Cyclone Alfred brought Brisbane’s fourth major flood in 50 years – can the city be flood-proofed?

Flooding in Newmarket, in Brisbane, on Monday. Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP

David and Sheridan Skinner’s old Queenslander near Norman Creek on Brisbane’s south side bears the marks of the city’s floods, going back more than 50 years.

The pillars holding up the home show where the water came in 1974, 2011, 2022 and again last week, when ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred dumped more than 274mm of rain in a single day on the flood-prone suburbs and creeks.