Locals tell their flood stories at special gathering
A SPECIAL gathering was held last night to unveil a series of flood stories told by locals affected by the natural disasters.
Southern Downs Mayor Peter Blundell said the DVD was a powerful and moving account of people's personal stories.
It was for this reason the project had been called In Their Own Words.
"Our community development officer Pam Burley has worked incredibly hard on this project and there has been an enormous contribution from community members, businesses and emergency personnel," Cr Blundell said.
"One of the most significant images for Pam was when one of the recovery volunteers told her about a clean-up at an older woman's house at Warwick.
"The volunteer saw the woman's photo albums being piled up with other damaged books.
"Being a young person, she recognised that these photos were a lifetime of memories at risk of being destroyed by the flood damage.
"She gathered them out of the damaged pile of books from the bookshelf, cleaned each photo individually and pegged them out to dry on a clothesline.
"This story says so much about the spirit of goodwill that surrounded this devastating weather event."
Cr Blundell said the project had been funded through an initiative of the Australian and Queensland governments.
