For the past 3 days, I have sat glued to the laptop with the television going for over 14 hours a day. I've kept track of all the horrid events unfolding in SE QLD via the Weatherzone Forums and the Queensland Police Facebook Fan Page. I've had friends evacuate from Caboulture, friends scramble to the airport cutting their holiday short to come back to Melbourne, and I read the distressing news that A-M has lost everything in the floods.
As I write this, the tragic death toll stands at 12 confirmed, with 43 still missing. Brisbane River is expected to reach a peak level of 5.2m at 4am tomorrow morning (13th January). There are expected to be up to 40,000 homes affected by the floods over 50 suburbs in Brisbane, and surpassing the devastation caused by the 1974 floods. The whole situation, to think that so many Australians in the 3rd largest city have lost everything, is incomprehensible.
While the events are still unfolding in QLD, please also spare a thought for those in SW Western Australia who have lost homes due to a deliberately lit bushfire and those in NE NSW also suffering flood damage from the same system which affected QLD.
There has also been record rainfall in parts of VIC, with Jeparit receiving an all time daily record of 161.2mm. There has been flooding in Natimuk, where 12 homes along the tiny towns river, were evacuated. Flash flooding has occurred in Kyneton, part of the Great Ocean Road has been cut due to landslides...and there is much more rain expected in VIC, Western NSW, Eastern SA and TAS over the next 2 days.
Just to add to everything else, Cyclone Vince has made an appearance in the Indian Ocean, and could possibly hit the Pilbara Coast as a Cat 3 Cyclone, and early weather model predictions are hinting at a Coral Sea Cyclone eventually making landfall as a rain depression on the border of QLD and NSW late January.
After 13 years of devastating drought over much of the Country, we now have this.
Please give what ever you can.
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2 comments:
It's very distressing for those of us watching from afar - I can't begin to imagine how awful it is for the poor people involved. Like you, I've had the TV going non-stop (not like me at all!)
Even those who haven't suffered damage to their homes are struggling without power or basic food supplies that we take for granted. Let's hope the flood water recedes quickly so that essential services can be restored and the clean-up can begin.
ah yes, a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains. that's good old Australia, in many ways we are so lucky in Aus, but mother nature will always have the last say. Can only hope the rain stops, the people affected by the floods can slowly get their lives back together... so heartbreaking.
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