Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Brisbane Floods January 2011


Ferry Stop where I used get on...... & off...!

Was a Restaurant........... & why didn't I park my car here.....!?

Pontoon's & a Boat still with it's Pontoon!

City going under...... & Sandbagging

The Brisbane River has broken its banks amid dire predictions of the biggest floods to hit Queensland's capital since 1974...... We were spared the predicted high water level, but the damage was still catastrophic .

Evacuated from the city at 1.30pm I joined the mass exodus heading out of the city. With the city shut down we did not work for two & a half days. And when we returned it had an eerie feel......

Once home the next mission was for Jo to get Charlie from day-care, with roads being closed as the water is rising & so many others on the road also trying to get home, this was a challenge...... so two hours later & after many ‘U’ turn’s & a scary drive for Jo through the Clem 7, Jo still shaking walks in the door with Charlie. Happy to be home.

Not knowing how long we were going to have electicity for, we thought we should drink the ‘bubbles in the fridge rather than have the ‘Sparkling’ go warm, so we headed out to our deck for a front seat view of a disaster about to unfold...!

It didn’t take long before the Brisbane River was a swirling torrent, with boats, pontoons, boats still with their pontoons, along with other debris including a restaurant all floating past our apartment, just a few minutes after they have shown it all on the TV.

We watched it all on the news along with watching from our deck, lives lost, property damaged with the muddy water hitting low-lying areas, & the news reporting that up to more than 30 suburbs being inundated. Then the power went off....... for a whole week...!!!

Jo & I went on ‘water watch’ the night the river was meant to peak setting our alarms to wake us, as in the 1974 flood our car park was fully under water & there was no room up on the road to park the cars.... thankfully the water did not come up that high.

So here we are with a bubba in the house, living on the 5th floor, no power & Marty still working away from home. EJ didn’t bother trying to get back to us & spent the week at a friend’s on higher, safer ground. We survived the first few days with a candle or two & a torch. Marty flew home on the Friday & took us to Anaconda & purchased a gas cooker & a LED light plus another torch as by now the emergency lighting in the stairwell was also out.

The super markets were cleaned out on the first day, so we had to 'make do' with what we had in the house. Jo even got into a tug of war over the last two bottles of water saying “I’m sorry I have baby” & took the bottles. There were reports of looters (grrrrrrr, kick their arse’s) and at least one bull shark being spotted in the flooded streets!

I went back to work before the power was back on..... Cold showers in the morning to wake you up & I had to 'beat the feet' as the city Cats were not running due to flood damage. Marty left us after three days to return to work & it was another two days before the power was restored a day earlier than expected.

I am grateful that my family was kept safe. My thoughts go out to those that lost so much & I wish them all strength & luck with rebuilding their lives.

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