Son tells how torrent took mother | Rockhampton News | Local News in Rockhampton
Son tells how torrent took mother
Cameron Grieve (left), Kiera Grieve and Lara Thompson tell at the media conference yesterday how their mother and sister, Pauline Grieve, was swept to her death by a flash floo.
CAMERON Grieve's last sight of his mother, Pauline, before she slipped from reach at Bouldercombe Gorge on Sunday is still haunting him.
“The last thing I saw was her face, looking at me, gasping for breath,” a brave Cameron told a media conference in Rockhampton yesterday.
“And I just can't get that out of my head. It's just really hard.”
Pauline, her children, Cameron and Kiera, sister Lara Thompson and other family were making their way back to their car from Mt Usher Falls when they were swept away by a “wall of water.”
Cameron and Lara were holding onto Pauline as they were being pushed down the creek, but the force of the water ripped them apart.
Pauline, 46, who had recently been living in Yeppoon, died after being swept away in a flash flood after 70mm of rain fell on the area in 15 minutes on Sunday.
After what started as a “good day out,” 17-year-old Cameron was stripped naked by the ferocious “wall of water” that ripped through the gorge.
“I went under, just looked up, couldn't find her. Kept going, and I held onto a tree for 5-10 minutes.
“Then I saw backwash with a big pool and went straight into that. Lost everything. I was completely naked. Got out, kept running down the stream and all five of us were continuing down the stream and just kept running. Didn't stop.
“And that's when Nerina (another day-tripper at the gorge) and her friends saw mum go past the car park. And we stopped there. They (Nerina and friends) were yelling out to us. We kept going.”
Pauline's sister Lara Thompson described the ferocity of the water flowing through the gorge.
“It was just too strong. It took us under the tree. I was just holding it, it's all I can remember.”
“Pauline was more in the middle. She was in the wall and ... it was just so fast, in, like, an instant.
“Trying to save yourself, and trying to worry about where Cameron and everybody was. And just trying to do what is natural and what a human being would do, and that's run and go and try and find her. I came across Cameron and he was petrified, because he'd got dragged underneath a rock and he thought that was it. And then you got out and got onto a tree, and Cameron, he was on the bank and we went running up. We stayed on the bank and kept running along the river trying to get help, calling out “Pauline” and “Mum” all the way.”
The family searched for Pauline, before she was eventually found by emergency services crews.
“We just didn't stop, we kept going. Kept trying to find her; just hoping she was alive. We caught up with these people, on the other side of the creek, had a bridge across the river. We ended up going to their house, just waiting there hoping for good news. We heard helicopters back and forth and then all of the sudden the police came,” Cameron said.
“(They) told Aunty Lara and uncle Michael and then me and Cameron went over to them and they told us ‘sorry for your loss',” Kiera finished.
“And then we all just lost it then. Just cried for hours. Sleepless nights it's been for the last two nights. Just sleepless. Haven't got any sleep just dreaming about the same thing over and over, just seeing her face,” Cameron said.
The family yesterday described Pauline as a cheerful, selfless and kind person.
“Happy, bubbly, she's a bubbly person,” Cameron said.
“All my friends think she's their second mum. She always put me and Kiera first. Always.”
“She's an amazing woman. She had a heart of gold,” Kiera said.
“She was an amazing mother, very good. She'd give the shirt off her back, she's just a beautiful person,” Lara Thompson said.
Mrs Thompson said the group had immediately started making their way back to the car park after the rain fell.
But it was on the way back that the flash flood came.
“We saw the rain and the storm happened and that's when we headed down. We didn't hesitate or anything. We were just heading back down because it was raining and everything like that. People were still going up, which wasn't time to keep going up. And we remember passing them and commenting like “that's silly, you should be heading back down. It's dangerous,” she said.
Lara yesterday wanted to warn people about the dangers of swimming in this area in the stormy weather.
“Don't go up there on rainy days or stormy days. I know a lot of people saying it doesn't happen there. It does. And I just couldn't believe the force,” she said.
The family say they will band together to get through this tough time and have been getting a lot of support with family converging on the area from across the State.
Drowning prevention, awareness and support group Hannah's Foundation has launched a Queensland appeal for the families of recent drownings.
Money can be made to the group at www.everydayhero.com.au/hannahsfoundation and information is available at www.hannahsfoundation.org.au/.
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