Inquest views harrowing Qld flood video
A coronial inquest into the deaths of 25 people in Queensland's summer floods has been shown harrowing
footage of people trapped by rising water and cars being swept away.
The inquest will hear evidence from survival experts, police officers and suicide researchers this week, as State Coroner Michael Barnes seeks to determine what caused the deaths.
The 25 victims are Sylvia Baillie, Robert Bromage, Llync-Chiann Clarke, Christopher Face, Jean Gurr, Garry and Joselyn Jibson, Jessica Keep, Robert Kelly, Pauline Magner, Bruce Marshall, Sandra and Steven Matthews, James Cole, Dawn Radke, Donna and Jordan Rice, Brenda and Joshua Ross, Katie and Selwyn Schefe, Reinskje Van der Werff, Bruce Warhurst, Jesse Wickman and Van Giang.
The court heard on Monday that intense rainfall in January this year caused flash flooding of a scale never before experienced before in Queensland's southeast.
Counsel assisting the coroner Peter Johns told the inquiry 22 people died in Toowoomba, the Lockyer Valley and Ipswich between January 10 and 17.
The bodies of another three people caught in flash flooding have never been found, but they too are presumed dead.
The inquiry was shown a video timeline and overview of the destruction, produced by the police taskforce responsible for investigating the deaths.
The video outlined where people were last seen clinging to objects and showed where their bodies were later found.
It detailed the rescue of the Wickman family on January 11 at Minden, near Ipswich.
It said three members of the family were saved, but four-year-old Jesse Wickman was swept away during the rescue.
His body was found about one kilometre downstream from where he was taken by floodwaters.
Mr Johns told the inquiry Jesse's death warranted a separate coronial hearing because it wasn't until five hours after his disappearance that authorities began searching for the boy.
Mr Barnes agreed and adjourned the matter until February 27.
Mr Barnes will determine when and how the flood victims died and examine whether there has been an increase in suicides as a result of the floods.
The scope of the inquest has been reduced, so as to not intrude on the terms of reference of the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry.
The commission, which delivered an interim report in August and will release its final recommendations in February, is investigating the adequacy of early-warning systems, emergency preparations and the response during and after the disaster.
About 70 per cent of the state flooded last summer, killing a total of 35 people.
The inquest continues.
