Aussie Fretters - Check in!

[Katastrophe]

Bad flooding in Australia... Hope our Aussie friends are okay.

[Ch0jin]

Sup Kat. All good for me mate as I'm in Sydney, which is unaffected. I am however originally from Brisbane which is under threat, and is like an hour away from places that are almost completely underwater. Luckily my family (who are all still up in Brisbane) are all in nice high spots.

It's certainly the most hard core flooding I have ever seen in Oz in my 40 years. (The last major flooding in that area was in 1974 so I was clearly a tad young to recall that).

The sad irony is only 1-2 years ago that region was in drought with severe water restrictions and daily updates on the news about the perilously low levels of water in the states dams. Now everything is overflowing.....

This will be a real test of our (relatively) new government in disaster relief too.

[Katastrophe]

Good to hear you're unaffected, Ch0jin! Glad to hear your family's safe, too!

[Ch0jin]

I spoke too soon :(

Just got a call from my sister. Their whole neighborhood has just been evacuated. So whilst their family is still safe as they are now with my parents who are WAY up high, they were told that by tonight the water will be at floor level and to expect that by tomorrow it will be around half the height of their house. For the three young kids it's quite an adventure, but my sister and brother in law are expecting the worst.

The other thing is, they had police and local emergency services all but chase them out of the area this morning, and yet there were still people who ignored the evac are are still "waiting to see what happens". No doubt I'll be seeing them on TV waving from their roof later this week.

There were also just told that one of the dams in the region is reporting 190% capacity. i.e. they are collecting far more water than they can dump through the spillway thingo. 190%!!!!!!!!

[Waylanderau]

It's looking bad lads. Really bad. I'm in Logan just south of brisbane so I'm fine but it looks like this flood is going to be even worse than the big '74 flood (which until now was the standard by which all other floods were judged.)
I've never seen anything like this in my life. Currently 12 people dead and 67 missing. Dark, dark days for Australia :(

[Ch0jin]

Yeah, can you believe that Wivenhoe Dam, built to prevent this exact thing happening after the '74 floods is going to be at almost double it's capacity even with them dumping water?

I can't believe the shots from Toowoomba though. I was kinda scared just watching it on TV. That massive torrent that ripped through full of cars and god knows what else.

Although Brisbane river is looking pretty damn bad too. I saw footage of a boat, still attached to a mooring platform floating on down. Plus "The Island" that massive party boat/platform thing. I think she broke free and went screaming off down the river too.

But apparently tomorrow morning is going to be the kicker with early morning king tides on top of the swollen rivers.

[Tone2TheBone]

Mojo sent to our friends down under.

[sunvalleylaw]

Mojo, prayers and best wishes sent to all you fretters down under. Hang in there guys!

[Ch0jin]

Thanks for thinking of us too. I'm both humbled and impressed.

I do feel guilty that it's like 32c and sunny here in Sydney whilst at least one of my sisters could lose their home in the poring rain just 1000km away, but what can ya do you know. At least they got a warning and got the chance to move their stuff which is more than some.

[Katastrophe]

Geez, guys. Sending prayers of safety to all.

Waylanderau and Ch0, give us updates when you can.

[Waylanderau]

Thanks for the support guys, it means a lot. Skies are clearing at the moment, rain should be easing in the next day or two but sadly the damage is done, the water is on it's way and all we can do it wait for it to peak. My band's singer lives right next to the river (on the 2nd floor luckily so he's in no danger) He's been taking pics so if I can get hold of them I'll post a few to give you guys an idea of what's going on.

[oldguy]

Mojo and prayers sent.
Nasa pic shows some of the Rockhampton area, and it's bad.
Very similar to our midwest 18 yrs. ago.


http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=48524&src=twitter-nh


We had the '93 flood here, which eclipsed the '52, which was the worst ever until '93.

I hope the waters back off soon for you all.

[Ch0jin]

Well the king tide this morning came and went and luckily my sisters place made it unscathed with the water making it into their yard, but not the house. Big relief. They still can't go back yet because the roads are still closed and they have no power, but still, a lucky break.

A bit of Aussie good humor this morning on TV. A local news crew used a tinny to boat about the streets of Milton in Brisbane and motored through the gates of the iconic XXXX brewery which had become somewhat of an island, only to find brewery workers reassuring them that the brewing area was dry and there was plenty of beer left :) One worker apparently said "we even have stockpiles of beer back on the mainland" referring the fact that the brewery itself was ringed by floodwater. The city may be flooded, but at least the beer was saved!

Was nice also to see our former PM out yesterday wading through the slop helping people evacuate and move their stuff to high ground without making it look like a political stunt either. Just helping the people in his neighborhood like everyone else.

As far as I know, the dam is still at almost double its capacity though with the authorities reluctant to release water for obvious reasons, and there is another big tide this afternoon. I think the worst is done, but now there comes the cleanup, disease control, restoration of essential services and so on.