I’m in Brissie saw the river today at about 1pm it was crazy to see (parts of) southbank going underwater. Home now and not in an area likely to be effected.
Agreed.
Wow, that is awful!
I’m in an area of the Gold Coast hinterland which is about an hour from Brisbane. It’s a mountain that is fast becoming an island with most roads now inaccessible. A lot of my friends were evacuated in Brisbane today, all thankfully safe. Toowoomba is to the west of where I am, here is some footage from this morning.
I should clarify that was footage I saw this morning, I actually think it happened on Monday (I don’t think youtube goes off local time and post date says the 9th).
Forgot to mention, I don’t know what roads into and out of the city are still open – if any. I know that the main route out is cut by landslides with no word on when it might open. And even if it did, there are flooded areas further east with water still rising. It seems strange for a city this size to be completely cut off. Supermarket shelves are emptying fast because no one knows when the shelves can be restocked.
Agreed – media has tended to overstate things - or at least focus on areas of greatest impact and often muddling facts. But I still can’t help feeling for the families of people who got swept away.
I took a walk around my area late this afternoon to survey the damage. As far as I can tell, and it seems like a major fluke, most houses managed to escape with the flood waters not quite getting up to floor level. A lot of boundary fences have been ripped out. (Could be symbolic.) I saw a 15 metre flour silo which had washed about a kilometre downstream and wedged under the remains of a washed out bridge. Also two concrete trucks that would have been washed away if they hadn’t gotten wedged up ahainst some buildings. Half a tree through the windshield of one.
Barring another round of unforecast rain, it looks like the worst is past for Toowoomba. Attention is turning to Brisbane and smaller towns upstream. All that water is coming their way. The good news is that it will not be flash flooding like we have had here. The current won’t be anything like the same and people will have time to clear things away ahead of time.
This clip is worth watching!!
And for those interested, the blue car rescue in this one was five houses away from where I live.
Agreed. The floods are a terrible thing, but at the moment they’re talking about 6,500 homes & businesses getting flooded and around 15,000 people being affected in Brisbane- of which the population is about 2 million.
The situation out in Toowoomba and elsewhere in the regional areas of the country is a genuine disaster and tragedy, though, and it’s going to take a long time to recover from them.
My mum & sister live in Toowoomba, but fortunately around their place doesn’t seem to have been hit too hard (probably only a few km from the worst hit areas though). They mentioned water getting pretty close to the door, but I don’t think any’s gotten in. Good thing they moved recently, their old place wasn’t too far from one of those creeks.
I’ve been hearing this too from people in both Toowoomba and Brissie. Stuff like bottled water is getting snapped up pretty quickly (someone on facebook said they couldn’t pick up any water but have a whole lotta pepsi)
I’ve been seeing a few people linking to that video. That’s just behind the bus station isn’t it?
Anna Bligh has been impressive, I think. Been watching a fair bit of ABC, and when they briefly go to another story it’s a massive fire! 'kin hell Aussies, be safe.
Not that it needs to be said, I think, but Police warn workers to avoid Brisbane’s CBD today (Courier Mail).
Your video is racing towards 1,000,000 views. It is linked on CNN.com.
Toowoomba area Dopers - Lockyer Mobiles is open to assist customers with no power at home and dead mobile batteries. They will also help you contact loved ones if you don’t have phone service. j_sum1, if you want to spread the news around.
Optus has good coverage in the area, and Telstra has some coverage. Voda not so much.
I’ve seen a few people make maps showing the area of the flooding, compared to the size of the US, to give a sense of scale to those overseas.
I have just made my own map.
I’m here in the Brisbane CBD again (because I have to be). The river has risen about a foot or two since I got here at 7.00 am. That’s not drastic yet so far as this part of the world is concerned, although earlier this morning I saw footage of a restaurant floating down the river. (It was a floating pontoon style restaurant.)
I heard reports that the power was cut in the CBD for safety reasons…is this another media beat-up then?
Did you have any trouble getting to work? Is any of the public transport running?
I suspect that will also be the fate of several restaurants at which I’ve eaten along Coro Drive.
No trouble getting in. Public transport is winding back services now. And the restaurant I referred to is the one on Coronation Dve I expect you are familiar with.
Tomorrow, however, who knows?
The death toll is currently at 12, with two bodies found today by the search and rescue teams. One in Grantham and one in a nearby village. Neither of the two were previously listed as missing. There are still over fifty people unaccounted for.
It’s going to be a long week for many Queenslanders, and a longer healing for many more.
Her approval ratings were way down prior to this and I think the floods will have a ‘George Bush 911’ effect. Not that I’m complaining, I’m a lefty who loves having a female in the hot seat.