Laidley locals dejected after floods - Ninemsn

When Jeffrey Hood arrived with a bobcat to clean up his flood-damaged restaurant on the main street of Laidley, he felt downright dejected.

Pungent mud was piled high on the floorboards of Emily's Steak and Seafood, and a dozen freezers worth $30,000 were destroyed after torrents of water inundated the town west of Brisbane.

His damage bill from the 1.2m floodwaters that arrived with ex-tropical cyclone Oswald on the Australia Day long weekend is estimated at $200,000.

But Mr Hood's spirits changed when a "mud army" of 25 turned up - volunteers from Toowoomba and as far away as the Gold Coast - and pitched in to hose down plates and cart out mud-soaked items.

"I was fragile this morning, but I've bounced back now with all these arms and legs. It really lifts you," he told AAP.

"I got here at 8 o'clock myself with a bobcat, and I felt very dejected."

Mud-soaked chairs and tables are piled up on the footpath of the Laidley-Plainland Road business, which was flooded for the second time in two years.

Food including squid and all cuts of beef are being thrown out.

Mr Hood recalls the fight with insurance companies in 2011 as an ordeal that went "disastrously".

Across the road, Gary McNeish's computer repair shop, Ramnet Information Technology Services, which doubles as a music shop, is also flood-damaged for a second time.

The flood destroyed some customers' laptops that were in for repair and guitars, leaving an estimated damage bill of $50,000.

"We just keep going, I suppose," he said.

"It's rough again. You start thinking maybe it's time to call it a day, but no, we're going to continue on," the 13-year business owner said.

On nearby William Street, Graeme Gregory, 50, has seen his backyard destroyed for the second time.

His mud-soaked Holden VT Commodore is a write-off.

Still, after spending 18 months cleaning up after the last floods, Mr Gregory is thankful for the goodwill of volunteer helpers in Laidley.

"You wake up in the morning, you look outside and you think, it's not a dream, it's not a nightmare," the eight-year resident said.

"All you can do is just move on, there's a lot of people worse than us."

One block away, the Queensland National Hotel looks remarkably spruce despite the floods, thanks to last-minute sandbagging and frantic cleaning.

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