Sunday Telegraph - Queensland

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| JANUARY 16 2011 | 27 ** The Sunday Telegraph Read the best from around the world online www.telegraph.co.uk/world INTERNATIONAL NEWS THREE DAYS ago, a stranger turned up on the back porch at the home of John Tyson, who lost his partner, Donna Rice, and their son, Jordan, in the Queensland floods. Mr Tyson had never met the softly spoken man who appeared at his door, but knew immediately who it was: one of two strangers — the so- called Good Samaritans — who had saved his youngest son, Blake, 10. Yet it was never going to be an easy encounter. To the enduring horror of the two rescuers, after hauling Blake to safety they were unable to reach the mother and older boy before the pair were swept away by the torrents. The death of 13-year-old Jordan has become one of the emblematic tales of Queens- land’s devastating floods: it quickly emerged that he had insisted that rescuers save his brother, Blake, before they came back for him. The boys and their mother had been trapped in their car by the sudden flash flood that swept through the inland town of Toowoomba on Monday. A wall of water hit the streets without warning — part of an “inland tsunami” that has rav- aged the countryside and torn apart entire towns. The two men who saved Blake were strangers to each other and to the family they helped. They roped them- selves to a nearby post before braving the gushing torrents, filled with wreckage and debris. Photographs taken by residents have now emerged, showing the two men clinging to a street sign as they desper- ately try to save the trapped family. Warren McErlean decided he wanted to meet the father of the boy he had carried to safety, but was tormented by thoughts of how Jordan and his mother had been swept away. It was not until 72 hours later, on Thursday, that he steeled himself to turn up unannounced at the Tyson house, and offer his condo- lences. But in the end, it was he who was comforted by the man he had come to console. As Blake sat watching tele- vision in the front room of the family’s single-storey timber house, Mr Tyson told The Sun- day Telegraph of his first encounter with his son’s res- cuer. “I knew he might be plagued by a few demons,” he said. “In fact he was shattered by everything. “I said that I knew he had done the best he could and that I could be mourning three. Apparently, he has taken it hard. If I can help him with it — well, he helped me.” Mr McErlean, 37, who owns a business building sheds, was with his wife Debora yester- day, driving his truck around the nearby town of Postman’s Ridge, offering help to those Jordan Rice, 13, top, and his brother Blake, 10. Right, Blake with rescuers after being plucked from the flood LUKAS COCH / ZEITENSPIEGEL/ NEWSPIX / REX FEATURES A photograph taken by a Toowoomba resident shows an unnamed rescuer (front) and Warren McErlean (also pictured top right) during their daring rescue of Blake Rice, son of John Tyson, above whose houses had been torn apart. Since his first visit to Mr Tyson and his son, Mr McEr- lean has gone back every day, and says he will keep doing so. He is rarely lost for words, but when asked about the first encounter he fell silent and looked at the ground, before saying simply: “It was intense.” Neither man has been able to contact the other rescuer, whose name they do not know. But, Mr McErlean said, he has now bonded for life with Blake Tyson and his father. “I just wish I could have done more,” he told The Sun- day Telegraph. “It’s been really good going up to see John and Blake. But this whole hero thing bothers me a bit. “Little Jordan is the hero, not me. I’ve been learning a lot about him. I was in his room. Apparently he was a quiet boy and the only thing he cared about was his family.” The day after the tragedy — which happened to be his 46th birthday — Mr Tyson took Blake with him to the morgue to identify the body of his son and Donna, who had been his partner since they met as teen- agers. They also have two older sons. He did not want to see the bodies. But Blake insisted they say goodbye. “There I was on my birthday, looking at Jor- dan’s broken finger sticking out,” says Mr Tyson, not attempting to hold back the tears. “I didn’t want us to go in but Blake insisted. I think it gave him something to cling to — if looking at your dead mum and brother is something to cling to … Some bloody present — identifying my missus and kid.” The second Samaritan’s family members have called local radio to say he is too upset to talk about what hap- pened. Mr McErlean says he can never forget watching the fam- ily debate in what order they should be saved. “There was commotion in the car. Jordan was arguing because he wanted the younger boy to go first. I found out later that he did this even though he couldn’t swim. “The other man just looked at me and I looked at him. We shook our heads. We knew the current was too strong. It was tragic. Blake was just scream- ing for his mum, saying ‘Please save Mum, please save my mum’.” Seeing Jordan being carried off, his mother let go of the branch she had clung to and went after him to try to save him. “She would not have wanted it any other way,” said Mr Tyson. “If Jordan went by himself, she would have been devastated. They had a special bond, those three.” The “inland tsunami” on Monday was up to 150 yards wide and tore through any- thing in its way. It ripped can- yons into the land and swept up houses, cars and trucks around the riverways. As many as 28 people listed as missing may yet remain deep beneath the debris. Beau Nunn, a 51-year-old country singer, watched from his rooftop in Grantham as waterborne debris slammed into surrounding houses. He saw cars, houses, concrete water tanks and even an empty Cessna plane rushing past in the torrent. “It was like being on a houseboat dodging mis- siles,” he said. “If any one of those things would have hit our house, we would have been in the drink. We just sat there watching and freaking.” There is wreckage every- where you go across south- west Queensland. Trees and power poles lie upended on river banks. Piles of discarded muck contain relics from destroyed homes: mattresses, clothes, books, doors, tennis rackets, toys, washing machines and prams. Evacuees from the worst-hit towns have recalled the destruction — and many other incredible acts of bravery. The feats of Ray Van Dijk and Daniel Moore, who hauled dozens to safety in a canoe, are fast turning into legend among the survivors of Grantham, the inland town- ship which has become known as “ground zero” of the devas- tating floods. The pair guided the wooden boat, which Mr Van Dijk bought for his daughters from a roadside stall, around their local streets to rescue neigh- bours. The chest-high water was moving too fast to paddle against, so the pair held on to the canoe and waded through instead. At a house that no longer had walls they found an eld- erly couple, standing in shock in chest-high water. They found a family of four trapped in the rising waters in another house and dragged them to safety through a win- dow. Daniel Watkins, 41, a Grantham resident who was saved along with his wife, Sharon, 40, and daughter, Claire, 13, said of the pair: “They were coming along with the canoe, calling out ‘Is any- body there? Is anybody there?’ “They got us to their house. Then they went off again and just kept coming back with more people … I can’t say how many they saved. I think we ended up with about two dozen people at their house.” Mr Moore, 41, who fits fire safety systems, said: “I’m not special. We just did what had to be done.” Mr Van Dijk, 46, a security guard, admitted to fear, but quickly added that he was a keen fisherman — his grandfa- ther was a Dutch commercial angler — and he “has never been scared of water”. In this inland valley area, creeks usually run dry or at a trickle and drought is a con- stant threat. But the slow- moving waterways turned ferocious last week, as a body of water the size of Sydney harbour made its way across the state. The capital of Queensland, Brisbane, was hit on Thursday, bringing the city to a stand- still. Thousands of homes and businesses were lost, as riverside suburbs were left underwater. More than 100,000 homes had their power cut; police prowled on boats for looters (10 were arrested); galleries and librar- ies were forced to evacuate precious artworks and books. Yesterday it emerged that a 23-month-old baby was prob- ably the youngest victim of the flood. Jessica Keep was torn from the arms of her mother Stacey by the wall of water that hit Grantham, and remains unaccounted for. The only reprieve last week came when, despite the heavi- est rainfall for 10 years, the river peaked at levels lower than expected. Brisbane itself was so well prepared that the only fatality was a 24-year-old man who went to check on his father’s property and was dragged into a stormwater drain. But up river, in the Lockyer Valley, police and soldiers are still scouring the debris for bodies. The debris is thick and even the smells can be misleading: they are frequently from ani- mal corpses or rotting meat. Farmers and townsfolk are returning to their properties, where they are forced to decide quickly whether to try to clean up or just bulldoze what is left of their houses. The entire town of Grantham has been declared a crime scene until the bodies have been retrieved. Toowoomba has started the monumental task of rebuild- ing, but families remain torn apart, some waiting for answers that may never come. The wife and son of James Perry, a racing steward who was seen with them, in strik- ing television footage, perched on the roof of their floating car, are still waiting for word of his fate. They were winched to safety, but he has disap- peared. He is almost certainly dead. Meanwhile Jordan Rice’s exploits have become cele- brated on Facebook, where a tribute page has attracted hundreds of thousands of fol- lowers. He would have shunned the attention if he were living, says his father. “He was an introverted boy and he would have shied away from all that,” Mr Tyson said. “But he should get some kudos. He gave his life to save his brother. He deserves his time to shine.” Little Jordan is the hero. A quiet boy, the only thing he cared about was family

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Story on Jordan Rice, who died during flash flooding in Toowoomba, published in the Sunday Telegraph.

Transcript of Sunday Telegraph - Queensland

Page 1: Sunday Telegraph - Queensland

| JANUARY 16 2011 | 27* *

* ** ** *

The Sunday Telegraph

Read the best from around the world online www.telegraph.co.uk/world

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

THREE DAYS ago, a stranger turned up on the back porch at the home of John Tyson, who lost his partner, Donna Rice, and their son, Jordan, in the Queensland floods.

Mr Tyson had never met the softly spoken man who appeared at his door, but knew immediately who it was: one of two strangers — the so-called Good Samaritans — who had saved his youngest son, Blake, 10.

Yet it was never going to be an easy encounter. To the enduring horror of the two rescuers, after hauling Blake to safety they were unable to reach the mother and older boy before the pair were swept away by the torrents.

The death of 13-year-old Jordan has become one of the emblematic tales of Queens-land’s devastating floods: it quickly emerged that he had insisted that rescuers save his brother, Blake, before they came back for him.

The boys and their mother had been trapped in their car by the sudden flash flood that swept through the inland town of Toowoomba on Monday. A wall of water hit the streets without warning — part of an “inland tsunami” that has rav-aged the countryside and torn apart entire towns.

The two men who saved Blake were strangers to each other and to the family they helped. They roped them-selves to a nearby post before braving the gushing torrents, filled with wreckage and debris. Photographs taken by residents have now emerged, showing the two men clinging to a street sign as they desper-ately try to save the trapped family.

Warren McErlean decided he wanted to meet the father of the boy he had carried to safety, but was tormented by thoughts of how Jordan and his mother had been swept away. It was not until 72 hours later, on Thursday, that he steeled himself to turn up unannounced at the Tyson house, and offer his condo-lences.

But in the end, it was he who was comforted by the man he had come to console.

As Blake sat watching tele-vision in the front room of the family’s single-storey timber house, Mr Tyson told The Sun-day Telegraph of his first encounter with his son’s res-cuer. “I knew he might be plagued by a few demons,” he said. “In fact he was shattered by everything.

“I said that I knew he had done the best he could and that I could be mourning three. Apparently, he has taken it hard. If I can help him with it — well, he helped me.”

Mr McErlean, 37, who owns a business building sheds, was with his wife Debora yester-day, driving his truck around the nearby town of Postman’s Ridge, offering help to those

Jordan Rice, 13, top, and his brother Blake, 10. Right, Blake with rescuers after being plucked from the flood

LUKAS COCH / ZEITENSPIEGEL/ NEWSPIX / REX FEATURES

A photograph taken by a Toowoomba resident shows an unnamed rescuer (front) and Warren McErlean (also pictured top right) during their daring rescue of Blake Rice, son of John Tyson, above

whose houses had been torn apart.

Since his first visit to Mr Tyson and his son, Mr McEr-lean has gone back every day, and says he will keep doing so. He is rarely lost for words, but when asked about the first encounter he fell silent and looked at the ground, before saying simply: “It was intense.”

Neither man has been able to contact the other rescuer, whose name they do not know. But, Mr McErlean said, he has now bonded for life with Blake Tyson and his father.

“I just wish I could have done more,” he told The Sun-day Telegraph.

“It’s been really good going up to see John and Blake. But this whole hero thing bothers me a bit.

“Little Jordan is the hero, not me. I’ve been learning a lot about him. I was in his room. Apparently he was a quiet boy and the only thing he cared about was his family.”

The day after the tragedy —which happened to be his 46th birthday — Mr Tyson took Blake with him to the morgue to identify the body of his son and Donna, who had been his partner since they met as teen-agers. They also have two older sons.

He did not want to see the

bodies. But Blake insisted they say goodbye. “There I was on my birthday, looking at Jor-dan’s broken finger sticking out,” says Mr Tyson, not attempting to hold back the tears.

“I didn’t want us to go in but Blake insisted. I think it gave him something to cling to — if looking at your dead mum and brother is something to cling to … Some bloody present —

identifying my missus and kid.”

The second Samaritan’s family members have called local radio to say he is too upset to talk about what hap-pened.

Mr McErlean says he can never forget watching the fam-ily debate in what order they should be saved. “There was commotion in the car. Jordan was arguing because he

wanted the younger boy to go first. I found out later that he did this even though he couldn’t swim.

“The other man just looked at me and I looked at him. We shook our heads. We knew the current was too strong. It was tragic. Blake was just scream-ing for his mum, saying ‘Please save Mum, please save my mum’.”

Seeing Jordan being carried off, his mother let go of the branch she had clung to and went after him to try to save him. “She would not have wanted it any other way,” said Mr Tyson. “If Jordan went by himself, she would have been devastated. They had a special bond, those three.”

The “inland tsunami” on Monday was up to 150 yards wide and tore through any-thing in its way. It ripped can-yons into the land and swept up houses, cars and trucks around the riverways. As many as 28 people listed as missing may yet remain deep beneath the debris.

Beau Nunn, a 51-year-old country singer, watched from his rooftop in Grantham as waterborne debris slammed into surrounding houses. He saw cars, houses, concrete water tanks and even an empty Cessna plane rushing past in the torrent. “It was like being

on a houseboat dodging mis-siles,” he said. “If any one of those things would have hit our house, we would have been in the drink. We just sat there watching and freaking.”

There is wreckage every-where you go across south-west Queensland. Trees and power poles lie upended on river banks. Piles of discarded muck contain relics from destroyed homes: mattresses, clothes, books, doors, tennis rackets, toys, washing machines and prams.

Evacuees from the worst-hit towns have recalled the destruction — and many other incredible acts of bravery.

The feats of Ray Van Dijk and Daniel Moore, who hauled dozens to safety in a canoe, are fast turning into legend among the survivors of Grantham, the inland town-ship which has become known as “ground zero” of the devas-tating floods.

The pair guided the wooden boat, which Mr Van Dijk bought for his daughters from a roadside stall, around their local streets to rescue neigh-bours. The chest-high water was moving too fast to paddle against, so the pair held on to the canoe and waded through instead.

At a house that no longer had walls they found an eld-erly couple, standing in shock in chest-high water.

They found a family of four trapped in the rising waters in another house and dragged them to safety through a win-dow. Daniel Watkins, 41, a Grantham resident who was saved along with his wife, Sharon, 40, and daughter, Claire, 13, said of the pair: “They were coming along with the canoe, calling out ‘Is any-body there? Is anybody there?’

“They got us to their house. Then they went off again and just kept coming back with more people … I can’t say how many they saved. I think we ended up with about two dozen people at their house.”

Mr Moore, 41, who fits fire safety systems, said: “I’m not special. We just did what had to be done.”

Mr Van Dijk, 46, a security guard, admitted to fear, but quickly added that he was a keen fisherman — his grandfa-ther was a Dutch commercial angler — and he “has never been scared of water”.

In this inland valley area, creeks usually run dry or at a trickle and drought is a con-stant threat. But the slow-moving waterways turned ferocious last week, as a body of water the size of Sydney harbour made its way across the state.

The capital of Queensland, Brisbane, was hit on Thursday, bringing the city to a stand-still. Thousands of homes and businesses were lost, as riverside suburbs were left underwater. More than

100,000 homes had their power cut; police prowled on boats for looters (10 were arrested); galleries and librar-ies were forced to evacuate precious artworks and books.

Yesterday it emerged that a 23-month-old baby was prob-ably the youngest victim of the flood. Jessica Keep was torn from the arms of her mother Stacey by the wall of water that hit Grantham, and remains unaccounted for.

The only reprieve last week came when, despite the heavi-est rainfall for 10 years, the river peaked at levels lower than expected.

Brisbane itself was so well prepared that the only fatality was a 24-year-old man who went to check on his father’s property and was dragged into

a stormwater drain. But up river, in the Lockyer Valley, police and soldiers are still scouring the debris for bodies. The debris is thick and even the smells can be misleading: they are frequently from ani-mal corpses or rotting meat.

Farmers and townsfolk are returning to their properties, where they are forced to decide quickly whether to try to clean up or just bulldoze what is left of their houses.

The entire town of Grantham has been declared a crime scene until the bodies have been retrieved.

Toowoomba has started the monumental task of rebuild-ing, but families remain torn apart, some waiting for answers that may never come.

The wife and son of James

Perry, a racing steward who was seen with them, in strik-ing television footage, perched on the roof of their floating car, are still waiting for word of his fate. They were winched to safety, but he has disap-peared. He is almost certainly dead.

Meanwhile Jordan Rice’s exploits have become cele-brated on Facebook, where a tribute page has attracted hundreds of thousands of fol-lowers. He would have shunned the attention if he were living, says his father.

“He was an introverted boy and he would have shied away from all that,” Mr Tyson said. “But he should get some kudos. He gave his life to save his brother. He deserves his time to shine.”

Little Jordan is the hero. A quiet boy, the only thing he cared about was family