Warwick East floods twice in a fortnight

9 February 2011

Force of nature ... Warwick State High School shows the after-effects of the floods.

A school flooding once is awful enough.

But spare a thought for Warwick East State School, which was one of the schools to suffer multiple inundations - twice in the space of two weeks.

On December 27 last year, floodwaters ravaged the small 300-student school, with much damage sustained.

Mother Nature showed what an unforgiving, relentless force she can be when, around a fortnight later on January 11, an even larger and more damaging flood engulfed the school.

Among the resources lost were books, shelving, furniture, fridges, sports equipment, cupboards, stoves, an elevator, and much more.

'It was heartbreaking,' principal Warren Elder said. 'We spent days and days after the first flood cleaning, throwing things away, and getting things repaired and replaced - we even had the school professionally cleaned in places.

'Once the school was just starting to fully recover, the second flood hit - even worse this time - and we had to start all over again. It was really gut-wrenching.'

At the highest end of the school on Fitzroy Street, the first flood reached knee height on 1.82m Mr Elder. The second far exceeded that, rising up to his chest level.

Even though the damages bill will continue to rise, Mr Elder embodies the never-say-die Queensland attitude. He remains positive, praising joint efforts from the school staff and community, volunteers, private contractors, QBuild and Education Queensland's facilities team.

'We've heard it in the media plenty of times about these floods bringing out the best in people and the true meaning of community spirit, but it's true,' he said.

'Without the team effort from all these people, we would not have been able to save anywhere near the amount of resources, or get ready for the new school year in time.'

A kilometre or so up the road, Warwick State High School did not experience the same amount of flooding as the primary school but it did not escape unscathed.

The school's agricultural block, oval, fencing, and its Hamilton House building were damaged.

'But I'm happy to say our great staff gave up their holidays to come in and help rescue, salvage and clean what they could,' principal Cheryl Dossetto said.