Brisbane residents are slowly beginning to return home, faced with a massive clean up in the wake of Queensland’s devastating floods.
More than 1000 residents took shelter in evacuation centres as the Brisbane River peaked on Thursday.
Chris Kazonis, who was forced to evacuate his West End home, returned to his house late Thursday afternoon.
“We were one of the first to go back; we just wanted to start cleaning,” Mr Kazonis told Neos Kosmos.
Though the water receded very quickly on Thursday, Mr Kazonis said his family’s house had one metre of water through it.
“They were talking about the tide coming in but we’ve started cleaning, disinfecting and bleaching,” he said, adding “we spent about five or six hours cleaning. There’s a lot of slush, mud from the river that has all come into the house. We just had to hose the whole bottom level of our house and go through cleaning out all the kitchen cupboards”.
Mr Kazonis sandbagged his house but water still got in and came through the stormwater areas, he said.
“Our house had a metre and a half of water after the floods in 1974, so we thought with the Wivenhoe dam in place now that would make about a metre’s difference, but it didn’t,” he said, quick to add “it could have been worse”.
While the water is still on electricity is yet to be turned back on, Mr Kazonis said. Roads are open but covered in mud and slush, so people have been advised to drive very carefully.
Mr Kazonis, who is also involved with the Greek Orthodox Community of St George, said a couple of community members in lower areas of West End had their houses totally submerged in water whilst many others have had water through their houses.
Some train lines are operating again, Ms Laoudikos said, as she was able to travel by train on Friday from South Brisbane into the CBD.
“I am surprised how quickly the water is receding, but also amazed at how far the water came up. From Brisbane River it would have crossed four streets,” she said.
Some supermarkets were closed on Friday and many were forced to close after running out of stock. “I had to go to a few different supermarkets to find things,” Ms Laoudikos said.
“People initially were panicking and stocking up, so there wasn’t much stuff left on the shelves. I’m not sure when they will open up again”.
The Greek community supplied their elderly respite clients with food to take home earlier in the week, however due to power cuts the food wouldn’t last longer than a couple of days, Ms Laoudikos said.
“We’re now ringing clients to make sure they’re okay, to see if they need food or if they have any concerns, and we’ll take it from there. Hopefully most people will be okay”.
The death toll currently stands at 15, while 61 people are still reported as missing in the Lockyer Valley and Ipswich regions in Queensland.