Torrent drags couple away but kids survive

Sandra and Steve Matthews died in the flood at Murphy's Creek. Photo / Supplied

Sandra and Steve Matthews were supposed to be right behind their two youngest children as they scrambled to higher ground.

Floodwater surged above their waists in the kitchen of their Murphys Creek home as they tried to escape into the ceiling.

The pair were swept to their deaths in the violent gush through their home on Monday afternoon.

Their son Samuel, 20, grabbed his young sister, Victoria, 16, and the pair struggled out of the path of the dirty surge.

They thought their parents were only a second away, but they had been swept to their deaths.

Mrs Matthews' sister, Sylvia Graham, was meant to be visiting her "loving" sister and "wonderful" brother-in-law on Monday, but flooded roads had prevented her from leaving her home at Nambour on the Sunshine Coast.

"She was a caring, loving person," Ms Graham said of Mrs Matthews.

"I keep expecting my phone to ring and say that she is here."

The couple's son Daniel drove up to Queensland from Coffs Harbour yesterday to be with his family.

Their eldest daughter, Sarah, lives with her partner and two young children in a flat on higher ground at her parents' property. Sarah and her family escaped.

Mrs Matthews was a teacher aide and her husband an electrician.

They moved to the Darling Downs in 2004 and were well known in the Toowoomba district.

Only a shell remains of the Matthews family home on land at the city's outskirts.

Ms Graham described her brother-in-law as "a wonderful person", "happy-go-lucky" and "always there to help everybody".

Ms Graham's daughter Rebecca was told about her aunt and uncle by their son Samuel.

"He told me: 'Look after your mum, hold on to your mum, love her as much as you can because I can't hold my mum any more,"' Rebecca Graham said.

"She [Mrs Matthews] was a very religious person. I know that she would be with the Lord ... That's the only comfort I've got.

"I will hold her memory in my heart forever."

The Matthews children are staying with friends in Toowoomba.

- TOOWOOMBA CHRONICLE