In 2011, Frank King was attempting to move his car to higher ground when he was swept away by a raging torrent of water rushing through Grantham in south-east Queensland.
King, then 66, managed to grab a tree and held on for 90 desperate minutes as the force of the water tore his trousers from his body.
For years afterwards he felt survivor guilt because of the 13 other lives lost in the flash flood that made global headlines that day.
When flood victims later called for Grantham to be moved to higher ground, the local council pioneered a land swap, which gave residents a block of land on the high side of town well beyond flood level in exchange for their flooded block.
But those who did the swap had to pay to move their house and clear their old block.
Despite wanting to go, Frank, his wife Therese and their son Thomas couldn’t afford to take up the offer.
“It cost other people almost $100,000. At our age, no one was going to lend us that sort of money,” King said. “What they were offering was totally out of our reach. We couldn’t afford to take it.”
This week, the Kings’s property flooded for the third time in 11 years. Again, Frank was in the thick of the action, rescuing neighbour Karen Goodwin from her low-set house as the water reached her chest.
Rescued by a State Emergency Services crew, they spent the next three nights at the Grantham fire station until the water subsided.
Now, the Kings and Goodwin are among thousands facing the agonising decision whether to rebuild or relocate.
Goodwin, 61, whose elderly parents live with her, also couldn’t afford to take up the 2011 land swap. But after the shock of the past week, including a follow-up evacuation on Thursday, she’s desperate to escape the flood-prone plain.
She said she had only just returned home to clean up when she was told to leave again. “I was only there five minutes and the [flood] siren went off,” she said.
“The water was already across the road … I was crying. I’ve never been a quitter but I’m ready to just walk away. I can’t deal with this.
“There is a fear every time it rains – is it going to come up? Will I need to get rescued?”
‘Is it going to keep getting worse?’
In Chinderah in northern New South Wales, Mick and Kelly Hobbins’s home stands out for its mint-green colour and stained timber patio.
You can tell a considerable degree of thought went into the renovation and redecorating that followed the floods in 2017.
“See this leather couch,” says Kelly, pointing to the pile of mud-soaked furniture on the curb last week. “I waited 18 weeks for this to be delivered from Italy after the last flood. How stupid.”
Kelly’s 50th birthday party, held on their back deck a month earlier, was supposed to herald a change in fortune for the pair, after they lost Kelly’s sister to cancer and one of their two golden retrievers late last year.
Ruben, the second dog, died three weeks ago.
Now, for the second time in five years, the Hobbins have been hard at work clearing damaged furniture from their home.
Last time the water went through ankle deep. They had insurance, unlike many of their neighbours, and didn’t hesitate when it came to rebuilding.
While they borrowed money to put an extension out the back of the two-bedroom cottage, they didn’t see much reason to go higher.
“Last time was going to be the biggest one we ever saw, once every 100 years,” Mick says.
But five years later, the flood waters returned, only this time they gushed 1.2 metres through the house.
Still, having lived in Chinderah since 2005, they are keen to stay. But there might be compromises this time.
“Last time it was a matter of let’s make [the house] the way we want to. This time it will be let’s make it the way we have to,” Mick says.
Asked whether the lower parts of Chinderah should not be rebuilt on again, Mick, who spent decades in Lismore and is familiar with floods, can see both sides.
“It’s a hard question because this is people’s homes and that’s where they want to live.
“Everyone who’s lived near a river has to understand that rivers flood. You know it’s going to happen again. Hopefully not like this. And hopefully in 95 years not five years.
“Saying that, is it going to keep getting worse? Is the next one going to get even higher?”
In Grantham, Lockyer Valley regional council has completed the land swap project and has no more land available for people to move above the flood zone.
But councillor Janice Holstein said on Thursday the council would consider developing more land – if more of the dozens of residents on the low side of town are willing to move.
“We could not stop people rebuilding their place if it was flooded,” she said.
For Goodwin, now is “crunch time”.
“Right this minute I haven’t got a clue what I’m going to do. Where I’m going to go.
“I have to get out. There’s really no choice. I do really have to go.”
