Queensland Floods

[Rodri]

By now I am sure that many of you have heard about the flooding in Queensland, Australia in the last 48 hours and particularly the tragic and extreme flash flooding in Towoomba and surrounding districts. It was a rainfall event unlike any other, that caused the flash flooding in what is basically a mountain-top town. Eye witnesses say that it was like an inland tsunami as a wall of water up to 8 foot high rushed toward them.



This video captures the ferocity of one small creek and the lucky escape of one 4WD owner.

The small town of Grantham on the outskirts of Towoomba suffered extrordinary damage and tragic loss of life, as the people had no warning whatsoever and whole houses were destroyed and even carried away by the force of the water.



That was the the most savage of many ongoing flood events in Queensland and New South Wales and it has been estimated that up to 1,000,000 square kilometres is under water and many towns in northern areas are isolated as all major roads and highways have been cut by floodwaters. To add the difficulties of rescue and recovery work, The City of Brisbane, the state capitol, has also suffered very high water levels with large areas, including the CBD being flooded on the incoming tides yesterday afternoon and this morning.



Here's a video of the flood peak in Brisbane yesterday afternoon, as seen from helicopter.

The people of Brisbane rallied behind Queensland Premiere Anna Bligh as she called upon the community to stand side by side to help out wherever they could and neighbours and complete strangers helped move belongings and sandbag houses and buisnesses in those areas most at risk. Even former Prime Minister and current Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd worked tirelessly in his own electorate to help move people and their belongings to higher ground.

Watch video here.

After the second tidal peak in the early hours of this morning it is said that up to 12,000 homes and 2,500 buisnesses have been flood affected in Brisbane and suburbs. Although the flood peak at high tide at 4 a.m. this morning was below the predicted level and the weather is sunny in Brisbane today, this is an ongoing situation with more flooding expected at high tides over the next few days. We hope that the worst has now passed.



Premiere Bligh said this morning that the cleanup to come and the recovery effort that will be needed is unlike anything we have ever seen in Australia before and drew comparisions to post war reconstruction in Europe after WW2. The Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key has already offered any assistance she can, including sending defence forces to aid in reconstruction efforts. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard spent yesterday and last night in Brisbane and has assured the people affected that every effort will be made on a federal level to support and aid those affected from financial assistance to defence force personnel and equipment for the recovery effort. Many defence personnel and helicopters have already been involved in search and rescue operations in those areas worst hit.

Heavy rain in the State of Victoria have caused flash flooding in some areas overnight and many Northern New South Wales towns such as Grafton have also been hit by flooding as well. All of this is the result of a combination of unusual but not unprecedented weather conditions that are a part of the nature and history of Australia. We are a land "of droughts and flooding rains". Whilst all of this is happening in Eastern Australia, the south of Western Australia is still in drought conditions and suffered some losses of homes from a bushfire south of Perth over the weekend. The Northwest of Western Australia is also experiencing flood events in and around the Kimberly Ranges with the worst flooding on the Gascoyne River and the town of Carnarvon.

These are difficult times for us but we are a strong people who will overcome adversity (as we have many times in the past) and the nature of our society, which has been described as egallitarian, will see us work together at all levels of society to help each other as best we can. In the meantime, the Aussie spirit is not diminished and we can even mange to crack jokes in the face of disaster, such as the wag who took time out during the evacuation effort to look after the statue of Queensland Rugby League legend and icon (King) Wally Lewis at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.