TheBanyanTree: Floods

[Roger Pye]

(Thanks for your query, Tom. It deserved a much better answer than it 
got; unfortunately I have been tied up with a few crises this week and 
it ain't over yet.)

For once I am speechless (almost!) - the last seven days after weeks of 
almost non-stop rain SE Queensland has suffered its worst flood since 
1893 and what do we get from The McInnis? A throwaway line about 
bullsharks in the streets of Brisbane, the state capital. The following 
quote is from the blog of a very good friend of mine:

> my hero of the week is 24 year old Constable Chloe Beattie, who found herself stranded by floodwaters on the Warrego Highway at the tiny township of Withcott on Monday afternoon as an 8-metre wall of water swept down the valley, bearing down on the town.  Constable Beattie singlehandedly coordinated an orderly evacuation and rescues, directing traffic, moving people to high ground and ensuring all was done calmly in the face of the most extraordinary circumstances.  After the event she brushed aside any suggestion of heroism, saying that she was just doing her job.  No, Constable Beattie, this was over and above the call of duty.  Trying to estimate the number of lives this young police officer saved through her action is only speculation, but what is certain is that there are people alive now who would not be had she not kept her head and taken charge in a chaotic and deadly situation.

Toowoomba is a city of 130,000 people inland 100 kms west of Brisbane. A 
9-metre wall of water tore its way through the CBD turning what is 
normally a placid meandering creek into a raging torrent which sucked 
people out of buildings, cars out of carparks and flooded houses to 
their rooftops. Grantham, a small town in the Lockyer Valley, ceased to 
exist in five minutes flat when the same wall of water went through. In 
Brisbane, amongst many other occurrences, a 300 metre section of 
concrete riverwalk complete with lightpoles, hand rails and the like was 
uprooted and sent floating downstream at 12 knots towards the Gateway 
Bridge. A tugboat driver scored hero acclaim by going out and nudging it 
through without it colliding with any pillars.

There are 16 people dead in this area, 61 missing.

For more about the floods (which are in many places here besides 
Brisbane) check out the brisbane times, sydney morning herald, the 
melbourne age, Australian ABC radio. For more from the above blog see 
<http://coffeewithruby.wordpress.com/>

Roger

On 14/01/2011 1:19 PM, Peter Macinnis wrote:
> On 14/01/2011 11:51, Tom Smith wrote:
>> Roger?
>
> Glub! Glub!
>
> Only joking.
>
> The known Australians on this list are Anita in Melbourne, Roger in
> Canberra, the Woofess in Perth, me in Sydney and Pauline in Darwin.
> There may be others, but that's close to a full list.
>
> I am the closest to the floods, and I think I'm about 600 miles away--it
> is a very long drive and most people do it over two days or use several
> drivers. Pauline is the one most likely to get foot-rot as they are in
> their wet season, but she is northwest of one flood and northeast of
> another.
>
> They are getting floods west of Anita, but no torrents.
>
> Brisbane has bull sharks in the streets, which people can handle, and no
> crocs which is good (too far south), but there is a plague of
> politicians, all trying to look as though they aren't there to take
> advantage of the situation. With luck, the bull sharks will get them,
> but I fear even bull sharks have to draw the line somewhere.
>
> peter
>
>