About 2,000 homes remain uninhabitable months after one of Queensland’s worst flood seasons, with the state government considering applications to buy back 443 properties and turn them into public space.
Severe weather during the 2021-22 disaster season affected about 9,000 properties, peaking when Brisbane recorded its highest six-day rainfall total on record in February.
Two-thirds of the affected properties have now been repaired or have works under way.
On Monday, Queensland Reconstruction Authority chief executive, Brendan Moon, described the number of major inundations as unprecedented.
“We cannot remember a time where this has happened,” he said.
Those worst affected have been offered options to either repair, retrofit or sell their homes through a government buyback scheme.
The results of more than 3,000 surveys being undertaken will tell homeowners how high flood waters rose, and how high they could go in the future.
“We have started talking to those 400 homeowners that have indicated they wish to be part of the voluntary house buyback and we expect the initial evaluations of properties to commence in the next three weeks,” Moon said.
Of those seeking to have their homes bought-back, 70% are in the Ipswich and Brisbane areas, with Goodna East given priority due to the severity of flooding in the Ipswich suburb.
Last week the government released a Deloitte report into the south-east Queensland floods that estimated damages of $7.7bn to the state in social, financial and economic losses.
But the common thread of all these events is the toll they have on people’s mental health, State Recovery coordinator, Maj Gen Jake Ellwood, said.
He told the story of an Ipswich man who had lived in the same property that had flooded a number of times in the past 30 years.
“When I spoke to him on the 15th of March he was sure he had this cracked, he was going to build back [and] he knew how he was going to do it,” he said.
“Then I went back in June and it was a different story. He was very vulnerable, and he just didn’t know what he was going to do.”
“None of this is simple – and it affects people.”
The state’s disaster response was first tested in November, when heavy rainfall resulted in flooding in southern and western parts of the state, a recovery and resilience plan released on Monday said.
In January, areas around Maryborough and Gympie suffered major inundation associated with Ex-Tropical Cyclone Seth.
There was more unseasonable rain after the Brisbane floods, with some areas being hit for a fourth time in May.
The plan also identified a knowledge gap of creek systems and their impact on catchment flooding.
Heavy rainfall over small areas can cause rapid localised flooding that often catches people off guard, it said.
“It was clear to me going out to different communities that there was a feeling that there could have been more warning,” Ellwood said.
“We have an opportunity now I think with technology to actually improve what we have.”
Ellwood said that response would need to improve as the climate crisis escalates.
“As the threat we face evolves, in terms of magnitude and frequency, it’s going to be vitally important that our response evolves as well,” he said.
Emergency Management Inspector General, Alistair Dawson, is also undertaking a separate review into the state’s emergency alert systems, preparation and disaster response.
