Flooding adds to
FIRST it was the fires, then coronavirus and now floods.
Mount Tamborine resident Mark Andrew is now waiting for a famine, or snow.
The operator of the Curtis Falls Cafe spent all of yesterday cleaning up flood water debris after his business copped the brunt of the torrential downpour on Thursday.
“Tamborine has been hit by everything, everyone has been hit up here,” Mr Andrew said.
“We have had the fires last year, then they stopped most of the tourist buses because of the coronavirus. It’s not just the flood that got us.
“The mountain has really, really suffered as a victim of it all ... next it will be snow.”
Rainfall over southeast Queensland in a 24-hour period exceeded 100mm in some areas. The local dam catchment received more than 300mm.
Mr Andrew, a resident on the mountain for more than 15 years, said he had never seen such power in the flood waters that engulfed his cafe.
“We had a big week of rain,” he said. “Every couple of years we get these downpours, but this one was huge.
“It just started bucketing down, but within minutes it had taken over the whole road.
“In all the years I had seen it, this was the fastest, most ferocious.”
Mr Andrew said he was still calculating the damage to his business.
“There is mud everywhere. It isn’t just that, it is the staffing, wages and trading days,” he said.
“We want people to come back and visit us. We are lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world. Unfortunately, sometimes we are a victims of that beauty.”
Across the Gold Coast to Logan the SES received 334 call-outs from midnight on Thursday, 206 of which came from the Gold Coast. Another 34 were from the Scenic Rim.
As of yesterday, 21 jobs were still being managed by volunteer crews.
“We had in excess of 60 volunteers working in the region because of the flooding and heavy rainfall,” SES regional manager Wayne Hepple said.
“Most of the jobs were leaky roofs, collapsed ceilings and/or flooding into homes.