SES volunteers return from floods

ELEVEN car loads of SES men and women have returned after a gruelling three-day effort to assist residents of flood-ravaged south-west Queensland.

Ken Ord, one of eight Ipswich-based volunteers to join the convoy to Charleville, said the mission was rewarding despite all the heartache that the inundation had caused.

“It was pretty devastating for the locals out there; just in the amount of destruction that was caused to their town,” Mr Ord said.

“It would have to have been 70 to 80 per cent of homes that were flooded. Just about every household was throwing debris out.

“Most buildings were inundated with water half-a-metre to a metre deep in places.”

The south-east Queensland volunteers – 66 of them in all – packed their tents for the trip when they left early Friday, with the expectation of having to sleep outdoors for the four-night stay.

As it turned out they were allowed to sleep in the town hall.

The extra comfort would have been appreciated, as they spent their daylight hours cleaning out house after house in smelly, muddy conditions.

In addition to cleaning up the mess, the volunteers comforted residents who had lost most of, if not everything, they owned.

Mr Ord said the group completed 150 jobs in total over the three working days.

“We also cleaned out a fair few commercial premises, purely to help get the town back on its feet as soon as possible,” he said.

“Energex would come in and check the electricity, Q Build would check that the place was structurally sound and then we’d come in.

“We would have to take out all the furniture. Anything unrecoverable would be thrown out the front.

“The firies would come in and hose the place out and we’d come in and mop up the floors and walls and disinfect the place.”

Another smaller contingent of SES volunteers flew out from Brisbane early this week to assist with the flood recovery.

Goodna volunteer Glen Pardy, 42, said the experience had a profound effect on him, but that he treated it as a positive one.

Mr Pardy was also part of the group which returned to the SES Ipswich headquarters late Tuesday.

“All I can say is thanks to a great team of volunteers,” Mr Pardy said.

“It was a pleasure to go out there and help. I just hope it doesn’t happen to them again.”