Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

fisherguy123

fisherguy123

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Re: Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

Yes it is certainly devastating to see the images of the floods in Australia and hear about the deaths. We in Newfoundland ,Canada had a severe hurricane last fall and severe flooding and luckily only one soul was lost to the storm. The weather is certainly changing around the world.Here is a link to images of that storm....hang in there...God Bless!http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2010/09/22/igor-aftermath.html
 
Triton II

Triton II

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Re: Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

Thanks for the good thoughts. I know about the previous thread but this new thread is about the overnight damage to South Eastern Queensland (SEQ). About 100 miles to the west of Brisbane is the city of Toowoomba, which is 2000ft high on top of a very steep escarpment. Yet the level of rainfall created a wall of water which roared straight down the main street and killed 2 people. It's a real mess out there with 8 people in this area dead and 72 missing. I'm on my way to fill sand bags for the State Emergency Service here in Cleveland, which (fortunately) is not under threat. Better go...

TII
 
Kiwi Phil

Kiwi Phil

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Re: Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

I am 63yo and seen very heavy rain on many occasions, but I have just been thru what I would call an absolute deluge.
It started at 6.25am and stopped at 10.05am.
There were 7 of us pick-packing in the tunnel house and shed, and it was hard to believe what was coming out of the sky.
I have never seen anything like it.
I am on a hill so will be ok, but I have a feeling this is not going to end well for our community.
Got some maint to do around the place so must away, and it is starting again.
Cheers
Phillip
 
Huron Angler

Huron Angler

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Re: Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

TII I know you are helping some folks out, and good job for doing so.

Hope things dry out and things calm down for you folks down there.
 
Bigprairie1

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Re: Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

Its daily news here....and it looks pretty bleak for sure, you guys definitely need a break. I feel like we are getting off easy here on the west coast (Pacific Northwest).
Hang in there guys.
BP:cool:
 
Kiwi Phil

Kiwi Phil

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Re: Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

Things are not good.
The daughter was told to leave immediately, take nothing and go.
Her and the kids are at friends (high ground).
I don't think their suburb is 'under'.
We are going to leave it another hr or so and will go in and have a look, if the roads are open, which they are not at the moment.
I would guess the cops are being careful, but who knows. I am sure everything is OK tho.
Best I try and get them over here for the night if that is possible.

Our township (5kms away) is completely isolated with low lying areas under. Only accessible by air. Going by the news, it is a sad situation.
We are ok. In the country, on top of a small hill.

That rain I spoke of in last post. Well it passed over another town, Ipswich, and combined with other water, their Bremmer River is estimated to rise 18-19m, and it is NOT in a narrow valley/gorge. (I had to listen to the report a couple of times, as I questioned the measurements, but think I got it correct).

It is pretty hard to comprehend just how much rain has fallen.
I am still somewhat stunned as to what I saw this morning.
Ummm, I sort of wonder if I wasn't dreaming it all

Darned near lost my dam. Water got to the top but didn't go over. Stopped raining for 1hr so the slipway got the level down. Before that, more was running in than the slipway could let out!!
It is a clay dam, and when they go 'over', they scour out the back, and quickly collapse.
Boy, if that happens, that sucker is going to take-out the main road 1.5km away, and I will probably have some questions to answer.
No matter, all is well, and we live for another day.
Cheers
Phillip
 
Triton II

Triton II

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Re: Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

Glad to hear you're OK Phil. Just got back from the council depot where about 50 volunteers filled about 5000 sandbags. We used a bobcat to pour sand into an overhead gigantic bucket with a closeable funnel and it made it light work which was a relief. Hang in there - the forecast is looking better for Thursday and Friday.

Mark.
 
Dunaruna

Dunaruna

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Re: Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

Stay safe Phil & Mark. We saw the inland lake from 30,000 ft but i cannot imagine being on the ground.
 
Kiwi Phil

Kiwi Phil

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Re: Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

We have been advised what is ahead.
Fortunately we are safe, for the moment.

Mark, how are you going to be placed over the next few days?
Are you likely to be evacuated?

More disasters are on their way.
Tonight the city of Ipswich will go under. People are evacuated. They expect 22m of water.
Tomorrow (Wednesday), Brisbane city will be flooded with just under 6,500 homes under water and another 18,000 seriously impacted with either water damage or isolated.
The river has already burst its banks.
On Thursday Brisbane will suffer a severe flooding disaster which they believe will cripple the city.

Yesterday (in the country area hit by that inland Tsunami), 10 people are confirmed dead; 18 they hold grave concerns for, and 78 are missing. The devastation is widespread and horrific.

The dam (Wivenho) which is built for flood mitigation (saves Brisbane from floods + plus our water supply) is now at 170% capacity and they can't release the water as fast as it is flowing in. They talk of it 'going over' so hopefully that won't cause a structural failure as it is a very large body of water.

The daughter and kids are back home. No damage there (Narangba). I don't know how our town is. I think it is a big mess. If we don't get any more rain, it should drain into the sea late tonight and tomorrow late pm.
We are all safe and dry.

Cheers
Phillip
 
Dunaruna

Dunaruna

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Re: Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

Is Caboolture caravan repairs in your area? They have a metre of water flowing through their storage yard.
 
Triton II

Triton II

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Re: Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

Phil and Duna, We're absolutely fine here, we have no creeks or rivers nearby, just Moreton Bay 500m away which is a much better flood mitigation storage than Wivenhoe. I hear Wivenhoe is at 193% and they're going to have to open the spillgates fully because the volume of water flowing into it from the catchment is double that of Sydney Harbour every day!

This morning the sun is out and we have 20+ Lorikeets feeding on our verandah. I can't get to work because of road closures and Mazzy's office is closed today and tomorrow.

Duna, Caboolture is the main town near Phil. It's isolated but in the main safe. Our little aircraft is hangared at the airfield there and fortunately, although the strips are saturated and too mushy to use, the hangars are "just" above the current water level, although we can't get in to check as the highways either side of Caboolture are closed to vehicles.

So, just in case things get worse and the shops run out of the basics we've bought tins of food and soup and extra toilet paper! :p

Phil, hope things are still OK with you.

Mark.
 
J

JRJ

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Re: Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

What a disaster. I've seen some flooding, but nothing that widespread affecting so many. Good luck to you all.
 
DaNinja

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Re: Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

I've been watching the news on the flash flooding. It looks like a scary situation on top of the flooding that was already happening.
Lot's a videos out there now.
Here's one of the less dramatic ones...Toowoomba

Prayers for all.
 
M

Moody Blue

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Re: Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

Have been following on the news here for quite a while. Situation seems to be going from bad to worse. Reports on the news today said 6" of rain fell in just over 1 hour, if that is even possible. Flash flooding was shocking to see. Really can't begin to imagine the degree of destruction.

Our thoughts are with you. Stay safe.

Dunaruna, thanks for the radio link. I'm an avid scanner listener and have added the link to my favorites. Having a problem trying to understand the accents though :D.
 
Bigprairie1

Bigprairie1

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Re: Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

Its kind of hard to believe the size of the flooded area....Iboaters who understood the Katrina flood on New Orleans might find it eye opening as to the size of the Australian flooding and impact on many cities...and it looks like Brisbane might be next?
I heard one flooded area was an area larger than France and the one as large as our province here (BC) is pretty bewildering.....thats a mutha of a flood.:eek:
hang in there guys and the best of luck to you all
BP
 
Triton II

Triton II

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Re: Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

Thanks for your prayers and best wishes. Brisbane, which has a population of just over two million, is about to see a record high flood. They've just stopped the buses, all the inner city roads are closed - they're cutting the electricity to the CBD. Fortunately the hospitals are still operating. Brisbane's satellite city, Ipswich, which is home to Australia's biggest Air Force base, has no power, there are over 1500 houses underwater, but so far only one death there. Unfortunately it was a four-year-old who got swept away while trying to get into a rescue boat.

It's REALLY weird being so close to this disaster (less than 10 miles) without being able to do much more than is already being done. I volunteered my boat for the emergency services to use, but didn't receive a reply to my email so I guess they've got enough boats or they're too busy to respond. Our local Volunteer Marine Rescue is busy pulling unmanned boats out of Moreton Bay. These boats have broken their moorings on the Brisbane River and have been washed downstream into the Bay - maybe 50 or so plus a few private pontoons.

We're all being told to not travel as so many roads are cut, so I'm not going to work and my wife's offices at the Airport are shut for the next two days.

So far we've tragically lost 12 lives, mainly to the west of Brisbane and we will see many more deaths (hopefully not too many more), but compared to what it could have been, we've been very lucky and we will rebuild. This is what they're calling a "One in one hundred year event". Again thanks for all your prayers and thoughts.

TII
 
Kiwi Phil

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Re: Spare a thought for flood victims in Australia

The area I personally have sympathy for are the small towns that were hit by that wall of water eg Grantham.
The video http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/11/3110588.htm
see this gallery http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/gallery-e6frer9f-1225986403379

http://www.couriermail.com.au/

Moody-Blue. I wouldn't know how much rain fell here, but my post #5 above explains my impression.

We went to our town to get some basics, and there are signs of where the water has been, but the place is functioning fine. Supermarkets are short of stock, although we found one where we could get what we needed.

We are going to take a pretty sizable financial hit over this.
Yesterdays shipment (3 pallets) couldn't be delivered by the transporter. The Supermarket Chain I supply had their Distribution Centre (DC) go under and suffer major damage, (Rocklea) and communications with the area are cut.

They are trying to get another DC up and operational with logistics, and will only deal in 'basics'. Going to be a bit hit for us.
I have 5 casuals so I don't know what I am going to do with them. That is a really big worry for us.
So we have a lot of work ahead with the returned stock, and a degree of uncertainty.
Everything will turn out just fine tho, our situation is really just mechanical.

The Brisbane river peaks at 0400hrs so that is going to be interesting. I think they said 19,000 homes will have water in them.
I feel for those people.

Must away.
Cheers
Phillip
 
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