Five-point plan to tackle flooding

Pictures above and below: Grant Street during the floods of 2022 and 2025.

Help may be on the way for two flood-prone Moreton Bay streets where “raw sewerage, faeces, toilet paper” have washed into some homes.

Moreton Bay City Councillors have backed proposals to alleviate flooding in Grant and Shields Streets, Redcliffe and look for longer-term solutions.

Recommendations include new storm water inlet pits, temporary flood barriers, more regular inspections and clearing “critical” storm water infrastructure.

Also, a comprehensive Drainage Improvement and Flood Mitigation Study and lobbying the State Government for a property buyback program.

But, CEO Scott Waters said Council faces historic challenges due to the age of some infrastructure and more frequent and damaging rainfall events.

Parts of the storm water system in Grant and Shields streets date back to the 1960s and 1980s and do not meet Council’s current design standards.

The area has a history of flooding, most recently in May 2015, February 2022, March this year and again on April 12 when more than 80mm fell in one hour.

One resident, Lucy Salerno, told Councillors last week the issue was “not rainwater coming down, but storm water coming up”.

“Drains are on the street and for some of us, in our backyards,” she said, using the Community Comment platform in Council's General Meetings.

“We have a culvert leading to the ocean at the end of the street, but water doesn’t make it out there, it seems to back up through drains and into our homes.

“The sewerage lines are impacted and we end up with raw sewerage, faeces, toilet paper in our properties.”

Ms Salerno said her home insurance had “almost tripled” since the 2022 flood and “other owners are now so affected their properties are uninsurable”.

She said water from towards Redcliffe showgrounds and state high school appears to divert into Grant St's drains which are “not wide enough to cope”.

“The water seems to bottleneck and then rise through the drain into our properties,” Ms Salerno said.

“No steps have been taken by Council to reduce the flooding to our properties.”

CEO Scott Waters responded saying Council is working across the City of Moreton Bay Local Government Area (LGA) to "make us more resilient”.

He said the area is seeing higher intensity rain, flash floods and in 2022 a “historic rainfall event" with "water coming up in areas we had never seen before”.

“Council has a program to work closely with the Queensland Reconstruction Authority and Federal Government for disaster relief funds that are available."

Mr Waters said Council is looking to “have the next 100 years of the City of Moreton Bay as resilient as possible when it comes to flooding, fire and a whole range of other disasters".

Cr Karl Winchester (Div 6) said three major weather events in the past decade have seen flooding in Grant St and residents are "reeling from those impacts".

“This report (to Council) notes the compounding issues go back some 110 years. We’ve had numerous reports undertaken," he said.

“In my layman’s view, a lot of it stems from water up the catchment (direction of Klingner Rd and Redcliffe State High School) coming down to Grant and Shields Sts.

“I greatly support the options put before Council, including reopening the flood buyback program, which for some of the residents, particularly the units which are repeatedly affected, is one of the few ways forward for them."

Council officers told the meeting it was a “complex situation that requires a complex solution” and suggested a combination of strategies may be needed.

Multiple flood studies have been done in the area including in 2000 by Redcliffe City Council and 2010, 2014 and 2014-15 by Moreton Bay Regional Council.