I'm doing night shift so I'm watching all the footage of what has happened in South East Queensland. The news of the events is still being made known but unfortunately their is so much bad news to come.
The amount of people unaccounted for is 90 with 10 people already pronounced deceased. This of course doesn't take into account the infrastructure costs including peoples homes, jobs, everything gone. Of course without life, these things don't mean much.
To those overseas, at the moment 75% of Queensland is in flood which to give you some perspective, is approx' the size of Texas in the U.S.
My Fire Brigade is sending two specialist search and rescue members up to assist Qld's fire service in the grisly task of finding those unaccounted for.
I'm so glad I'm not involved in that as after 23 years of tragedy you just prefer to not see much more of it.
I don't mean to turn this tragedy about me, but I lived in Toowoomba for 6 years whilst a soldier, which is one of the main centres of destruction. My son was born there and the people are salt of the earth types who would do anything for you. We also have our own forum members who live in Brisbane and close by and I would really like to hear from you guys just to know you are alright.
I still can't believe what were just little trickly drains had turned into major walls of water like a large dam had broken. Just unbelievable. One thing I can say is, Australians like most people everywhere are a resilient lot who when knocked down, just get back up again. Droughts and flooding rains is a part of our life and after 10 long years of drought, it's the floods turn.
Then their is this new major trough moving across Australia behind what has already occurred and flooding is starting to occur in Southern Areas of Aus. What is going on??? So who knows what's going to happen around the country in the next week whilst South East Qld is watching their lives go under water as the 50+ suburbs on the Brisbane River becomes flooded.
Btw, my son in law to be, works as a boat builder where his business is located right on the Brisbane river itself. This is a big river so when they talk about it rising nearly 6 metres, whilst that doesn't sound much, when you understand how wide and deep it is normally, you'll understand the volume of water being absorbed. Anyway, Luckily my son in law got all his tools out yesterday but for now they are desperately trying to secure the huge boats they build so they don't end up like so many of the privately owned boats, currently braking their moorings and floating out to sea on the still rising River.
For those who don't know, all the water from Toowoomba is still making it's way down to the Brisbane river where tomorrow added with a King tide, they are saying fifty or more suburbs will be going under including many parts of the Business District where in fact my daughter works.
So it appears this flood will be worse than the tragic 1974 flood but it is Brisbane's worst disaster it has ever experienced. as it tags onto the back of North Qld's floods which occurred a week or so ago.
Apologies for the long post but whilst in size Australia is a large continent, with only a population of twenty plus million people, everyone knows someone who is being effected, or like me have family being directly effected. I can only thank God my family is safe but employment for my son in law is looking sketchy, as it is for my daughter but luckilly as a financial planner, she can work from home. As I said, life means nothing without your family and close friends.
The ironic aspect of this story is, we have just gone through 10 long years of drought and now as I said it's the flood's turn.
In fact Brisbane and Toowoomba's water levels were so low just two years ago, the authorities were planning to build extra dams to capture more drinking water. Now we have one existing dam (Wivenhoe) having to release as much water as it can because of the concern with the weight of water behind it. It's currently running at 190% capacity where if it reaches 200%, it'll overflow the dam wall, which it's not designed to do.
So ironically this release of so much water flows into the Brisbane River's catchment system which will lead to higher flood levels in Brisbane city itself. So At the moment they are predicting the levels will go beyond the 1974 flood but thankfully not beyond the 1890's flood.
Of course it's like comparing apples with oranges as Brisbane is a vastly different city now compared to 1974 with much more dense population district housed in high rise units and the business district a major part of Austrlia's economy.
Anyway, I'm not sure about my ride up to Brisbane in 2 weeks now, and I even planned on riding through Toowoomba as I usually do.
I'll have to play it by ear and may have to fly up with my wife to attend my daughter's Engagement party as no one can predict the damage to roads etc.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not compaining, in fact I am thankful my family will be fine but now all we can do is watch, hope and pray as events unfold for those who have lost loved ones, or their homes and livelyhoods.
One final thing, another city close by called Ipswich has also flooded but I just haven't had time to mention that one.
Finally, if you're interested
here's a few youtube videos to choose from. It should be said though, the worst damage occurred down river of Toowoomba in small communities below what is known as the "Great Dividing Range". It is there where numerous flash flooding torrents similar to Toowoomba's emerged as one and where most of the body recovery will be taking place today. Tragic.
staffo.
Note: if you watch the video where the commentary talks about a 4wd owners lowering tyre pressure, I think when they say amateur video takers, they perhaps should have said, amateur 4wd commentators also.
