00:02Water up to the windows. This was Rhiannon Harris' Bundaberg East home last week.
00:09When we first came in on Thursday night, there was still water in the laundry, there was still water in
00:13the backyard, there was mud everywhere.
00:16The smell was something that you just can't even imagine.
00:19Inside the house, most of their belongings were destroyed.
00:22The family has insurance but would consider selling to the government if it was on offer.
00:29If they were willing to buy it back at something that I could afford to then move into a home
00:34that wasn't going to be flood affected,
00:36or putting in a scheme that would allow me to raise my home so that I was out of the
00:40flood levels.
00:41Clearly this government needs to look at both of those options.
00:45It's just not fair to keep putting people back into homes that we know will flood again.
00:50More than 200 properties were inundated when the Burnett River peaked at 7.4 metres.
00:572,000 insurance claims have since been lodged across the Bundaberg and Burnett regions.
01:03And after three floods in 16 years, the community is still vulnerable.
01:08Obviously we would want to see some work done in that mitigation space so that residents and businesses in Bundaberg
01:15feel like there is some additional protection for them.
01:18Flood gates in Saltwater Creek are now the number one priority.
01:23Before we launch into other mitigation options, I think this is the one where the community sentiment is telling us
01:31that it needs to be done.
01:32A $175 million Bundaberg East flood levy was jointly funded in 2023.
01:38But the project hasn't progressed because the council doesn't want rate payers to foot the ongoing operational costs.
01:47The money is still on the table waiting to be used.
01:51If the levy had been there potentially not as many people would have been displaced as they are.
01:56Get off.
02:01The money was made up.
02:02The money is still on this table waiting to look to the people that they are free of and are
02:04unable to operate fast.
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