Hinchinbrook floods 2025: Viral TikTok user recounts nightmare ordeal
A Hinchinbrook woman has only just emerged from her flood-ravaged home after enduring a nightmare ordeal, including getting an SMS warning which came “too late”. Her story >>
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A woman who recorded a viral video highlighting the enormity of the Hinchinbrook flood disaster has only just emerged from her ravaged home after enduring a nightmare ordeal.
Sheenagh Gyss, a former manager of the Ingham RSL, posted a TikTok video on Sunday, February 2, which has been viewed more than 2.5 million times.
On Friday, Ms Gyss and partner Colin Payne, son of Keith Payne, VC, AM, emerged from their rental home on Fairford Road, having lost almost all of their worldly possessions, including two vehicles and a place to stay.
“This is the first time I have been out since the 31st of January,” she said, “Col has managed to hitch rides (by boat) up and down the street a couple of times.”
Ms Gyss, who began recording videos for her mental health after she was recently diagnosed with autism, said she was criticised online for not evacuating earlier.
Mr Payne said authorities failed to order any evacuations and by the time they realised the extent of the disaster, it was too late to risk attempting to wade through floodwaters and the possibility of encountering a saltwater crocodile.
“A gentleman two houses up who has a very bad medical condition, he had ‘help’ signs up on his front window, he was waiting for a SES pick-up that never occurred.”
Ms Gyss said the first flood warning she received by SMS was at 4.47am on February 2, “which was too late”.
She said they had lost almost everything, including Mr Payne’s $40,000 2010 Ford Ranger and her beloved 2013 Subaru Forester, which “was under a metre of water for three days”.
“We had two nights where it was like being in a houseboat, we were getting lulled to sleep by waves lapping under the house.”
Mr Payne, a retired chef who also suffers from a degenerative spine condition, said the only time the water came up through the floorboards was when “SES went through and pushed a metre-and-a-half high bow wave” under the house.
Ms Gyss said they had a 10-minute warning that they would lose mains power, and did not have a generator or a gas cooker.
“We lost so much food, we had a huge fridge and freezer stocked full of food, we were going to be right and then they turned the power off,” she said.
“There was no time to pre-cook anything; it wasn’t until the water went down our neighbour was able to give us a little BBQ to boil water or heat something up.”
Ms Gyss said they only felt comfortable leaving their home on Friday, travelling to the Recovery Hub in Ingham where they were met by members of the Lions Club who were holding a community sausage sizzle.
“Oh. My. God. Do you know how long it’s been since we have eaten meat,” she asked rhetorically. “That was the best sausage I have ever eaten.”
Ms Gyss said the old Queensland home they were renting still had no power and was deemed “unliveable” by a real estate agent.
“It rained inside the house, everything is wet and going mouldy, (the agent) actually gave us back some rent because we don’t have electricity.”
The pair confirmed they had applied for emergency housing, although no rental accommodation is available in Hinchinbrook due to the extent of the disaster.
Ms Gyss said they have been offered use of a granny flat by some friends in Balgal Beach north of Townsville.
“The experience has been horrific, I’m smiling now but I’ve lost my car and we live in rural Australia, how are we going to get around?”
Ms Gyss, who holds a Bachelor’s Degree in tourism and an MBA, said there was a silver lining during the ordeal, saying she had been offered a “dream job” as an associate lecturer for Torrens University.
Asked about her internet fame, Ms Gyss’s spirits rose and she began to laugh.
“Some smart arse commented (online) that I’d had my 15 minutes of fame and I was like, ‘Did I?’, ‘Did I get anything out of it?’”
Parts of Hinchinbrook are still cut off after multiple flood events over the course of two weeks, although the Bruce Highway north of Ingham was reopened on Friday afternoon.
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Originally published as Hinchinbrook floods 2025: Viral TikTok user recounts nightmare ordeal
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