Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Ballots cast for new housing locations in Grantham

Updated at 12:59 pm on 7 August 2011

About 50 residents of Grantham who were severely flooded in January, have cast their ballot for an allotment in a new housing estate in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane.

Grantham was the scene of a disastrous flash flood in January when 'a wall of water' hit the town after the Brisbane River burst its banks. Sixteen people died.

The ABC reports about 70 families are being given the chance to swap their old block for a new one.

Residents who have registered for a property swap, will be allocated land on a site on an elevated estate.

A ballot system has been devised to decide who lives where. Residents will be informed of the result next week.

Meanwhile, the ABC has obtained figures revealing the magnitude of the rebuilding work still to be completed.

Almost 5000 buildings in Brisbane and Ipswich have been repaired since the floods in January.

But another 6350 remain damaged, of which 2600 are uninhabitable.

Almost 1700 buildings are still damaged in north Queensland where Cyclone Yasi struck.

The Insurance Council says $A1.6 billion has been paid and there is another $A2 billion to go.

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