FACES OF THE FLOODS Thousands Without Power And Hundreds Displaced In Worst Flooding Since 1967

Tucked away in the heart of Queensland, the small village of Macknade became an inaccessible island when rising floodwaters submerged everything but a handful of homes. Surrounded by vast sugarcane fields and waterways, Kimberley Veltmeyer and her family found themselves stranded, clinging to hope and each other. With a mix of preparation, determination, and creativity, they endured, keeping spirits high through art lessons, home-schooling, and a tight-knit neighbourly community. In the face of nature’s fury, this family and their neighbours learned just how resilient they truly were.

Marooned In Macknade A Family In Isolation

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Outside Ingham, nestled between waterways and surrounded by fields of sugar cane is the tiny village of Macknade. It was here that a small family became trapped as the unsafe, murky waters rose, making their little street of six houses an archipelago and their own home an island.
Local teacher and mother, Kimberley Veltmeyer, and her family prepared for the floods as best they could when they were notified by colleagues of its impending arrival that first Friday, the 31st, after school.
“My husband Steven got the fuel, the wine and the cheese, and I got everything else... We quickly drove to Halifax and filled up our own sandbags and moved everything up higher, sacrificing our buffet, dining tables, piano, everything to put our belongings up even higher.”
She never expected the waters to rise as high as they did, and so Kimberley knew this would be a long isolation. With her daughter, Skylah, of school age and a teacher herself she kept everyone as busy as she could to stop the feeling of isolation and cabin fever from setting in.
They have done the best they can on what locals call ‘Macknade Island’. Bounded by the Herbert River on the south and east, the Seymour River on the west and the Hinchinbrook Channel to the north and with the John Rowe bridge condemned, they waited out the flood.
“We've been having art lessons, painting and drawing, building the perfect paper plane. Today we went over equivalent fractions and long division. We've reorganised every cupboard and we watch the dead animals and rubbish float past”
By day seven, they had read almost all their books and played every board game. They stayed positive and hopeful while their two adjacent families evacuated, sharing supplies with the neighbours who remained and checking in on each other by hollering out the windows, becoming firm flood buddies.
“When we call out we need a beer, the neighbours always have a six-pack. If anyone needs fuel, we siphon out the last bit of the mower and we crane our necks to see the blue in the sky. Seeing all the birds flying past, knowing there must be dry land somewhere, and developing keen eyes to see any crocs, snakes and toads.”
“With no power, intermittent internet and phones that only work every two days, and clean water that's only just come back on, this disaster, this hasn’t broken us. It's only made stronger.”
They continued to hope that it would be over soon as Ingham began its cleanup and repairs. They were grateful that their own little archipelago of neighbours was there for each other when not even the SES could make it to such rural properties like theirs.  

On the 8th day, they received emergency fuel supplies by helicopter. Kimberley says that as they watched the road marker’s water levels rise and fall, they’ll remember this disaster for a long time and were glad that they prepared as much as they did.