Lockyer Valley mourns teen lost in floods | Ipswich News | Local News in Ipswich

The flooded Black Duck Creek, where Dalton Moule drowned at the weekend.

Peter Collins, courtesy Channel Nine

SADNESS filled the Lockyer Valley community on Monday for a much-loved teenager who drowned in floodwaters.

Dalton Moule, 14, was killed after a raging torrent of water swept his mothers’ car from a bridge they were trying to cross on the way to their Junction View home, near Gatton, on Saturday night.

A ceremony in honour of Dalton was held at Lockyer District High School with principal Andrew Pierpoint paying tribute to the popular student.

“He was a lovely lad and had a wicked sense of humour,” Mr Pierpoint said.

“He had a great group of friends and was very loved and respected by students and staff alike.”

Mr Pierpoint said grief counsellors were helping the school community.

“We’ve got quite a few very upset students and staff,” he said.

A student who attends the school and knew Dalton said it was a sad day for everyone.

“I often saw Dalton around school and he was always friendly and would always smile and say hello,” she said.

“It’s a terrible thing to have happened and everyone is really shaken up by it.”

Tributes for the motorbike enthusiast inundated Facebook with many of Dalton’s school friends asking students to wear something black to show their respect for his family and friends.

Despite Dalton experiencing a difficult start to life after enduring third degree burns to 80 per cent of his body when he was three years old, which left him wheel-chair bound, his family said he was making the most of life.

“He was coming through. He was a happy, healthy boy, after all that. And now we’ve lost him,” Dalton’s uncle Andrew Diete said.

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Teen drowns in flooding tragedy

- Additional reporting by Lacey Burley