Lockyer Valley Mayor Tanya Milligan reflects on 2011 Grantham floods and resilience of community to recover from disaster

Lockyer Valley Mayor Tanya Milligan was on the ground to witness the aftermath of the Grantham Floods in 2011. She says happened next was “extraordinary”.

Lockyer Valley Regional Council Mayor Tanya Milligan talks about the resilience of the community 10 years on from the devastating Grantham floods, Thursday, January 7, 2021. Picture: Kevin Farmer

A decade after a deadly inland tsunami nearly destroyed the town of Grantham in one afternoon in January 2011, Lockyer Valley Mayor Tanya Milligan knows why there is still community to return to today.

“I think we’re one hell of a community, exceptionally resilient,” she said.

“People are pretty resilient, and we’re strong when we need to be.

“When things are at that level, you certainly see the ordinary people become extraordinary.”

Cr Milligan, who was a councillor under the late Steve Jones in 2011, said she wasn’t able to see the devastation in Grantham for herself until two days after it occurred.

By that point, 12 people had lost their lives — some whose bodies were never found.

“You could not believe it — what you had seen on the TV (was one thing) but to actually physically see the devastation was just unbelievable,” Cr Milligan said.

“There was the physical side of the damage, and then the lives lost.

“You can’t even imagine how you would feel if that was your loved one.”

From there, Cr Milligan said Cr Jones, who she described as a mentor and a dear friend, moved quickly to gather resources and personnel to start the clean-up and plan the moving of the town to higher ground.

She said Cr Jones was essential to the rebuilding of the town and the wider region, which had also been smashed by the 2011 floods.

“Steve was a great leader, so things happened exceptionally quickly — there was a marquee at the school with volunteers, agencies and the army came in to look for loved ones,” Cr Milligan said.

“There was certainly lots of assistance outside of our region, which was wonderful, whether it was the army, agencies, community volunteers, or people donating.

“We were really blessed that we had so many good people to assist (with the moving of the town), but I tell everyone that the whole Grantham land swap was a combined discussion but it wouldn’t have happened unless Steve drove it.

“Steve didn’t mind rattling cages – he was a large man that did not mind rattling cages.

“There was nothing for him to gain, so he was purely driven by the recovery of his community and what’s best for his community.”

Today, Grantham’s population has swelled to more than 600 thanks in part to the land swap, and Cr Milligan said its local businesses were trading well.

But she hasn’t lost sight of the trauma that could be caused by a disaster like what was set upon Grantham.

“Your community has been impacted by a devastating event, and they need confidence that their leaders know what their doing and that they have a plan,” Cr Milligan said.

“I think that will form the basis to help people emotionally to recover.

“Loss is loss – how I deal with loss will be different from how you deal with it.

“Some people file it and forget about it, and others carry it around – there are different layers to it.

“(But) we are so much more than the floods, so Grantham has certainly rebuilt itself since then.

“You need pick yourself back up, and that’s what we did.”