Qld floods: Grantham residents blast ‘late’ warnings

This is “not a test”: The emergency siren has sounded at Grantham in the Lockyer Valley, but for some it came too late.

The emergency flood siren has sounded at Grantham west of Brisbane as the region prepared for possible flash flooding and “heavy pockets of rain” on Saturday night and Sunday.

Lockyer Valley Regional Council posted on social media on Saturday afternoon it was “not a test”, urging residents in low-lying areas to move to higher ground and prepare for “potential rapid inundation”.

“Residents should move to higher ground and relocate as a matter of urgency,” the council said.

The Lockyer Valley, Toowoomba and Grantham areas – which were hit hard by the devastating 2011 floods – will likely experience flash flooding on Sunday, with intense rainfall expected to impact the already saturated region over the next 24 hours.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s flood warning for the Lockyer Valley tipped flood levels to rise overnight into Sunday, with inundation levels potentially reaching the peaks seen in 2013.

In 2013, about 300 homes were impacted by flooding – but levels were not as high as 2011, when dozens of people lost their lives.

Overnight on Friday, some families were stranded on rooftops in Grantham in a shocking reminder of the 2011 floods.

Grantham in flood on Saturday. Picture: Megan Masters

Local woman Megan Masters and her mother had a narrow escape from flood waters on Friday night when they returned from Toowoomba and found the weather situation had dramatically changed.

“I didn’t expect the whole of Grantham and the Lockyer to flood in the two hours we were gone,” she said.

“When I saw all the road closures I said to my mum that we probably wouldn’t make it home and would have to stay at a hotel in Gatton.”

But the pair made it through, before a raging torrent saw them turn around and take shelter in a cafe car park.

Ms Masters thought her and her mother were trapped, until a neighbour arrived and managed to rescue them.

Then, once they were home and safe, the flood warning siren – installed after the devastating 2011 floods – sounded.

“The highway was already completely cut off some 45 minutes before the flood warning siren was heard for the first time, to the best of my knowledge,” she said.

“At this point floodwaters were visibly rising like a bathtub filling at full pour.

Grantham in flood on Saturday. Picture: Megan Masters

“I laughed, I was just about hysterical. How was that supposed to help?

“The whole of Grantham’s main street was a river by the time the alarm went off.

“It was a joke, I wouldn’t give them two bob for that warning system it came far too late.”

Images posted to social media show parts of the road at Gatton-Helidon Rd at Lockyer Creek floating away.

Trees were seen strewn over what used to be a bridge as parts of the street have fallen into the rising floodwaters of the creek below.

Emergency services on Saturday were called to help a person trapped in their car in flood waters at Atkinson Dam.

Two Queensland Fire and Emergency Services crews attended about 3pm to find a person sitting on the roof of their car surrounded by flood water.

After setting up a motorised craft and exploring the best way to access the stranded motorist, the QFES spokeswoman said a helicopter was called and the person was winched to safety about 4.20pm.

Weather bureau lead meteorologist Mattew Bass said a second upper low would move through the southeast on Saturday night, with the potential to produce rainfall totals over 300mm by Monday.

People are evacuated at Grantham after houses were submerged. Picture: 7 News Brisbane

“We’ve got a secondary upper low moving over, without much of a reprieve from the first one," he said.

“That second low is expected to bring heavy pockets of rain to the Toowoomba, Lockyer Valley and Grantham regions overnight.

“As we get to tomorrow morning, we could start to see some of those locally intense rainfalls in that part of Queensland.

“Even the moderate rain we’re getting at the moment, it is still contributing to the flooding situation, so if we get those intense rainfall periods tomorrow, that’s when we’ll get concerned about rapid river flows et cetera. But the ground is 100 per cent, saturated so anything that falls further, goes straight into the run-off.

“If we get rain, we’ll get flash flooding.”

Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley are forecast to receive between 80-130mm of rainfall with 120-180mm predicted in Ipswich.

“Broadly speaking you could say 80 to 200mm is likely,” Mr Bass said.

“We’ll see some of those intense torrential amounts in excess of 300mm but it’s impossible to pick where that’s going to fall beforehand.”

Rainfall and storm activity is expected to ease sometime on Sunday night or early Monday morning.