Grim search in shattered town

Police working to recover bodies in the worst-hit area of flood-ravaged Queensland yesterday described scenes of heartbreak and devastation.

One officer in the Lockyer Valley, about 100km west of Brisbane, said the task of recovering the dead was "simply horrific".

"We are searching for in excess of 30 people and at this stage we are in a body-recovery phase," a police spokesman said.

"We are recovering numerous bodies from the river and are prepared to recover many more."

All of the 12 confirmed deaths in this week's floods were in the Lockyer Valley and the nearby cities of Toowoomba and Ipswich. The body of a man found in a car at Ipswich yesterday is not yet being included in the official count.

Five were in or near the small town of Grantham, which has a population of about 370.

Three people - a woman in her 30s, a young boy and a young girl - were found in a vehicle there, and another man was found inside a house.

An elderly woman was also found dead in the town.

Police and emergency services last night said the total number of missing people in the state was now 43, and grave fears were held for nine.

Land and air access to Grantham was blocked while the police conducted their search.

The police spokesman described the scene emergency personnel faced as heartbreaking.

"The scene behind me is one of complete horror; it is heartbreaking for all of us who are involved."

The Herald Sun reported that police feared rescuers would find a mass underwater grave in the town.

Beneath a railway bridge in the town, up to 30 crumbled cars lie piled up after being washed down stream.

"You'd have to think with 30-odd cars here, we're about to find some pretty unpleasant things," the newspaper quoted an officer as saying.

"I know there is a body in that white car - it's a mother who my husband couldn't get to," a resident, Karen, told the paper. "He got her daughter off the roof but he couldn't get to the mum."

One survivor told how he watched as houses were uprooted and people were tossed around in the surging torrent as he clung to his roof for survival.

Martin Warburton said he tried to grab what he thought were people fighting for their lives - only to realise they were dead and their bodies were being tossed around by the waters.

"You saw arms, hands, grey hair, and that was it. By the time you knelt down, you realise they're not swimming, they're already gone," he told the Seven network.

Mr Warburton, a married father of a young son, spent 12 terrifying hours on a roof awaiting rescue on Tuesday night.

"After going through that and seeing bodies float past, thinking that they are trying to swim ... The water was that turbulent it was just throwing them around."

The town yesterday was devastated. Residents were walking around ruined streets, some unable to speak of the horror.

Mr Warburton said he saw at least two bodies float past as he was trapped on his roof.

He said the floods hit hard and quickly.

"It was basically just get out, just leave everything," he said.

"At first I thought I was all right. Then you started seeing houses get ripped off their stumps and washed down the road ...

"Then they [the waves] were slamming into the side of the building and the building was starting to shake."

He thought "numerous times" that he might die, and as lightning slashed the sky, he decided to get off the roof.

"It was either that or I was going to get hit by lightning."

Mr Warburton swam in the dark to a house behind the local general store, reaching it about 3.30am. Two people were inside.

"They were just devastated, just so scared. They were stuck in the house and their veranda at the side of the house got taken away ..."

He said a rapid-response team rescued the trio, and he had since spoken to his wife and son.

- staff reporter, Toowoomba Chronicle, NZ Herald staff