IT CAME as no surprise to Chris Onyeajum when floodwaters cascaded through his Enid Street home in Goodna last year.
The home had flooded twice before, but this time the flood was like nothing the father of eight had seen before.
He knew it wasn’t going to be the last, so he started investigating who he could sell the flood damaged house to and more importantly for how much.
With Enid Street labelled as the “ground zero” point of the flood it soon became apparent no-one wanted to go anywhere near the area.
The answers to his prayers came when the Federal and State Government’s announced their Voluntary Home buy-back program and agreed to pay out based on house valuations before the flood.
“I didn’t hesitate, and I was so grateful we could shed the house and its mortgage,” he said.
“We got the pay-out in early December, and it was like celebrating Christmas twice.”
On Monday Chris was invited back to Enid Street to attend a press conference announcing the buy-back of the 100th flood prone Ipswich home.
As he walked down the street, he noticed several houses remaining with residents inside and shook his head as to why the owners of the homes were refusing to sell and get out.
“I suggest they do a quick re-think before the Resilient Homes Fund is no longer, otherwise they can expect another flood to smash through their homes and the house prices will plummet further,” he said.
While 100 houses have been processed under the fund another 48 flood prone homeowners have agreed to terms and their homes will soon be demolished.
In all 207 offers have been presented to Ipswich owners in suburbs such as Bundamba, North Booval, Karalee and West Ipswich. The removal of many homes in Enid Street has opened a large green space area and council is looking to residents for ideas on how to use this area.
