Piles of debris are growing, north of Brisbane as hundreds try to recover from a second flood in two years. The government is probing the state's preparedness and response to the disaster. But some are calling for a new buyback scheme so they can leave the nightmare behind.
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00:00 The streets of Bray Park are a dumping ground for furniture.
00:08 Lives reduced to piles of possessions that just keep growing as the clean up from another
00:14 flood continues.
00:15 "Big problem mate.
00:16 The government and the council have got to get this right."
00:19 "After every disaster we do do a review of what happened, of our response and of what's
00:24 needed for recovery."
00:25 Days after Monday's flood, the damage bill is still rising.
00:29 "Family, friends, random people from other streets up and us, just dragging everything
00:35 we belong, that belongs to us, out in the front."
00:39 Reggie Matthews lost more than $100,000 after the tide swallowed his tools, car and home.
00:46 "I didn't actually realise it was my roommate Justin.
00:49 He thought we were getting broken into.
00:53 He's rushed up and said Reggie, we're getting flooded."
00:57 "I woke up to the fridge flipping from the water and broke the glass window, but that's
01:01 before I knew it was flooded.
01:02 I thought someone was breaking in so I jumped up into a pile of water."
01:06 That water inundated 400 homes across Bray Park, including Blake Cohen's, who'd been
01:12 thinking of moving since the 2022 floods.
01:15 "Obviously now it's probably going to be a bit harder for us.
01:17 It's like no one's going to want to buy a house that's been flooded twice in a few years."
01:22 Residents are calling on the state and federal governments to consider buying back repeatedly
01:26 affected properties from owners, similar to what was done after 2022.
01:30 "If the Queensland government wishes to come to us with a new proposal, then we'd of course
01:34 consider that."
01:35 "It would definitely help us follow our mission this year to get our own new place, like a
01:40 dream home type thing."
01:41 [BLANK_AUDIO]