NO GO: North Bundaberg residents are told by police that they won't be allowed back to their homes in the exclusion zone. Picture: Mark Calleja Source: The Courier-Mail
FOLLOW OUR ROLLING COVERAGE of the flood disaster that hit Bundaberg.
Bundaberg Regional Council held three separate meetings with more than 1000 residents on Friday, saying they'd be allowed into an exclusion zone from 2pm (AEST) to see their properties. But police later overruled the plan, saying it was too dangerous.
Despite the police edict, at least 100 residents arrived at the Burnett Bridge at 2pm (AEST) but were told there was no way they were going to be let in.
Frustrated resident Michael Hill told AAP the situation was indicative of the entire emergency response.
"It's been a Mickey Mouse operation from day one," he said.
"We've been told 20 different things. It's just incompetence."
Shaune Hardy said he just wanted 10 minutes to see what his house looked like.
Mr Hardy said he travelled from the neighbouring town of Childers because he thought he could get home on Friday.
"If they weren't sure, then why did they even tell us in the first place," he said.
COMMUNITY: Bundaberg residents pack the Moncrieff Theatre to hear when they can go back to their flood-hit homes.
"We've obviously got enough stress to deal with without this adding to it."
Police Superintendent Rowan Bond said he was just as frustrated as residents but safety had to come first.
He said emergency response teams should have finished safety assessments by nightfall and it was expected residents could start returning from 6am (AEST) on Saturday.
Supt Bond said police planned to post pictures of the devastation at entry points so residents could understand why they couldn't go home.
"It's a scene of utter devastation," he said.
"Houses are not there anymore, there's roads that are not there anymore. The roads are not pot-holed, the roads have just disappeared."
Water police are guarding the Burnett River in case locals attempt to cross over by boat.
And police were sent to the council chambers after residents were told they would not be allowed to go home.
Supt Bond urged residents to check media updates and council's website for an official word about when they could see their houses.
HEARTACHE: Christine Martin in her parents' house, which has looted before they could return to it after the floods. Picture: Paul Buetel
12.53pm: MORE than 1000 North Bundaberg residents will no longer be allowed to enter the exclusion zone today amid concerns there could still be dead bodies to be found.
Superintendent Rowan Bond has just announced his decision, saying he was doing so reluctantly.
He said Urban Search and Rescue teams are concerned they have not completed a full sweep of the region.
"This is painful for us because we know how anxious you are to get there," Spt Bond said.
"The advice from the urban search and rescue teams is they cannot guarantee safety and that there are no bodies.
"As a result I have reluctantly issued a direction that no one enter until the sweep is finished."
Spt Bond said he hoped the sweep would be finished this evening.
A decision would be made about when residents could then return.
12.30pm: POLICE and the defence force may delay North Bundaberg residents returning to the exclusion zone.
AFTERMATH: Denise Ryan's mother's house is totally missing from Thornhill Street, North Bundaberg. Picture: Paul Buetel
They are briefing Mayor Mal Forman about an emerging concern.
The council has reiterated it will do everything it can to allow people to inspect their homes.
The inspections were meant to begin at 2pm.
12.22pm: AUTHORITIES are expecting "chaos" as hundreds of North Bundaberg resident are given the okay to cross the Burnett River this afternoon to inspect their homes in the exclusion zone.
North Bundaberg residents have been told they will be allowed to access their homes in the exclusion zone after 2pm.
But they are being warned to expect "very dangerous situations".
Authorities have said they will do "everything we can" to get people to their homes this afternoon.
More than 1000 residents are expected to inspect their homes, but they have been given a 6pm curfew to exit the exclusion zone and police will be on hand to escort people out.
Residents have been told not to bring trailers and authorities prefer people to walk rather than drive.
HINKLER Avenue in Bundaberg North.
They are being asked not to all turn up at 2pm but to stagger their arrivals.
Residents have been warned to expect awful sights, with holes in the road up to two metres deep.
However, they will not be allowed to enter at least 12 homes blocked off with police tape. These houses are in Gavin Street, Hinkler Avenue, Tallon Street, Thornhill Street and Steuart Street.
The meeting has been told ten North Bundaberg houses will have to be demolished and 30 are severely damaged.
About 70 percent of the devastated northside has been surveyed by an Urban Search and Rescue team of 30, and the Defence Force has done a sweep for bodies.
Another meeting of displaced residents will be called for 12pm, because hundreds have not been able to fit into the packed-out Moncrieff Theatre.
Bundaberg Mayor Mal Forman addresses residents in the meeting, acknowledging anger and frustration was "starting to swell".
Only residents will be allowed to return, and given a pass to get over the Burnett Bridge.
Earlier, Elizabeth Pomfrett stood at the top of Hinkler Ave in blazing sun, peering down towards her North Bundaberg home, which she knew was flooded but couldn't reach due to a police exclusion zone.
LONELY SEAT: The toilet held firm while all around it was flushed away at this North Bundaberg property. Picture: Mark Calleja
The 69-year-old's hands shook as she told of the evacuation of her frail husband, Alan, 70, and how she turned back in her rescue dinghy to see water reaching the roof of her home of 22 years.
"It was still rising then," Mrs Pomfrett said. "It would have gone completely over the top. I got almost nothing out."
See more pictures of the flood crisis
She was upset, too, for her neighbour, Isabella Schulze, who turned 80 on the Australia Day holiday as water engulfed her house.
Mrs Pomfrett had just learnt that Mrs Schulze's house was one of several that used to line Hinkler Ave that are simply no longer there.
As she spoke, surrounded by North Bundaberg residents desperate to get back to their sodden homes, the surreal beep-beep of a smoke alarm sounded from Queen St, several hundred metres away.
It came from a crumpled weatherboard home that had been swept off its stumps in Hinkler Ave by the floodwaters and travelled at least 400m before being brought to a halt by a street light
The Courier-Mail was escorted by police into the exclusion zone and down to the crumpled house yesterday.
FLOOD: A trawler sits high & dry in Quay Street, Bundaberg, after the flood. Picture: Paul Buetel
We passed the flotsam and jetsam of people's lives before reaching the kitchen of the home, the cabinet and sink ripped from the wall. An unbroken glass sat upright on the floor, filled with muddy water.
Insulation bats hung like massive cobwebs from the ceiling, the tin roof was crumpled on the sides but still intact - and the alarm kept beeping.
Police believed it was Mrs Schulze's home but there was reason for doubt - the house at 36 Hinkler Ave and an old Wesley Methodist Church at 18 Hinkler Ave were also gone.
As we walked back from Queen St and down Hinkler Ave, the extent of the damage, the impact on people's lives, was almost too much to take in. All manner of debris, from tyres to laundry baskets, sat high in tree branches, cars were stuck against trees and mud covered the road.
At No. 26 - the house Mrs Schulze shared with her carer, Mal Shannon, 70 - all that was left was a blond brick veranda and a few stumps.
The two were safe, though, taken to their friends, John and Ros Blackwood, as the waters rose on Sunday.
Mrs Blackwood had helped them out during the 2010 floods and had made her way from her home on Moore Park Rd to see if they needed help.
Mrs Schulze and Mr Shannon stayed Sunday night with the Blackwoods, were later evacuated to the other side of Bundaberg and are now staying with friends.
While Mrs Schulze and Mr Shannon saved their belongings but lost their home, neighbour Mrs Pomfrett lost her belongings but still had a house.
A dislodged house from Hinkler Ave, North Bundaberg that ended up about 400m away in Queen Street. Pic Mark Calleja
She said she didn't have anyone to help move her things, which she had managed to salvage in the lesser 2010 floods.
As the waters rose, she was darting between her daughter Victoria's nearby place and her own home, concerned about getting her husband to safety.
An SES dinghy came and evacuated Alan from Victoria's home, returning later to rescue Mrs Pomfrett and Victoria, whose house was also flooded.
"We were watching it come up and then they said it was coming up another 3m and that's when we thought 'we better get out of here'," Mrs Pomfrett said.
"So the SES helped me through the running water and over to the Globe Hotel, then they put us in little dinghies and brought us around here, passed my house and that's when I saw it (the water) at the roof."
Further along, at No. 18, the old Methodist church where Katie Holden was married had also disappeared, only the stumps and a washed out sign remaining.
Mrs Holden, 31, had also waited at the roundabout to find out if she could get through the exclusion zone - in place to allow police, army and services personnel to check for safety - to get through to her parents' place.
Gaylene and Terry Adams, 53 and 49, never expected their home at 14 Hinkler Ave to be swamped as the last flood had only come up ankle deep on the lower level.
Mrs Holden said they had been hearing reports that the water would peak at 8.5m. But it went higher, eventually peaking at 9.5m. About 2.30am on Monday, the pair swam to a higher house next door.
Flood damage in Hinkler Ave where several houses were washed off their stumps. Pic Mark Calleja
"They swam out in the middle of the night - with water up to their necks and their six cats and a dog - into the next door neighbour's," Mrs Holden said.
"They put the cats in a plastic box with a lid on and the dog swam beside them. They weren't leaving their animals."
With Mrs Holden was her sister-in-law, Nicola Patrick, 21, who had also lost everything in her rented home she shared with her husband and eight-month-old son.
"We're a tough family," Mrs Holden said.
"We'll get through this together."
Hinkler Ave leads on to the Tallon Bridge, which could be closed for weeks because of a massive washout.
Off Hinkler Ave, on Thornhill St, a dozen cars and a large truck, all covered in mud, sat higgledy piggledy across the road, seemingly parked there by their owners with the hope it was high enough ground.
It wasn't.
A brick house in Thornhill St has also disappeared - all that remains are bricks all over the road and the adjacent cricket ground, where mountains of debris had collected.
Nine News shows the damages of the Bundaberg floods up close, as army personnel come to help the clean up effort.
Around the corner in Wilmot St, the army was checking door to door to make sure properties were safe.
The devastation is huge, but the heart of Bundy is bigger and its people will bounce back.
But it will need help - lots of it.
Reporting by Leisa Scott, Kathleen Donaghey and AAP
The Prime Minister Julia Gillard has toured flood ravaged communities in Queensland's Wide Bay region.
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