Ingenuity in a wave of rescues

THE day of horror and drama that unfolded had its nadir outside the town of Biloela.

THE day of horror and drama that unfolded as vast tracts of Queensland were again engulfed by churning floodwaters had its nadir outside the town of Biloela, 580km northwest of Brisbane.

A mother, her 14-month-old toddler and a female companion waited in the tray of their stranded ute, surrounded by fast rising water. No one could reach them. Their only hope was the rescue helicopter overhead.

The women were set to be pulled to safety, but not the toddler. The harness would not fit one so small.

Calmly, crewman Garth Snaidero, of the RACQ Capricorn Rescue Service, clipped a black diving bag to the cable and swung it across to the terrified women.

The child was zipped inside and winched up, followed by the women, who wept with relief.

Dramatic images captured on Mr Snaidero's helmet-mounted camera reveal how close they came to tragedy.

"It has been an amazing feat," said Kay Becker, chief executive of the rescue service.

"Rescuing children that young is very difficult and winching a baby into a helicopter is a very difficult feat.

"We have been doing the job (for) 15 years and we have never had to do this before. I'm extremely proud."

Frances Arndt and her husband, Kenley, were visiting nearby Gatton when they heard that their hometown of Grantham was flooding. It can't be, they thought. Not again. "We saw that water across the road and thought, Don't risk it'," Mrs Arndt said. "It brought back everything that happened two years ago."

Still fresh in her mind was the deadly flash flood that ripped through the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, on January 10, 2011, killing 19 people, 12 of them in Grantham. "I was in a bit of a panic mode," she said. "So we turned around and came back to Gatton, and we're staying here tonight. Let's see what tomorrow brings."

Across Queensland, rescue crews risked their lives time and again to enter raging torrents to save those who failed to heed the warnings to stay out of floodwaters. When would people learn, frustrated police and emergency personnel asked.

In just four hours last night, there were an additional 20 swiftwater rescues, mainly on the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane.

Outside of Gympie, a woman clung to a tree for hours as rescuers tried to get to her.

She was one of three people who had been in a car that ventured into flooded Widgee Creek and was washed off the crossing.

One of her male companions was lucky: he got out, but not before the fastwater crew lost their boat.

The third man, 27, was swept away and has not been seen since. Grave fears are held for him.

Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said the one confirmed victim to date of the post-Cyclone Oswald floods, an 81-year-old man, was pulled from the water at Burrum Heads, southeast of Bundaberg.

"It is quite a tragic situation," he said. "The gentleman concerned had gone to check a yacht in the river in that area. It had broken away.

"My information is that during the course of trying to manage that situation he has fallen overboard and ultimately he was recovered by police a little later this morning."

Other Grantham residents followed the example of the Arndts and chose to leave.

But Mayor Steve Jones, while conceding most people in the Lockyer Valley were nervous after the events of two years ago, said circumstances this time were different.

New warning systems were in place, including cameras to monitor creek levels.

"It's a very different Grantham now," Mr Jones said, having had the quickest of comedowns from being named in the Australia Day honours for his efforts during the last flood emergency.

"Most of the people who were flooded in the lower areas of Grantham two years ago don't live there any more, they're now up and living on the hill in the land swap.

"A lot of people are very happy that they've made those major changes in their life. It's really reassuring to see those people high and dry, and they can go to sleep tonight knowing they're not going to get flooded."

The Lockyer Valley's flood early-warning system received its first full-scale test yesterday, and Mr Jones said it had given council much more information about the state of rising floodwaters.

The system involves about 30 points around the shire where rainfall is measured as well as 20 gauges on streams, with their information from these transmitted back to the council's Disaster Co-ordination Centre.

"We were able to get a handle very quickly on what was going on," Mr Jones said.

Additional reporting: Andrew Fraser