Remembering the Australia Day floods that ravaged the Burnett

In the North Burnett 12 years ago, Eidsvold council worker Lucy Connolly barely escaped with her life after being washed away and then clinging to a tree in flood waters for five hours. Her rescuer was her grazier neighbour. VIDEO.

Twelve years have passed since flood waters ravaged the North Burnett and Bundaberg region on the Australia Day weekend in 2013.

At the time, Bundaberg residents described “surreal scenes” of people being plucked from their homes in “neck high” torrents like out of a war zone.

Experts estimated that the usually calm Burnett River was flowing at 40 knots an hour by 9pm that Australia Day.

Former Queensland premier Campbell Newman warned that houses would likely be swept from their stumps.

“It is a grave situation in Bundaberg,” he said. “We are at a point where we’ve never seen floodwaters like this before.”

Gallery of the 2013 Bundaberg flood

Many residents had to be evacuated during the 2013 floods in Bundaberg, which were sparked by ex-tropical cyclone Oswald. Photo Contributed

More than 4000 homes, as well as public and agricultural infrastructure, were greatly affected.

An estimated 5000 Bundaberg residents were evacuated through mixed use of state emergency helicopters and 12 civilian aircrafts.

Roads into and out of Bundaberg were closed, leaving many residents stranded and requiring rescue.

While emergency service staff were praised for their heroic efforts, many said they were left to carry out their own rescues.

In the North Burnett, Eidsvold council worker Lucy Connolly barely escaped with her life after being washed away and then clinging to a tree in flood waters for five hours.

She was only saved after an emergency beacon became wedged in branches nearby.

Rescuer Rodney Hartwig.

Her rescuer was her grazier neighbour, Rodney Hartwig.

“There were animals, cows and cars floating past me,” Ms Connolly said.

“I just felt a feeling of calm, I did a lot of praying I thought about all the things I still wanted to do,” she said.

The only warning she had of the raging flood waters that night was a gurgling sound coming from her toilet just after midnight.

Ms Connolly called her parents for help and they phoned her neighbour (Mr Hartwig).

She fled the house but was swept over the property fence, across the road and into the neighbour’s paulownia tree plantation.

Many of the trees were flattened.

“I finally got one and I just clung to it,” she said.

Mr Hartwig, 63 at the time, searched for Ms Connolly on a tractor, but the water was too high.

“I rang Lucy’s father and said, ‘well sorry Pat but we can’t get there and we’ll get her if we can in the morning in the boat’ ... it was a long way to daylight,” he said.

“We called triple-0 and the lady there just answered and said, ‘do you want fire, police or ambulance?’

“I said, ‘probably all three’ - she goes, ‘no, you’ve got to have one’ and I said, ‘well you better get me the police then I suppose’ and I explained there was a girl there in the house and she needed rescuing.

Residents inspect damage caused by floods in North Bundaberg, Saturday, February 2, 2013. Residents of the hardest hit suburb in Queensland's flood crisis have begun the heartbreaking journey of returning home to assess damage after police opened the Burnett Bridge to north Bundaberg residents at 6am. (AAP Image/Paul Beutel)

“The end result was she said, ‘sorry mate, you’re just going to have to do the best you can - you’re on your own’.”

Mr Hartwig loaded his boat and waited with son Graham until about 5am.

When they got to Ms Connolly’s house, it was completely submerged.

“I said to my son ‘She’s gone’,” Mr Hartwig said.

They then saw a flashing light, an emergency beacon, that had washed up from the John Goleby Weir 3km away and headed towards it and heard Lucy’s screams for help.

SPECIAL BOND: A special bond was formed between Lucy Connelly and Rod Hartwig when he plucked her from a tree surrounding by raging flood waters to safety. Photo Sue Harris / Central & North Burnett Times

Originally published as Remembering the Australia Day floods that ravaged the Burnett