Overview
- On day two, neighbor Anne South described racing chest‑deep floodwater and lifting her daughter and six‑day‑old granddaughter into a roof cavity as a sudden wave hit what had been considered the town’s safe side.
- South told the court she was the last person to see 85‑year‑old Ljubisa “Les” Vugec alive as the fast‑rising torrent overwhelmed homes, with helicopters later rescuing stranded residents from rooftops.
- Rural Fire Service volunteer Patrick Welsh testified he rescued Diane Smith and her son around 7am after an SES evacuation text, dropping them on higher ground he believed was safe before she was later seen clinging to a tree and found deceased two days afterward.
- Opening submissions said upstream gauges at Toogong and Smithfield failed to provide timely data, and a 9:07am Bureau of Meteorology warning forecast an afternoon peak that did not reflect the extreme flooding already occurring.
- Evidence recapped the disaster’s scale, with about 150 people rescued or airlifted, roughly 80 percent of homes damaged, around 700 residents evacuated, and Mandagery Creek peaking at about 11.2 metres.