Shocked residents count costs - NEWS.com.au

Sherrylyn Booth inspects her flooded home. Pictures: Paul Beutel Source: The Daily Telegraph

MANY had done it before - but most never expected to do it again so soon.

As muddy waters receded, it was time for many flood-affected Queenslanders to again push back their waterlogged front doors, count the cost and slowly begin the arduous task of starting again.

Some liked what they saw, having been spared the worst of the brown surge, escaping with minimal damage.

But most still can't believe how nature can be so cruel, with the floods coming only two years after southeast Queensland was ravaged by a record-breaking flood surge.

No matter what the extent of damage to their homes and businesses, they are still the lucky ones - they have escaped with their lives.

The death toll from the floodwaters stands at six, with the bodies of two farm workers found in flooded creeks yesterday. The pair were travelling in convoy to work from Gatton to Mulgowie on Sunday.

The body of a 34-year-old Malaysian man was found in a car submerged in a creek at Glen Cairn, with his 25-year-old Taiwanese workmate found 300m downstream.

But it is not only lives and homes that have been lost. It is also livelihoods.

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. 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 clean up.

"I was fragile but I've bounced back now," he said.

While Bundaberg has been centre of the extensive rescue and aid operation, there are towns who were forgotten.

Monto, Mundubbera and Gayndah were among the worst hit towns but had gone unnoticed until yesterday when authorities finally toured the towns, only to discover half their homes had been buried by a wall of water.