When Glen Echo was lower off by floodwater for the third time since Christmas, and the ability and telephone strains went down, David and Kim Ross’s solely concern was for the protection of neighbours and their livestock.

The floodwater peaked at 15 metres over the bridge that connects their small neighborhood, north-west of Gympie, to the world.

It took 5 days for the water to subside.

The couple’s farm on the finish of tough flood-gouged gravel roads is a lesson in self-sufficiency.

Guarded by the Rottweilers they breed, the Ross’s spectacular off-grid set-up on ‘Rottyhill’ north-west of Gympie means they will survive with out leaving their property for months.

“I’ve put in a 15-kilowatt standalone energy system. I’ve spent like $65,000 on energy infrastructure as a result of we can not depend on the ability firm in occasions like this.

“We are able to get locked in right here for days, weeks — in 1972, we did not see our bridge right here for six weeks.”

Full with tavern

The couple makes their very own bread, and kill and butcher their very own grass-fed cattle.

“We have now a packed pantry, a chilly room, three freezers, most likely 5 turbines,” Ms Ross mentioned.

Home made alcoholic ginger beer is on faucet, and “the tavern” geared up with a bar, jukebox, pool desk, hearth and smoker barbecue is a gathering place for the locals.

It was their neighbours, together with newcomers who’ve lately moved to Glen Echo that the couple anxious about Friday final week when, with out warning, Munna Creek rose and flooded them in.

Whereas the couple’s cell was nonetheless working, service went down in every single place else.

One girl, who turned trapped between properties in her automobile, couldn’t name for assist and was fortunate her headlights have been seen by a pair who took her in.

“It (cell reception) retains swapping from three to 4G, and I switched the landline off as a result of it is an previous landline, and in climate like this, it simply does not work,” Mr Ross mentioned.

“There are individuals right here six months of the yr with no landline, and up the highway, you possibly can’t even get a cell sign.

“They usually drive to the highest of the hill to make a name or wait until they go to work.”

Utilizing the web, Mr Ross spoke with a anxious neighbour by way of Messenger on his iPad till 2:30am.

“When he (the neighbour) awakened at six o’clock, his pig pens and sheds have been all simply swept away, and he needed to put his canoe in and go and discover all these pigs and row them again,” Mr Ross mentioned.

Self-sufficiency pays off

The couple’s unbiased solar energy system, full with storage batteries, doesn’t feed electrical energy again into the grid.

When mains energy went down, a generator sufficiently big to run a mine website kicked in routinely as backup.

Mr Ross estimated that he will get as much as a 15.5 per cent return on the off-grid energy funding when they’re busy irrigating and pumping inventory water and a 7.5 per cent return on a median day.

These financial savings have helped them pay the charges for his or her 97-hectare property, which have risen to $2,500 a yr, up from $240, 18 years in the past.

With Mr Ross happiest at dwelling, neighbours heading into city check-in to see if he wants any little luxuries dropped off.

“Except I damage myself or one thing I might most likely be right here for six months, I’ve gone 4 months with out going to city,” he mentioned.

“If I haven’t got to go to city, I do not, easy as that.”