Trapped by floods and fearing death in the heat: the Australians taking legal action over the climate crisis

Brendon Donohue, who was trapped in his apartment by floods, is one of 10 Australians taking the government to court. Photograph: Rebecca Parker

As flood waters rose in Brisbane’s West End in February 2022, Brendon Donohue was trapped alone in his second-storey apartment for 10 days. The 33-year-old is legally blind and his movement is limited by Peters plus syndrome. He received evacuation alerts on his phone in the middle of the night. But with the lift, intercom and front entrance shut down he had no safe way out of the building.

“It was terrifying,” he says. “The whole street was badly impacted with water. The power went out, which made me not able to contact anyone. I ran out of food but couldn’t get any into the building.”