Little girl ripped from mother's arms by raging floodwaters | 60 Minutes Australia

Every once in a while in this job you hear a story that is so heartbreaking and tragic that you wonder where people find the strength to get out of bed every day. That's how I felt when I met Stacy Keep and her husband Matthew, they lost their 23-month-old daughter Jessica. During the Queensland floods, the

raging

water literally

ripped

the

little

girl

from Stacy's

arms

. There's nothing you can say or do to make things better, so we just listen and cry our eyes out and try to focus on the small miracles of that terrible day. Kicking pretty hard now, isn't it?

Stacy and Matthew should continue to enjoy the imminent arrival of their new baby. It's scary, but we will make it. We will be there for her. Yes, but how do you count your blessings when you're just there? Morees suffered the final loss just 4 weeks ago her young daughter Jessica was swept away at the most horrific and heartbreaking moment of the Queensland flood disaster. I had my baby in my

arms

and then they took her away from me and I thought it was just me. that was left I thought everyone was gone I know we will get through this because we are a strong couple but something will always be missing our lives were perfect before all this happened on that terrible afternoon the floods not only claimed Little Jess, but Matt's

mother

s and Stacy, Pauline and Dawn, and when you see the pictures of the wall of water that exploded in their house, you can only marvel at how they and their two other children, Madison and Jacob, survived Miss B, that's your front door . that looks like a bomb it has HED yes God oh my God M this is what was left of the water from Matt and Stacy's dream house built just a year ago in the small railway town of Grantham in the Loia Valley yes, something for what we had worked hard for Yes, we started with nothing and moved forward, we had the Australian dream and ended up with the Australian nightmare, once this was the home of a busy and growing family, 5 year old Madison, 4 year old Jacob and the

little

Jessica who was about to meet.

Two, Stacy's

mother

, Dawn, lived with them and on the afternoon of the flood, Matt's mother, Pauline, was visiting. Everyone was unaware of the disaster that was looming over them. You can see the ground disappearing as it crossed the paddocks. You know, like he has his own. life force, you're talking about it like it's a living beast of some kind, yes the power it had was like it was alive, it actually exploded in the house with such force and that we exploded, yes, yes, the pressure behind it. the force with that once the windows and that expl the whole house shattered around you oh yeah, yeah, sure Matt and Stacy desperately gathered the three kids in the kitchen, but then another wave of water hit little Jacob was swept out of reach, Jakey was caught. up in the wave he disappeared into the water, that was the last time I saw him, a 4 year old in that amount of water, yeah you wouldn't think he would have survived the grandmothers and little Madison had been separated from the The rest of the family by the rising water Matt found Stacy's mother, Dawn, clinging to a lawnmower in the garage, but by then he was struggling to save himself, that wasn't the reason I could help her, that was too difficult because I could. you talk to her, yes I did, I told her I was so sorry, there's nothing I can do for you Dawn and that's when they took me out of the garage and that was the last week she heard that the Raging torrent sucked Matt in. from the garage and threw it 200 m down the road.

Images captured that day show him stranded on his neighbor's roof fearing that the rest of his family had been wiped out. What must have been going through your mind, well, the first thing that went through my mind was if the water rises over the eaves, I jump and go to my family. H. Stacy returned to the house after Matt was dragged away. What were you doing here? I didn't know what to do, the water kept coming out, you couldn't. No, this was so powerful, yes, like if I was at that time 25 weeks pregnant and I had a 23-month-old baby in my arms and I was trying to move in the water, it was too difficult.

Stacy hugged herself tightly. Little Jess was struggling to stay above the water level, so she waited outside in search of Higher Ground. I held on to this downpipe with it for about 5

minutes

and was at that stage. She was so tired that she couldn't take it anymore. Stacy is exhausted holding on to little Jessica, she makes a very brave decision: she decides to let the house go and take her chances in the water, but it is worse than she thought: it is a deep and furious torrent and in seconds she and Jessica are swept away by more About a kilometer from the train track I couldn't fight, it was impossible because I had to try to keep Jesse above the water so he wouldn't sink.

How did you do that? How did you try to do that? I can't quite imagine most of the time I went under so she could be out of the water. I just held her so her head was above mine at all times so the water wouldn't get in, then the climactic blow of all this is where I would have gotten stuck with her and we got stuck underwater and your leg got trapped. under one of the sleepers the entire railway line here yes, all I know is that I couldn't move, I couldn't move and yes, the force of the water.

I kept coming and at that point I didn't know what to do and then the water just swept her away from my arms. God, that's a terrible time, so you did absolutely everything you could, you fought as long and as hard as you could. holding on to your little

girl

still finally i will never forget it that feeling of having your own child torn from your arms and there is nothing you can do it is a part of my heart that is missing and i will never get it back Devastating moment Stacy thought she had lost everyone and everything he loved, but what he didn't know was that they were back in the Sunken House.

Madison and Jacob were incredibly alive and the water was us, us. High, the water was very high, right? and I was under you were under yes, how was that? Were you ok? No, just me just this, you held your nose, yes, it turns out smart. Jake had been dragged into his parents' shower and somehow managed to hold on. Standing like that, yeah, did you really yell at someone? Yes, I was, what did you say? Yeah, he was crying, oh, I thought it was okay. I'm crying for mom and dad, yeah, it was a little scary, wasn't it, uh, yeah, but you.

They were really brave, yeah, and the water that Grandma, Grandma and Jessie there's a lot of rubbish around, isn't there? Both grandparents had died in the flood, but the waters rose for another 2 hours while the children were alone, Jacob in the bathroom and Maddy. floating on a sofa wedged under the ceiling calling each other for support and encouragement and I said: here, dad is coming, it was good to tell her when dad was coming, you are a very good girl, you were making sure your brother was there. Well, yes, and not going out to the shower Meanwhile, on the train track, a devastated Stacy had almost given up when suddenly a movement in the water freed her and she was able to get to safety and at that moment she turned and saw Matt on the rooftop within shouting distance they both thought they had lost everything but now they had each other how was that moment happy but sad at the same time because I know when and you would like me to see it I would have to tell him that I failed you didn't fail there's no way you could fail you did your best in the worst conditions and you fought until the end Matt she didn't fail no one no one failed that day no one did we all did our best time in the end Matt was airlifted to safety from the neighbors wof and was finally able to return to the house to discover that, incredibly, Jacob and Maddie were also alive, that the survivors of the family were able to reunite was absolutely incredible, then suddenly having two children in your arms, yeah . best feeling ever, best feeling ever.

I bet you didn't want to let that little guy go. No, I don't think he wanted to leave Go's mother either. Yeah, they just held on and knew that Jesse was gone and Jake is like him. The water took Jesse away and I said yes. Jacob said yes, he said naughty water in the heartbreaking aftermath Matt and Stacy wonder how different things could have been if they had been warned of the coming danger, why were there no warnings? That's something we'll find out, Michael, that's something that needs to be answered. You know, before this they evacuated people from the city on Sunday night.

No one came to evacuate anyone this day. If you had only a few

minutes

, you will notice 5 minutes. It would have been enough five oh probably two two matter of minutes minutes lost that cost so much to a young family I just hope the two grandmothers are taking care of our little girl now, wherever they are, one day we will catch up, does that help you, Stacy? yeah, knowing that Jesse with his two grandmothers that he loved did a lot um yeah, it makes you feel a little better, will you come back here? No, here I already promised little Jakey that we will build on a hill on top of a hill on top of a hill, so how is school today?

Madison, they will rebuild them and their lives, as well as a new beginning that will begin with the birth of a daughter in April, what did he say? This is a fighter too yes and he is a little girl yes yes yes yes this of course was a huge blow and William and I have been doing our best to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young lady family. The heartbreaking truth of the Princess of Wales, everyone faces this. illness You are not alone what a great woman to be able to sit down and do that the Middleton women are strong on 60 Minutes Kate asks for privacy she will get it hopefully this will put an end to it the world reacts it is our monarchy it is our royal family we protect the devastating use of K.

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