Knight Sinclair Merz?s senior hydrologist Philip Jordan testified that, contrary to the belief of local residents of Grantham, Wagners? quarry in the Lockyer Valley both delayed the flood?s approach and lowered its peak by 10cm.
“Peak flood levels and velocities through the town area were consistently lower for the simulation with the quarry in place than using the pre-quarry terrain,” Dr Jordan wrote in his report, said The Australian. “The quarry mitigated the impact of flooding through the town area of Grantham, with peak flood levels reduced by between 0.05m and 0.1m.”
Wagners? managing director Denis Wagner told the ABC he hoped that the expert?s report ends speculation about his quarry?s role in the floods, which claimed the lives of at least 16 people.
“It’s very important that out of the flood inquiry has come the fact and the realisation that our operation at Grantham actually lessened the impact of the flood on the Grantham township, as opposed to making it worse, as has been alleged in various media reports over recent times,” he said.
Wagner went on to mention that the company had suffered serious losses as a result of the floods.
“We suffered an enormous amount of damage during the floods at our Grantham operations,” he said. “Some of our operation there still hasn’t recommenced production.”
Some local residents, however, disagreed with Jordan?s assessment, and called for another expert to evaluate the evidence, with some calling for the quarry?s closure.
?When you look at Grantham, where all the people lost their lives, and then look back to my place and the quarry, it’s a dead straight line,” Grantham hobby farmer John Gallagher told The Australian. “My question to him is: if the water was delayed getting to Grantham, where did it go? It just roared through here.”