Windsor residents forced to evacuate from floods by Cyclone Alfred
Brisbane residents have been forced to self evacuate and bunker on top floors as flood waters rose to dangerous levels. READ THEIR STORIES
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Windsor residents have been forced to self evacuate and bunker on top floors as flood waters from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred rose to dangerous levels overnight.
On Monday many homes were still underwater while others returned to their houses to find them destroyed after water reached to chest-high levels.
One resident told the Courier-Mail they returned to their home for the first time after self-evacuating halfway through Sunday night out of concern they’d get flooded in – only to return to find their bottom level destroyed.
While others have told of the anxious wait, some even prepared to go out in a kayak if they were forced to evacuate.
Tali Scott (Windsor)
Tali Scott said the water started to rise on Sunday afternoon.
■ Full list: Every road closed by flooding
“It just kept moving up pretty consistently until about 3am so we were getting worried around there but it started to drop,” he said.
“It got to about chest height.
“We had a lot of anxiety last night. We didn’t get much sleep just watching the waters rise.
“We were just thinking about how we could get out. We have got a kayak since the last floods, and so I pumped that up. We were just thinking about what’s in the house, and moving everything up as high as we could.“
He said he was fortunate that only the switchboard and non-valuable items around the house went under.
But others weren’t as fortunate.
Krishna Italiya’s bottom level of the house was completely flooded.
But she was up all night concerned she might have had to evacuate.
“We slept at 10pm and woke up at 1am because we were worried about the water,” she said.
“If it came up and touched the first floor. We would have had to leave from here so we didn’t sleep.”
She said she was still concerned the water might rise further but had already started cleaning outside.
Luke Crust (Newmarket)
Crust Mechanical owner Luke Crust is still miraculously able to smile after his seventh flood since moving to Newmarket 11 years ago. Remarkably, Mr Crust said with the help of the community, loyal customers and a water blaster that he should be back open next Monday.
Mr Crust said he was delaying a clean up today in case nearby Enoggera Creek came up again.
Only one customer car was flooded, after a new hoist collapsed.
“I moved out a lot of stuff. Funny thing was the power is still on,” he said.
“The worst was in 2022 but 2015 was also very bad.
“I used to have all the flood heights marked on the wall until I repainted.”
While showing The Courier-Mail around his workshop he opened office drawers still full of water and a tool box that was inundated.
Next door, where a French bakery moved out after suffering half a million dollars in damage to imported baking equipment in 2022, flood barriers did nothing to help the new owners.
Water levels were so high overnight they overtopped the steel barricades.
Outside, two cars were still half underwater near where a drain had popped.
David Napier (Newmarket)
Newmarket resident David Napier and his young family, including a four-year-old and nine-month-old baby, had been living in their Edmonstone St rental for only a year before it flooded.
He said they had no flood insurance because of the cost but they managed to move most valuables upstairs on Sunday before the water got too high.
“It started off as a blob in the backyard then it got higher and higher,” he said.
“ we left about midday and stayed at my brother’s overnight.”
On Monday morning Mr Napier was cleaning up what could not be saved including items in a granny flat out the back which was inundated.
Alex Sturdee, Daniela Vargas, and their dog Papita (Red Hill)
Red Hill residents Alex Sturdee, Daniela Vargas, and their dog Papita were evacuated from their Praed St unit in the early hours of Monday morning after water from Enoggera Creek started rising about half way up their dwelling.
“We had the flood waters come up from the creek and it just kind of kept getting higher,” Mr Sturdee said.
“As the night went on, we got to maybe around 11 or 12, and it was starting to touch the bottom of the stairs.
“Maybe every 10 minutes or so, it was climbing another step, so it was coming up a lot faster than we were expecting.
“We were pretty worried, we started stacking everything up as high as we could.”
Mr Sturdee said people started checking on those living in the area as the creek rose.
“There were people going through the neighborhood, asking if people needed help,” he said.
“We started to have water coming up through the sink, the toilets were not flushing, and that’s when we started getting a bit worried whether or not we should call for help.”
Ms Vargas said they called for assistance, due to her not being able to swim.
“I don’t know how to swim, so I started to panic,” she said.
Queenland Fire Department crews swiftly arrived at the scene and guided Mr Studee, Ms Vargas, and Papita through chest-high water to safety.
“We ended up having to walk through the water holding the dog and we had the backpacks and the rain poncho over as we were wading through,” Mr Sturdee said.
“We would like to thank the emergency services for assisting us, they arrived very quickly.”
Alara Saroglia and Hayden Edwards (Oxley)
Oxley residents were forced to undergo a stressful night as flood levels began to rise at rapid speeds in the early hours of Monday morning.
Notorious for its flooding in events such as the 2022 Brisbane Floods, Oxley Rd became a river overnight, cutting off residents in several low lying streets.
While many had learned from the 2022 disaster and raised their homes metres off the ground, others still found water rushing through the bottom level of their homes or trapped in their own streets.
Alara Saroglia and Hayden Edwards had never been through a flooding event before, only having moved to their Oxley Rd home last year.
“It would have been about 3.30 this morning (the water began to rise).
“I was up till like 2.30, 3 o’clock, and it was just down near the roundabout, it hadn’t risen so far yet, and my partner got up at work this morning at 6am and it had completely changed, it was flooded completely at the back,” Ms Saroglia said.
The pair said they did not have time to leave by the time the water had risen to the bottom steps of their Queenslander, but had luckily taken precautions to move as many valuables as possible from the bottom floor.
“I was quite surprised, to be honest,” Ms Saroglia said.
“We honestly expected it to just stay low level, ended up fizzling out, and then it changed dramatically overnight.”
By late Monday morning the bottom level of their home was still waist deep in water and had destroyed many belongings including a fridge and washing machine.
Mr Edwards, an Energex worker, was planning to leave for the Gold Coast to help in the clean-up, however was now trapped inside of his home.
“Most of our teams are cut in half cause we have guys flooded in,” he said.
“We’re expecting a big week this week.”
While flood levels are slowly beginning to drop, rain was still hanging about with the worry surrounding high tide later this evening.
“I know that it says that we aren’t meant to receive rain, but anything will change at any moment,” Ms Saroglia said.
Originally published as Windsor residents forced to evacuate from floods by Cyclone Alfred
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