Watching how high Mary floods | Fraser Coast News | Local News in Fraser Coast

Thursday will be the day to watch for the boat owners moored at the Mary River Marina as flood waters race downstream. Owner Neville Foord has the marina prepared.

Valerie Horton

WHILE MOST were sitting inside out of the rain yesterday, the owner of the Mary River Marina Neville Foord was on flood-alert mode.

Responsible for the safety of all craft moored at the marina, Mr Foord had watched with interest over the past few days as first the Mary River was forecast not to flood and then yesterday predicted to reach a height of 13 metres over the coming days.

That meant a busy day on the water preparing the 25 boats moored at the marina and clearing away debris.

“Every owner was keen to know what was happening,” he said.

“While we are already prepared for this kind of event, there’s an expected flood height of 13 metres.

“The river is running very fast now because we’ve had a large amount of rain in the Mt Joseph region.

“I was here for the 1999 flood and at the moment it’s concerning.”

While the weather bureau reports have been changing on an almost daily basis, yesterday they were still saying the Mary River would peak below the minor flood level.

On the weather front they say the rain will clear with scattered showers tomorrow and isolated showers on Wednesday.

Should the Mary River reach flood heights, the boats at the marina would be moved downstream to either Beaver Rock or out to the Great Sandy Strait.

Mr Foord said he would be watching the weather forecast very closely today.

“Everyone looks to me for advice so I’ll be watching closely in case it’s necessary to evacuate.

“Most the boats are handling it pretty well so far, which is good.

“There are a lot of big logs and trees coming through.”