Inglewood residents recount town’s flooding as 800 locals evacuated to cemetery

A southwest town has been surrounded by water with its residents forced to seek refuge at the highest ground - a cemetery while business deal with the deluge entering their shopfronts.

A deluge of water has inundated businesses in the southwest Queensland town of Inglewood and forced residents to seek refuge at the cemetery to escape rising floodwaters.

When Tony Stevenson went to his bakery just before midnight on Tuesday, he wasn’t expecting to see nearly a foot of water roll through his front door hours later.

“About 1.30am I grabbed a coffee and noticed a glimmering coming from outside and I saw the water was over the street,” the Albert Street Bakery owner said.

“I thought ‘oh s***, they might be right this time (about flooding).”

Mr Stevenson had a front-row seat to the devastation as water from the Macintyre Brook flooded the town and sent waist-height water through homes and businesses.

“It went six inches into my shop, and maybe 12 inches down the back,” he said.

“I don’t think there will be too much damage, but there is some stuff that turned off.

“The IGA, Spar, coffee shops (all got flooded), some of them are in a gully and have had a metre of water down them.”

Thankfully for Mr Stevenson, he had obtained flood insurance just a few months ago.

More than 800 residents were evacuated to the Inglewood Cemetery hours beforehand as a precautionary measure.

Inglewood resident Sam Anderson, who is also on the show committee, said she and her three kids were told to evacuate their home about 10pm.

Her house saw a foot of water run through it.

“I’ve had a quick little sneak in there, it’s got a bit of damage — It was like a foot of water,” Ms Anderson said.

“Someone was waist-deep in their house.”

Ms Anderson said residents had been overwhelmed by the messages of support they’ve received from friends and family.

“I’ve had so many messages from people offering to help, Inglewood is great like that.”

The Bureau of Meteorology said the Macintyre Brook at the Inglewood Bridge peaked at 11.20 metres about 2.30am and is currently receding.

However, flooding of the Inglewood Bridge is expected to continue for some time.

For a full list of flood warnings, head to the BOM website.

Click here for a full list of road closures.

Originally published as Inglewood residents recount town’s flooding as 800 locals evacuated to cemetery