Hi everyone, from an extremely wet Queensland. Have you seen the footage of the flash flood waters rushing through our towns and cities? Absolutely amazing and terrifying!! Cars, buses and trucks being tossed around as if they were made of cardboard. Hundreds of homes and businesses completely destroyed, thousands more inundated. 10 confirmed dead and more than 90 still missing and unaccounted for.
If you saw the force of those flash floods and the devastation they have caused you would have no doubts that any person caught up in those waters would not stand a chance, especially the children. Countless thousands have lost their homes and, in the process, everything they owned. This is a disaster and tragedy on an unprecedented scale for Queensland.
75% of the state of Queensland has been affected. To put that into perspective; Queensland covers an area of 1,075,375 square miles, Texas covers 268,820 square miles...so Texas would fit into Queensland 4 times over.
Myself, my lovely wife and our family members are some of the lucky ones. It is highly unlikely we will suffer the loss and heartache endured by others. We only have to put with the comparatively very minor inconveniences. Roads and transport are largely cut off so travel is all but impossible. Things we normally take for granted, staples such as bread and milk are no longer readily available, people are queuing for hours at local bakeries just to receive their quota of two loaves of bread, many are still missing out. Milk of any variety is practically non-existent and fruit, vegetables and canned/packaged foods are all extremely scarce.
To think, just 12 months ago our dams were near empty, everyone was on water rations and Queensland was firmly in the grip of a very serious drought. It would appear that whoever is in charge of the weather has an innate sense of irony!!
To those who have contacted us (myself and the lovely June) asking after our well being....thank you for your concern. We are high 'n dry and affected only by a sense of sorrow at witnessing the awful suffering endured by so many of our fellow Queenslanders.
Cheers all....Jim
Hey Jim,
I was just about to ask you about the floods, as I remembered (rather late, sorry about that) that you mention Queensland as your location. Glad to hear that you and your family are ok.
It's been all over the news for days now. Fottage shows it's expanding, taking over more and more square miles. How can one fight something like this?
I just hope no more lives will be lost.
I can't stop thinking that a lot of natural disasters happen and more frequently.
Today's also the first anniversary of the Haiti earthquake 2010; one year later, not much has changed for those affected.
I am human
Thanks FD.
The scale of this disaster is just unimaginable, the effects will be felt for years to come.
Cheers....Jim
Several months later, and how goes it downunder, Mindblower!
"For the needy, not the greedy"
Hey MB - Well, the folk up North [in North Queensland] are still receiving a battering. Torrential rain over the past month has not helped, seems there is no end to it for them.
Happy to say that further South [in my district] things have abated considerably. We have actually seen some sunshine and weather has returned to more like the norm.
The massive job of repairing/replacing transport infrastructure is well under way; thousands of miles of roads and highways with not so severe damage have undergone temporary repairs; filling in pot holes, repairing wash-aways, etc. Hundreds of miles of rail line that was washed away have been replaced. Things are gradually getting back to normal.
Can't even imagine what the cost would be in total.....billions probably.
BTW: Our ever thoughtful Government decided the best way to finance the costs was to tax the people...they called it a 'flood levy'. Very original!!!!
Thanks for your concern mate.
Cheers....Jim
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