As floodwaters rose on the banks of the Albert River in Beenleigh, south of Brisbane, a local business has at least brightened the day for one person.
A dozen cars spent most of the day submerged in the brown tide that engulfed most of Alamein Street and the Beenleigh train station, as water from the flooding rains of ex-tropical cyclone Debbie raised the Albert River to dangerous levels.
However, local tyre shop owner Barry Berg has guaranteed himself a customer for life after he and staff rescued a car from ruin.
Recognising one of the cars in the train station car park on Friday morning as that of a regular customer, Mr Berg made a quick phone call to get permission to smash a window and then he and his staff pulled the car clear of the water.
"We had to pull it out twice, the water was coming up that quickly," Mr Berg told AAP.
"We got here at 7.30am and the cars were under by about 8.30am."
Mr Berg said the swift waters had even caught out some local police, with their patrol car falling victim to the water in the 15 minutes they had left it unattended.
Mr Berg's actions weren't the only act of community spirit in Beenleigh.
Queensland MP Shannon Fentiman, whose home at Waterford was under threat of flood damage, was spotted at a local cafe buying a cake for a little girl who was spending her birthday in a nearby evacuation centre.
It was a dose of reality on an unreal day for people living along the Albert and Logan Rivers.
Dozens of people in various suburbs came out to just watch the flood water, with only a handful of people risking entering the murky, debris filled sludge.
In Beenleigh itself, only the wail of fire alarms from the inundated Market Place shopping centre and the presence of emergency services vehicles in the town's central district gave any hint of the unfolding disaster.
Beenleigh's train station looks set for a lengthy closure after it went under with the entire system needing to be given an all-clear after the waters recede before it can be re-opened.
Several homes and businesses in Beenleigh will also have a costly clean up ahead when the flood recedes - as will the iconic Yatala Pie Shop just down the motorway, which was one of several businesses in that region to be breached by the waters.
