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.