Close call for Queensland printers as floods continue

Flood waters reach Toowoomba printer, Cranbrook Press, with other printing companies narrowly escaping.

Disaster struck yesterday, 10 January when one inch of water went through the building located in 21 Prescott Street, Toowooomba. According to manager, Robert Vayro, water was right up to the front door of the family-owned company. “Any more rain and we would have been in trouble,” he said.

The building also leaked in the downpour. “There’s no damage that we’re aware of,” Vayro said. “We’re getting Heidelberg up to check over our machines to be safe. The good thing is that we’re all safe and well here.”

Fellow Toowoomba business, Scanlan Printing, also had a narrow escape when water came within 15 metres of its loading docks. “Cars were under at the building besides us, but we’re on a slope and a bit higher up. We’re safe, thankfully,” said Brett Hyne at Scanlan Printing.

“The problem with Toowoomba is that the hills all slope towards the centre of town – you’ve got roads catching all that heavy rain.”

It is unknown how other local printers in and around the area are faring. Calls to Snap in Toowoomba went unanswered. Martin Stevens from Snap Fortitude Valley said that the shop fears for the worst after being flooded four times in the last three months. “We are in a basement-level building with inadequate drainage,” he said. “We are certainly on alert waiting to see what level the Brisbane River gets to after the flash flooding in Toowoomba.”

Eric Anderson at City Printing Works in Rockhampton was also lucky that water came close, but did not quite reach the company. “We sandbagged all the presses, the front and back lanes and hoped for the best,” he said.

“We lost a week’s production and can’t get any paper up or send anything out, but that’s nothing – there’s people a lot worse off than us.”

Floods are nothing knew to the family company, which opened in 1903. According to Anderson, the building went under water in 1918. “My grandfather was up to his knees in water,” he recalled.

Gympie Printing also reported that it was unaffected by the crisis.

Neal McLary, Printing Industries general manager for Queensland, said that any printers affected should contact the Brisbane office. “To my understanding, most of the printers are okay. We are here to do whatever we can, when and where we can,” he said.