James Hansen, a former Queensland councillor, has been identified as the man who died in flooding on the state’s Fraser Coast.
Hansen, 57, was a dairy farmer and fourth-generation resident of the area. He served as a counselor for the Fraser Coast regional council between 2012 and 2024
George Seymour, the mayor of Fraser Coast, paid tribute to Hansen, saying he was someone “who was always ready to help others, contribute to the community and advocate strongly”.
“His passing is a great loss to our community and my thoughts are with his family and friends as they come to terms with this sudden tragedy,” Seymour wrote on Facebook. “He was one of a kind and will be missed.”
Hansen, 57, also served as a councillor for the Woocoo Shire council from 2004 to 2008. He ran for One Nation in 2017, challenging a sitting MP, but finished second.
Paul Truscott, the division 3 councillor for the Fraser Coast regional council, said he was shocked and saddened by Hansen’s death.
“James and I worked together on Council for eight years,” Truscott wrote in a statement. “He was pretty old fashioned at times, a man who always spoke his mind, someone who you knew where you stood with, and a bloke who would give you a hand if you needed it.”
“Through plenty of challenging times on Council, it was always good to be able to share a laugh with James along the way and I’ll always remember him as someone who stood up for what he believed in, and stood up for the farmers and the ‘little guy’”.
Emergency services were called to a creek at Boompa on Queensland’s Fraser Coast shortly after 11am on Monday after reports a man had been found unresponsive. The man was declared dead after being found in Smothering Creek on Boompa Road, Queensland police said.
An investigation into his death has begun, with police to prepare a report for the coroner.
Further south, six campers were rescued after becoming stranded by flood waters at a public campground in Leyburn in Queensland’s Southern Downs.
Queensland Fire and Rescue Swiftwater crews responded to the call for help at 7.45am on Monday. They rescued three men aged 71, 47 and 26 and two women aged 68 and 26 without incident at about 11.15am.
Torrential downpours across Queensland between Thursday and Monday left many rivers and roads flooded across the state’s south and east.
Flash flooding hit Laidley Creek and Glenore Grove in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, closing some roads, Queensland police said on Monday.
The highest recorded four-day totals were spread across the state, with Blackdown Tableland, near Rockhampton, recording 439.4mm to early Monday.
Lower Springbrook, near the Gold Coast, recorded 325.2mm, while Nambour, near the Sunshine Coast, copped 314.2mm.
Brooweena, inland of K’gari, received 299.6mm.
Meteorologist Angus Hines said the system behind the downpours was unusual.
“The widespread rain bands with heaps of cloud cover, much cooler temperatures, and then the storms in that situation are really driven by what’s going on in the higher parts of the atmosphere,” he said.
The Bureau of Meteorology said Queensland’s weather was set to return to more typical spring conditions as the week continued.
Hot and humid days are expected to give way to more subdued afternoon showers and storms.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
