Flooding stirs raw memories for Grantham residents
GRANTHAM residents living in low-lying areas are angry that they were left to fend for themselves after the town became inundated with floodwater.
The remnants of ex-tropical cyclone Oswald dumped more than 310 millimetres of rain across parts of the Lockyer Valley at the weekend bringing back painful memories for Grantham residents.
On January 10, 2011, 12 people were killed after a wall of water destroyed the tiny hamlet after months of heavy rain.
Grantham resident Garry Godley, who lives on Gatton-Helidon Road, said despite the millions spent on warning systems his family did not receive one alert at the weekend.
"They were saying to everyone the warning system was working," Mr Godley said.
"There is no warning system in Grantham that I know of.
"We received no warning or alert. The way we found out it was about to flood was by walking out on our verandah and looking," he said.
The Lockyer Creek, which passes through the centre of the town, broke its banks after reaching a peak of 14.9 metres yesterday morning.
Mr Godley said once again his family was left isolated.
"It certainly brought back a few memories, especially for my daughter Katherine," he said.
"Once they moved everyone to higher ground 18 months ago the low-lying areas of Grantham have virtually been forgotten.
"We were trapped once again.
"We could not even get to the evacuation centre. The only people who could get there were people from the new estate and they were fine anyway."
Mr Godley's wife Linda said once the water receded in the coming days the clean up efforts would begin.
"We were lucky this time around," she said.
"However, we were concerned that is for sure.
"We do not normally get it this bad, but it becoming more and more frequent."
