It was words spoken by the old bloke on January 12, 2011, in Strong Ave, Graceville, that linger in the mind of mud army helper Garry Smith.

The Coomera Magpie AFL club president Garry Smith had packed up his club bus with a 50-strong contingent of helpers and headed for Brisbane, to help with the mammoth flood clean-up.

“We had some great laughs that day – when we asked an old guy if he needed help he laughed and said he now had the waterfront house he’s always dreamed of.”

The players, coaches and friends had no idea of what to expect when they travelled up to Brisbane, and they certainly didn’t expect it be life-changing.

With their sponsored bus full to the brim with workers, shovels, buckets and good-will, there was a sense of determination in the air.

But it was the fighting spirit and sense of humour of the people of Brisbane that will stay in Mr Smith’s mind forever – the laughs, the resilience, and the strength shown by those who had been so badly affected.

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“I just remember driving in to the city and seeing the devastation,” Mr Smith said.

“Nothing could prepare you for that.”

Mr Smith and his team pulled up at Strong Ave, Graceville, and were offered a park on the lawn of a resident’s house.

“She was an older lady who couldn’t do the physical work but wanted to help. So she started baking and by the time we’d been working for a couple of hours she had a feast ready for us.”

The team managed to free a washing machine from a blocked drain complete with a clean load of washing inside.

“The guy who owned it cracked up when he saw it and said he’d be the only one in the street with clean clothes on.”

After a mammoth 10 hours cleaning mud off the wet, slimy roads, Mr Smith and his team returned to the bus. But not before the elderly lady had cleaned the boys off with a garden hose.

“That’s what I took away from the experience – just the high spirits of people. I think that’s a bit of an Aussie thing to have a laugh at yourself and often it’s all you can do,” Mr Smith said.

“We were from Coomera and weren’t really affected by it at all but to go up to Brisbane and see how bad things were was amazing.”

Tap and drag the slider to reveal the before and after image of a flood affected street in Oxley.

Mr Smith and his team followed up with a second day of work, organising donations for the people of Ipswich and surrounds. They filled the bus up with blankets, food, money and helped a few families who had lost everything.

Mr Smith was joined on that day by Ryan Balcombe, also a member of the Coomera Magpie Club. He said from a personal perspective, the day was an important one – he lived in Victoria, and his childhood house was burnt to the ground during the Black Saturday fires of 2009.

“My best friend lost his parents in those fires, and one of my mates had sheltered in a dam while the flames went overhead so I remembered how the community had rallied and helped others during that time,” Mr Balcombe said.

“I just found the community spirit that day amazing and that’s what is great about Australia.

“We turned up in Brisbane that day and ended up doing things we’d never done before and working alongside people we’d never met. The community really came together and it was amazing.”

Milton telecommunications business VoIP state manager Ian Hagan was running his office remotely from Sydney when the water came through his business.

About 20 staff were in the office, supporting customers through the disaster but also dealing with their own issues.

“It was just remarkable. It took out our entire first floor and was an inch or so below the ceiling tiles. We made a call about 24 hours before it happened to move all of our equipment upstairs but we still lost a lot of furniture,” Mr Hagan said.

“From a stock and equipment perspective it wasn’t that bad and I know there were a lot of others that were hit hard. But I remember flying back over the Brisbane River and seeing boats upside down in the water below.

“I never before would have thought it would be that bad. Most people were just shocked and then essentially we had everyone around wanting to help which was great and so totally unexpected.”

More than 5900 insured houses were inundated in Brisbane and Ipswich on January 12-13, with 32,500 homes in Queensland’s settled southeast exposed to a 2.5m storm tide.

By 2030, taking into account development and population growth, the number of homes at risk of flooding during a similar flood will be 61,500.