Marguerite
Active Member
I know I may have seemed a bit blase about the floods here. We are accustomed to flooding in these areas. The people are used to it, they plan their lives around the floods/droughts as best they can.
These are bad. We knew that. As I said the other day, the area of Queensland underwater is larger than Texas. About 50% larger.
Well, yesterday it got nastier. Didn't think that was possible, with all the emergency services in place, plus all the warnings and reports, all the information flying around.
Many people missing, 72 at the moment. Eight people confirmed dead, likely to rise a lot higher. Just form yesterday's "inland tsunami". A wall of water, that is a wall of water ON TOP OF THE FLOOD slammed into the town of Toowoomba. Houses got slammed off their foundations, that is where the missing people were. One woman told of what happened to her shop, based on what she was told. She hasn't seen it for herself yet - the water slammed into the front window, smashed it, continued through her store and swept absolutely everything out the back wall which disappeared before the flood. Wham! Gone.
The rescue people get angry with fools who take risks by driving into running water and then get swept away. The rescue people have to risk their lives to save these idiots. But the people swept away in this torrent were not taking risks.
It was very localised - one woman reported that she saw it happen, was able to have a cup of coffee while she watched. Nothing she could do...
There are whole houses floating downstream, they say. Bizarre.
Australia is a flat country. So a flood this big is spread out over a large area. The ground is sodden, waterlogged. It has been drought for years before this, a dustbowl. Now it's underwater. But the rain is still continuing.
The floods are continuing downstream. Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, is right in the path of this one. It is a coastal city which will dissipate some of this flood, but when the flood coincides with high tide, Brisbane goes under. The Toowoomba torrent will reach Brisbane. They're on alert, people are being moved.
Breaking news - 50 of the missing people have been found sheltering in a hall. Not confirmed.
Downstream further, and also under the same weather system - northern NSW. Rivers have been cut on and off for months because of this weird weather pattern and now more rain is forecast there too. It's not the same water, on the coastal strip of northern NSW. It's the same rain pattern.
We have a wedding to go to up there in March. I'm beginning to wonder if the water will be down by then. I'm not kidding.
What caused the wall of water? Massive downpour, unthinkable amounts of rain. In a part of the country where rain is normally measured in a few inches, they got a foot of rain in an hour. Then when you get two river systems joining, you get two floods meeting. I'm not sure if that was a factor, it is still too early to know.
We understand floods, and fire, in this country as well as NZ understands earthquakes and volcanoes. This is beyond our limits.
As far as we are concerned, we will be OK. I have family in the path of this, hopefully they will not do anything stupid. As I write this, all my family north of Newcastle will be getting cut off by floodwaters. But they should be safe.
Here is a link from a reliable source. It is getting updated regularly. Read the comments, too - local people are passing on observations.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/11/3110285.htm?section=justin
Marg
These are bad. We knew that. As I said the other day, the area of Queensland underwater is larger than Texas. About 50% larger.
Well, yesterday it got nastier. Didn't think that was possible, with all the emergency services in place, plus all the warnings and reports, all the information flying around.
Many people missing, 72 at the moment. Eight people confirmed dead, likely to rise a lot higher. Just form yesterday's "inland tsunami". A wall of water, that is a wall of water ON TOP OF THE FLOOD slammed into the town of Toowoomba. Houses got slammed off their foundations, that is where the missing people were. One woman told of what happened to her shop, based on what she was told. She hasn't seen it for herself yet - the water slammed into the front window, smashed it, continued through her store and swept absolutely everything out the back wall which disappeared before the flood. Wham! Gone.
The rescue people get angry with fools who take risks by driving into running water and then get swept away. The rescue people have to risk their lives to save these idiots. But the people swept away in this torrent were not taking risks.
It was very localised - one woman reported that she saw it happen, was able to have a cup of coffee while she watched. Nothing she could do...
There are whole houses floating downstream, they say. Bizarre.
Australia is a flat country. So a flood this big is spread out over a large area. The ground is sodden, waterlogged. It has been drought for years before this, a dustbowl. Now it's underwater. But the rain is still continuing.
The floods are continuing downstream. Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, is right in the path of this one. It is a coastal city which will dissipate some of this flood, but when the flood coincides with high tide, Brisbane goes under. The Toowoomba torrent will reach Brisbane. They're on alert, people are being moved.
Breaking news - 50 of the missing people have been found sheltering in a hall. Not confirmed.
Downstream further, and also under the same weather system - northern NSW. Rivers have been cut on and off for months because of this weird weather pattern and now more rain is forecast there too. It's not the same water, on the coastal strip of northern NSW. It's the same rain pattern.
We have a wedding to go to up there in March. I'm beginning to wonder if the water will be down by then. I'm not kidding.
What caused the wall of water? Massive downpour, unthinkable amounts of rain. In a part of the country where rain is normally measured in a few inches, they got a foot of rain in an hour. Then when you get two river systems joining, you get two floods meeting. I'm not sure if that was a factor, it is still too early to know.
We understand floods, and fire, in this country as well as NZ understands earthquakes and volcanoes. This is beyond our limits.
As far as we are concerned, we will be OK. I have family in the path of this, hopefully they will not do anything stupid. As I write this, all my family north of Newcastle will be getting cut off by floodwaters. But they should be safe.
Here is a link from a reliable source. It is getting updated regularly. Read the comments, too - local people are passing on observations.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/11/3110285.htm?section=justin
Marg