A former Marlborough man living in Queensland has returned home from a family holiday in New Zealand to find his house, and his town, relatively unscathed by the floodwaters that devastated much of the state.
Dean Comerford, his wife and two children arrived back in their new hometown of Gympie on Wednesday, a year after first moving there.
Mr Comerford, originally from Southland, lived in Marlborough in the late 1980s. The family holidayed in New Zealand for three weeks, missing the floods.
Mr Comerford's wife was glad the family missed the flood, but Mr Comerford, a church pastor, said it took away a shared experience with the community.
Gympie, a town of about 30,000 people 170 kilometres north of Brisbane, was prone to flooding and experienced five minor floods last year, Mr Comerford said.
Most of the town was built quite high, so was relatively safe from major flood damage and residents were used to constant flooding, he said. However, about 100 homes were flooded, roads were damaged, culverts blocked, sports grounds and public spaces filled with water, and some bridges damaged beyond repair.
Mr Comerford said the business of a member of his congregation had been completely under water, along with the business across the road and two others. A creek bed surrounded that part of the town and because of frequent flooding, there was little building done there.
"[The residents of Gympie] are well prepared for flooding.
"When they know a flood is coming, trucks and volunteers turn up to prepare the town, without them being being asked to," Mr Comerford said.
Business owners knew what items were at risk of water damage and packed them on trucks to take to higher ground and most businesses were now up and running again. Supermarket shelves, however, were still bare, and the price of fruit and vegetables had skyrocketed, with apples costing $8 a kilogram, he said.
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