yesterday in just 30 minutes.

Caitlin Thorn, 21, said the rain event yesterday was like nothing she had ever seen before.

“It happened so fast. It started raining and I was laughing because there was a little bit of water out there,” she said.

“It became not funny anymore. I was screaming out to my mum. It became scary at that point because it was like can it get any higher and when is it going down?

“There was no warning, it just came out of nowhere.”

Caitlin Thorn, 21, said the storm was like nothing she had ever seen before. Picture: Supplied

Ms Thorn, her mother and her sister had been renting their Heriot Street home for three years.

“My mum is a schoolteacher and she stored everything downstairs,” she said.

“Everything she has owned since the beginning, it’s gone. The sewerage ran through it. She spent so much money on puppets, learning books, assessments, presents she’s received. We saved this wooden photograph of her class and we are trying to dry it off.

“The look on her face when she realised she lost all of her school stuff … that was hard. She just looked absolutely destroyed.”

Water building outside Caitlin Thorn’s home on Sunday. Picture: Supplied

Ms Thorn also stored the majority of her belongings downstairs and said almost everything was covered in sewerage, including the dryer, airconditioner, fridge and treadmill.

“We were down there crying and looking at it. We’re losing everything,” she said.

“Last night we were sitting upstairs with no electricity, just ceiling lights, just looking at each other like what just hit us?”

Pictures: Brisbane streets inundated

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Ms Thorn said the financial devastation is hard to come to grips with as they did not have contents insurance.

“We never considered the fact that something like this could happen. Mum’s decided we’re getting insurance,” she said.

“It’s happened now. We know it can happen again. It’s not if it’s going to happen again, it’s when.”

Caitlin Thorn, 21, said she lost countless belongings after stormwater inundated her home. Picture: Supplied

Chris Bradshaw, 40, said stormwater destroyed multiple appliances. Picture: Supplied

“We sold our house and now everything is out of budget. It’s really hard to find a new place to go. We’re stuck here now, and we have the fear now of what are we going to lose next.”

“It’s my birthday in four days. It really dampened the welcome to December feeling. We have to fork out money for all these things we’ve lost, presents we have to buy for people for Christmas.”

She described the smell in the wake of the flooding as “disgusting”.

“There’s muck, everything smells today,” she said.

“I just couldn’t get rid of the smell of disgusting water. I showered 20 times.”

Chris Bradshaw, 40, also from Holland Park, had stormwater quickly inundate his home.

“We had a fair amount of rain. We are on the side of a hill and our neighbour’s yard can’t handle that much water,” he said.

Chris Bradshaw, 40, said this is the second time he has lost appliances to flooding past six years. Picture: Supplied

“I ran down, said ‘oh c**p’, pulled out lawnmower and just resigned to ‘oh well, it’s going to happen’.

“We had 60 cm of water in just seven minutes. We are going to have to replace the dryer, washer and freezer.”

Miraculously, their CD and DVD collection survived.

“I don’t know if they were floating around but they survived,” he said.

This is the second time in the six years living in his home he has lost appliances due to flooding.

“It’s frustrating. Twice is getting a bit much,” he said.

“My wife and I went through a rollercoaster of emotions. The rate the water was coming in … there was no way to be prepared. We either laugh … or we cry.”

Meteorologist Pieter Claassen said warmer than average sea surface temperatures could signal a potentially wet summer.

“Generally across Queensland there’s a 60 to 80 per cent chance of above median rainfall across the summer period,” he said.

“In the short term there will be a little bit of rainfall across Queensland, particularly around the Far North. Tomorrow there will be quite scattered rainfall that could lead to flash flooding.

“Charleville, Cunnamulla, Longreach and Winton are in the firing line for that system and that should ease off from midweek.”