Outdoor adventurer identified as one of two women killed in freak stormwater drain incident

A beloved mum who was swept into a stormwater drain during a freak storm and the third man who was killed in the Moreton Bay capsize have been named.

Tanya Hehir was killed when she was swept into a stormwater drain.

A woman who was swept into a stormwater drain and drowned in a tragic Boxing Day incident has been identified as a beloved mother and avid adventurer.

Tanya Hehir, 46, was on a running trail when she stopped to explore a popular stormwater drain known as the “Love Tunnel” near Gympie in Queensland’s southeast about 2.30pm on Tuesday.

As she was exploring, a wild storm cell hit the region and dropped 18mm of rain in less than 20 minutes.

Tanya Hehir was exploring near Gympie when she was swept into a stormwater drain and killed.

The surge of water swept Ms Hehir and two friends, aged 40 and 46, into the Mary River.

The other 46-year-old woman suffered moderate head injuries but was able to reach the bank of the river and call for help.

Rescue crews desperately searched up to 5km for the missing women along the river, finding the 40-year-old’s body about 7.10pm on Tuesday near the entrance to the drain.

Ms Hehir’s body was found about noon on Wednesday near Gympie Weir.

She was with two friends when the freak storm hit.

STORMS KILL OTHER QUEENSLANDERS

Wild weather has wreaked havoc across Australia’s east during the holiday period, with seven Queenslanders killed by storms.

Gold Coast woman Robyn Carman, 59, was just 100m from her home when she was struck by a falling tree and killed.

A nine-year-old girl is another young victim of the wild storms, killed on Boxing Day when she was swept into a drain by floodwaters in Brisbane.

Mia Holland-McCormack had jumped over the back fence of her family’s property in Rochedale South when she was killed.

Meanwhile, Brisbane Rugby identity David “Mario” Logan and schoolteacher Stephen “Taity” Tait were killed after a boat with 11 people capsized near Green Island in Moreton Bay on Tuesday.

The third victim of the capsize was identified on Thursday as 48-year-old Alexandra Hills man Robert Holden.

Eight other people survived.

Robert Holden (left) and his wife Michelle. Mr Holden, 48, has been identified as the third victim of the Moreton Bay boat crash. Picture: GoFundMe

Joshua Holden, the son of Mr Holden, has started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to help support his mother and cover funeral costs for his father.

“My father was the provider in our family and always provided for my mum and our family,” he wrote in the fundraiser description.

“Our father was a great man who always put others needs above himself. He was reliable, trustworthy and a good man through thick and thin.”

Two people had to be rescued from a partially-capsized yacht in waters off the Gold Coast on Monday night. Picture: QLD Police

POLICE POST CHRISTMAS NIGHT RESCUE

Queensland Police have shared dramatic body-worn camera vision from a Water Police rescue on Christmas night, after two people became stranded on a sinking boat in waters off the Gold Coast.

“Officers were conducting welfare check patrols near Crab Island and South Stradbroke Island around 10pm before they were alerted to the partially capsized yacht with two people still on-board,” a police spokesperson said in a statement.

“Both people were helped off the yacht onto a water police vessel and were transported to dry land at Labrador.

“Both people from the vessel were not physically injured.”

The vision shows rough conditions on the water and the sky is illuminated by multiple lighting strikes in the distance.