Floods probe to hear desperate final phone call

The Queensland floods Commission of Inquiry. Photo / AAP

The inquiry into the Queensland floods will hear the distressing final phone calls of a mother and son killed in the Toowoomba flash flood.

The Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry is sitting in Toowoomba for five days over the next two weeks, to examine the circumstances around the January 10 flash flood.

The raging brown torrent killed local woman Donna Rice and her son Jordan, 13, who were driving in the CBD.

Flooding then hit the Lockyer Valley below, where 17 died and three are still missing, presumed dead.

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Elizabeth Wilson, gave a preview of the issues to be canvassed at the Toowoomba hearings.

She said the Rice's triple zero calls would be distressing, but would be played in order to examine the operator's behaviour, and whether it is appropriate for emergency calls to be transferred out of the area when there is an "unanticipated spike".

Jordan Rice's younger brother Blake, 10, was saved by passer-by Christopher Skehan, whose statement is before the commission.

Two experts will be called before the inquiry to give opinion on the drainage and hydrology of the city, and whether the Cooby Dam curtailed or contributed to the flooding, Ms Wilson said.

"We need to know in this instance where the wall of water came from and why it hit communities with such intensity," she said.

The inquiry was shown Toowoomba council CCTV footage from the CBD on January 10, which showed the rapid build-up of floodwaters in the CBD.

The dramatic flood was over in about two hours, with the water rising to its roaring peak in 35 minutes.

The inquiry was also shown the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) rainfall radar from that afternoon, which suggested nothing out of the ordinary, Toowoomba Regional Council chief executive Ken Gouldthorp said.

"There was nothing from that that our dam event management people picked up that (showed) the event was about to unfold here in Toowoomba," he said.

Mr Gouldthorp is expected to be questioned about the council's preparedness and response to the emergency.

BoM Queensland regional director Jim Davidson will also give evidence about the weather on that day, and how amateur weather bloggers seemed to forecast disaster in the Lockyer Valley, where officials did not.

Residents of the Lockyer Valley have been allowed to give submissions to the inquiry in private, but Ms Wilson said relatives of some victims would give evidence at the hearings if they wished.

The inquiry will probe whether Lockyer Valley Regional Council was of the appropriate size and capability to lead the recovery process, and why the town of Grantham was cordoned off from residents for so long after the disaster.

The inquiry before Justice Catherine Holmes continues.

- AAP