10.03 am, Thursday May 24 2012
Queensland flood disaster

Drowning mum loses baby girl in floods

09:00 AEDT Sat Jan 15 2011
By ninemsn staff
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Toddler Jessica Keep is thought to be the youngest person to have died in Queensland's flood crisis, with the number of people missing falling to 20 from 53.

PHOTOS: Floods hit Queensland

The blue-eyed baby was 23 months old when she was torn from her mother's arms when flash floods surged through Grantham late on Monday.

Jessica has not been seen since.

The death toll from the floods remains as 16 with all those missing from the Toowoomba and Lockyer valley region west of Brisbane.

Jessica's uncle Darren Keep told the Herald Sun how his brother Matthew tried to save his wife Stacey, who was six months pregnant, and their three children.

Floodwater smashed through a brick wall of their home on Railway St, washing away Matthew's mother-in-law Dawn Radke and his mother Pauline Magner, 65.

Mrs Magner's body was found on Tuesday but his mother in law is still missing.

Mr Keep said Stacey was sucked out of the house by the floodwater while holding onto her baby girl.

Stacey managed to grab onto a downpipe outside the house but quickly lost her grip and was washed to the nearby railway line.

"Her legs got caught in the sleepers and she was drowning with her baby in her arms," Mr Keep was quoted as saying.

Mr Keep said the water was too strong for Stacey and Jessica was torn from her arms.

"The moment Stacey realised she didn't have her baby any more she gave up and went under water, but within moments the helicopter pilot rescued her and took her to hospital," he said.

Rescue pilot Mark Kempton, who helped save 28 people in Grantham, cannot forget Stacey's distress when he winched her to safety.

"There was a woman that we rescued that had told us that she had been in the flood, she was washed along with her child in her arms and the child was torn out of her arms," Mr Kempton told the Nine Network through tears.

"That was just heartbreaking."

He said it was distressing not being able to save everyone.

"I've never been so emotional in all my 26 years of flying for those people, for the lives lost, and you know, the fact that we couldn't save them all."

Mr Kempton spent 2 1/2 hours with his helicopter trying to rescue people from the floods on Monday afternoon while his own house was flooded.

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