Flooded

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The rain finally stopped over the weekend, but the flooding is well under way. Emerald is a town that typically sees drought and dry weather. Just outside of town there is a lake with a dam. The water is flowing about 5m over the dam and the water has to go somewhere. Many homes and business in town are several feet under water. The river is now at 15.3 meters and they are hoping that it has peaked. Nobody really knows.

The good news is that we live in a suburb just outside of town that is quite a bit higher than town. We had a few issues when all the rain was falling (and the neighbour's run-off was coming into our yard). But now we are fine.

The town is completely cut off. All the bridges and roads are hidden under water and we have been stranded in the suburbs since Monday morning. The good news is that I don't have to work for a while. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if I don't work the rest of the time I am here (except for helping with flood clean up). Both pharmacies are supposedly under water. There is a railroad that can function until the water reaches 17meters. They've brought in this big train and apparently are beginning to train people out of town. About 2500 people have been evacuated from their homes and are staying with relatives or designated areas in town that are not flooded. Now they are starting to bring these people out of town to a camp they've set up near our home. I'm putting a few pictures up on facebook but it doesn't do justice.

Needless to say, i'm not learning a lot about australian pharmacies. I worked for 2 weeks and don't know what I'll be up to for the next 4 weeks. We've been spending our days checking out the water and making sure everybody we know in town is ok.

Before it all flooded...Friday after work, I went out for supper with a co-worker and some of her friends. Saturday evening we had planned to go out for supper with a few friends and go to the Tavern for the evening. I met a few more of Megan & Shane's friends. Sunday we had a bit of a scare. Megan & Shane have 7 dogs, one of which is a 3 month old puppie named Rat. The pup managed to jump out of the caged area of the truck and was lost. We spent hours on sunday evening searching the area where he fell out. We put an announcement on the local radio and luckily got a quick response. A lady heard Rat jump out of the truck and yelp. She jumped in front of another car to pick him up and brought him to the town office. When she heard the announcement she called us and we went to pick him up, completely unharmed.

Coverage of the flood is all over the news, so I'm sure you can find better pictures/explainations online. I'll try to keep updated as long as we have phone/internet access.

Meagan

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