Thinking of you. (Queensland Floods)

[Grizzly]

I would like to express my best wishes and hope that all is as well as can be.
To those colleagues of ours affected by the floods.
I at present am unable to contact several of the guys from that area that I "talk to" off forum.

Off Topic I know!
But there are many that contribute that may be affected.
So please forgive my digression guys and join me in wishing them all well!
Grizzly

[paul_h]

Hope the people you know off site turn up safe and well.
Same for everyone else in QLD that's been affected.


Late edit: Just read this from another forum I visit, written by someone from Rockhampton:

I am located in the city of Rockhampton that is in Central Queensland in Australia. It is the beef capital of Australia,the population is 75,000 or so and we are experiencing one of the worst floods on record. But Rockhampton isn't the only area affected, much of QLD is. The first report I read said that the flooded area was greater than the state of Texas. Now apparently over half of the state is flooded. Queensland is massive. it has over 1,700,000km2 of land. Texas is about 700,000km2. Some 200,000 people have been affected by the flooding, and it is set to rise as we are meant to experience more storms throughout the state, and there is always the chance of cyclones that usually start in the north easter part of the state and work their way down the coast in summer.


Farmers are one of the groups that have been hit harder than most, and they always seem to be on the short end of the stick. For as long as I can remember, drought has been the big concern for farmers, but now flooding is. My brother's inlaws own a cotton farm in Theodore, a small farming community that is about a 2 hour drive from Rockhampton. Their crops have been totally ruined, dams have bursts, some of their homes have been destroyed, and they are not sure how they are going to recover. The last few years have been rough for them, but this could be a devastating blow. Their farm is family run as are most in the region. They were glad when their daughter married my brother and became teachers because they didn't have much hope in the future of the family farm, but they are taking it as it comes, as they have for many years, there isn't much more than that they can do.

As for Rockhampton itself, it is situated on the banks for the Fitzroy river, it has the largest catchment area of any river on the east coast of Australia. Now our flooding happened a lot later than the flooding in more rural areas, but it has finally caught up. What happens is, the water from 3 rivers out west all flow into the Fitzroy. We get minor flooding every couple of years, but nothing like this since 1918. My home is safe for the moment, but we may have to sandbag the house if the river rises anymore than expected. The flood waters at the moment are about a block from our house. The worst affected area is the suburb Depot Hill. It is low ground right on the banks of the Fitzroy and is the poor area of town. Most people there are lower middle class, unemployed and there are many indigenous families that live there as well. Last I read, 1000 people have been evacuated from their homes, this number will obviously rise as the flood waters do. A few people have died, but they are usually instances of people recklessly driving through flood waters, swimming in the river (usually showing off to friends etc). Yesterday, in they news, it was reported that a man and 2 or 3 of his children are missing. I haven't heard any resolution to this.

On the whole, the governments (local, state and federal) seem to be handling the situation fairly well. There has been little panic, but there have been a few people fighting at supermarkets of packets of 2 minute noodles and nonsense like that. The town is cut off now. I think the military is going to be involved soon or already is. People are calm for the time being, and are rallying and helping those who need it. You see people in tinnies with a carton of beer boating to their neighbours house to get stuck into some piss, because there really isn't much else to do for some of those people as businesses shut their doors. It will be sad for them when the booze supply runs out. Apparently the birds at the zoo were building their nests much higher last month, the animals always seem to know first.

Are there any other goons out there in QLD who are affected by the floods? If so, I hope you are all keeping safe.

Here is a link to some photo galleries of our local newspaper, they have better photos than I could ever supply

http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/photos/galleries/

It is a pretty weird time for many of us. Some people have been having it hard. Homes have been destroyed and many people have been displaced. The Queensland Premier has a flood relief appeal going on, with all money going to the Red Cross to help those affected by the floods.

http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/

If I have time tomorrow, I hope to get around and take some photos and post them tomorrow night.

[chemi-cool]

You can't beat mather nature!
Hope everyone there is safe.

[paul_h]

You can't beat mather nature!
Hope everyone there is safe.
yep, drought, fire, flood. It all goes on here. At least there's no tsunamis or major earthquakes, or cold snaps and blizzards.
If nothing went wrong, then people would be fighting for it and causing more destruction.

[stufus]

I hope all are safe and well,
just saw on the news the military have been drafted in. unfortunately the true extent of the damage may only become apparent when waters recede
All the best from Dublin
Stu

[monkey spanners]

My thoughts go out to all those around the world who are at the mercy of the elements. Makes you realise how fragile life is even in the more developed countries.

Jon

[lawrence1]

Grizzly,paul h,chemi-cool,stufus,monkey spanners...
Your thoughts and support are appreciated by all members i'm sure.
I would like to thankyou for your support.We hope all effected come through this safely.
Lawrie

[lawrence1]

hi all,
The flooding and deaths continue,,


http://au.news.yahoo.com/qld-floods/a/-/article/8624762/eight-killed-in-queensland-flash-floods/

[mikeref]

hi all,
The flooding and deaths continue,,


http://au.news.yahoo.com/qld-floods/a/-/article/8624762/eight-killed-in-queensland-flash-floods/
lawrence, hard to believe Toowoomba was taken out, just like that with so many missing. I remember the Brisbane 1974 floods and it looks like its about to happen again. Forced evacuations now in progress with all tv channels focused on the capitol city.. Mike.

[lawrence1]

I clearly remember in 1974 as an apprentice going to a supermarket we installed a year before an seeing the 60' Dairy case and 48' island freezer and all coldrooms had floated up through the ceiling and settled back down,,,still fully stocked,,, a mess you cannot believe.I was for weeks there helping to unload stock/sludge and trying to flush and vac out lines to get this store up and going.Long time ago and very bad memories.Thursday the river level will be higher than 1974.
The Big Fella upstairs is trying us out again.

[stufus]

Jesus Christ lad's have been watching the news and it reports 250mm of rain in 1hr fell on Toowoomba !!
That's of biblical proportions,i doubt Noah had it that bad when he built his ark .
I hope it calms down soon and the majority if not all missing are found safe and well.
I did some travelling and a lot of drinking in around those parts in the early 90's and had a ball.
Stay strong , but more importantly stay safe.

Best wishes

Stu

[paul_h]

toowoomba flash flooding has been really bad, unfortunately caught many out on the road in their cars and contributed to the death toll
But here's a vid just showing a small creek overflowing and how easy it tosses cars around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYUpkPTcqPY

[mikeref]

Jesus Christ lad's have been watching the news and it reports 250mm of rain in 1hr fell on Toowoomba !!
That's of biblical proportions,i doubt Noah had it that bad when he built his ark .
I hope it calms down soon and the majority if not all missing are found safe and well.
I did some travelling and a lot of drinking in around those parts in the early 90's and had a ball.
Stay strong , but more importantly stay safe.

Best wishes

Stu Thanks Stu, i'm sure there are many people wondering, WHAT NEXT! Paul h, That vid of an insignificant creek was mind blowing, can imagine what the main wall of water through Toowoomba must have been like, but over your side of the island, water restrictions? Lawrence 1, so many years of building and landscaping since your personal encounter of 1974, we have to wonder, with emergency services stretched so thin for the 75% of this state now affected, what will the follow on effects be like? Highly unlikely the Wivenhoe dam will be able to slow flood waters as it is already overfull. Power to stay out in many areas, no goods transport, disease from mossies and sewerage already in Rockhampton. This isn't going away anytime soon..Mike.

[Magoo]

Scary stuff, that video was amazing, from a creek to raging water was very short.
magoo

[Magoo]

Read somewhere the flooded area was equivelent to the combined areas of England and France. Seriously large anyway.

[lawrence1]

update,,,the XXXX Brewery is getting wet

http://au.news.yahoo.com/

[desA]

update,,,the XXXX Brewery is getting wet

http://au.news.yahoo.com/

A national emergency. :D

[mikeref]

Internet has been slow all day, so cannot view vid. lucky i don't drink 4x but Boags premium from Tasmania has run out in local pubs:eek: and now nothing coming through for some time. Had to switch to Cascade premium for now..Mike

[lawrence1]

may need to send sos to lowcool,,,i'm sure he's got a brewery,,,i'll drink to that

[mikeref]

may need to send sos to lowcool,,,i'm sure he's got a brewery,,,i'll drink to that
Light aircraft strip close by here, how many cartons can a single engine plane carry? come to think of it, the Royal Flying Doctor stops by,..;).

[lawrence1]

Not much to say about this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUTGxzz6vOM

[paul_h]

Somebody hates QLD.
Cyclone Yasi ahead http://www.townsvilleweather.com/satellite.html
Good luck and I hope it doesn't hit as hard as it looks like it will. it's bloody HUGE!
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ65002.shtml

185km/hr winds and intensifying
http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDQP0005.txt