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5:43AM Tuesday 02 December, 2008

Home floods again

23 September 2008

| By Grant Reynolds

A Noosa mother and her two daughters have been forced from their home after a council drain overflowed and flooded their house in the early hours of Friday morning.

Water from the triangular Good Shepherd Lutheran College site is supposed to be channelled towards a drain at the back of the school, where it takes a near-90- degree turn and runs behind houses at Seacove Court, in Noosa Waters.

But an avalanche of garden mulch and the sheer volume of liquid forced the water through the fence at the rear of Karen Fowler’s rented house.

“At 3am my youngest daughter came in and said the house was flooded,” she said.

“It was ankle deep throughout the whole house.”

Ms Fowler said the flood had damaged furniture, clothing and electrical equipment, including her stereo and beloved electric guitar.

It is the second time the drain has overflowed and Ms Fowler is dismayed she is the person to bear the consequences.

“They (council and Good Shepherd) pass the buck over who’s responsible,” she said.

“I’m not staying here (at home) as a consequence of having to wake up to ankle-deep water. Maybe somebody has to take responsibility.”

SES crews were called around 3am to pump the water from the house and empty the pool.

The entire house was strewn with garden debris and bark mulch had poured out through the front door and garage.

Noosa SES controller Dave Hanchard said crews had sandbagged the house and pumped out water for about two hours. No other houses in the area had been affected.

Despite the heavy rain in pockets, the SES received no other calls for assistance.

The Sunshine Coast council’s manager of works operations, Michael Hagan, said staff were investigating the cause of the overflow.

Good Shepherd Lutheran College’s head of primary, Iris Hall, said the college and the council had improved the drainage in October 2007, and it was the college’s responsibility to maintain the drains.

Noosa Heads recorded 125mm of rain in the 24 hours to 9am Friday.

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