The presence of death announced itself in echoes of biblical prophecy.

Why was nature intent on devouring Queensland’s subtropical capital? What had its inhabitants done to deserve such a cruel fate? On weekends a handful of doomsday prophets gathered at King George Square, proclaiming their apocalyptic vision in self-righteous triumph. While the flood lasted, their terrible prediction prompted more than a few passers-by to give the possibility some thought. What if this were indeed the beginning of the End?

The threat of death manifested itself in many forms.

The mere act of looking out from the assumed safety of one’s home could prove an unsettling portent of one’s own decomposition. Owners of luxury apartments and houses featuring rooftop gardens watched with horror as an avalance of worms slithered down their windows in search of terra firma. Residents directing their sight out of the window found themselves confronted with reflections of their own face covered in maggots. Their image was coated in slime, droppings and mire.

In half-abandoned riverside suburbs home owners began to take up arms. The self-styled citizens’ militia carried rifles in order to protect the houses against looters. The sanctity of property was defiled by theft and plunder.

An elderly couple drowned trying to salvage their possessions of a lifetime.