‘Ruined: It looks just like a war zone’

A beloved Guanaba grocers has been left devastated after flash flooding ripped through their farm, causing thousands of dollars in damages.

The Village Grocer coowner Will Feenstra said Guanaba Creek rose rapidly with the rain – leaving him, his wife, and their 18-month-old grandchild stranded despite early council warnings.

“It was just unbelievable,” Mr Feenstra said. “I’ve never seen in all the years I’ve been here, water like that.”

His rain gauges recorded about 600mm of rain – far beyond what was forecast for the region.

“I could see the water coming up. There was nothing anybody could do,” he said.

“All I could do was try to save the donkey, our chickens and ourselves."

Floodwaters had submerged entire paddocks and destroyed “thousands of dollars” worth of stock stored in Mr Feenstra’s basement by 4pm Monday.

He said their business was “completely stopped” for now.

“We probably lost equipment as well, but we can’t test that because we have no power,” he said. “... we ran out of fuel (on Monday), so we couldn’t get the generators going and because of the floodwaters we were completely cut off from everyone.

“We had one lady here who was stuck in her home for over 36 hours before the SES could get her out.”

Mr Feenstra said Guanaba had been without power since the freak Christmas Day storm.

“We’re lucky because we at least have a roof over our head,” he said. “But there are so many people here with their houses in pieces, or their roof has blown off.

“There’s a road here – Kriedeman Rd – it looks like a war zone, it’s absolutely ruined and powerlines are all over the ground.

“But where is everyone? There’s no one helping, Where’s the army? Where’s council? Why haven’t these trees been cut away?”

“We need workers door knocking here because there are people without water, without food, without generators or stuck in their homes.”