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Published: January 24th 2011
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Watching and waiting
You could literally watch the water travel along the pavement it happened so fast. 24th January 2011
The Blog below was drafted by me after a tortuous journey home in torrential rain on the day Brisbane City was evacuated. It took me 45 minutes to travel less than 400m at one point. Today is the first time we have been able to upload and it seems appropriate to retain the entry for the sake of posterity.
The intervening twelve days has seen literally thousands of hours TV coverage across the Globe on this tragic episode. It has been one of the most bizarre experiences of our lives. We were living through a disaster of epic proportions in our own city yet there were some neighbourhoods where the biggest problem seemed to be getting enough beer back from the bottle shop and getting the top off some 'cold ones' on the deck. Watching it on TV was utterly surreal. I thought of my friend who is a cameraman for Channel Nine news and wondered of he had slept at all for the last month.
Mobile phone networks collapsed for a while as their systems failed to cope with millions of texts, emails and videos being transmitted City, State and country-wide, never mind the
The end of Morehead Avenue
This was the beginning of the river flooding and the water creeping up the creek and spilling over onto the streets. Youtube uploads. Some ten city blocks were out of operation within 48hrs of our original entry and some of those businesses are still not back in their buildings. Others may never go back as they face total ruin. Try to comprehend an area the size of France and Germany combined, underwater. 67,000 homes and businesses in Brisbane alone were affected. You have literally never seen so much water. Our old home in Gillan Street went under as Norman Creek burst its' banks and flooded a massive area on the City's southside.
Spare a thought for those poor homeowners who had lived through the 1974 floods or others who had bought those homes and are unable to purchase home or contents insurance. Many of them came away wearing only the clothes they stood in and have nothing to go back to except filthy, stinking mud.
At one point we watched a large section of concrete pontoon which was a riverside cycleway and walking track, maybe 50m long or more, ripped from its' piers and washed down the river, ultimately being shepherded by a tugboat driver so it didn't crash into the massive pylons supporting the Gateway Bridge out near
Standing helpless as the water rose.
One of many houses at the end of our road. Port of Brisbane.
The first weekend after the disaster, there were so many volunteers queueing up to help, the Authorities (who had attempted to register everyone) couldn't cope so it was help out anyone you knew, didn't know, heard about or saw who just needed assistance or support. It has been referred to as the spirit of WWII.
As the start of the real clean-up begins (which will take years), many questions will be asked, one of which will be on the subject of waters released from the Wivenhoe Dam which the gates of which were opened to avert a different tragedy as it reached 190% capacity.
Much will be written, even more has been photographed, and more still will be etched into the memories of all Brisbanites.
We have posted just a few images which show nothing of the magnitude of this event.
12th January 2011
It's chaos in south east Queensland with the worst flooding for at least a generation and possibly 150 years.
The Brisbane river is expected to reach in excess of 5.5m - it is currently at 3m and expected to peak tomorrow as water runs down from
inundated rivers upstream, an overflowing Wivenhoe Dam which for the last few years has been down to 25% of capacity, combined with a King tide.
In excess of 20,000 Brisbane properties are expected to be affected by flooding, but in Brisbane it's nothing compared to Toowoomba (almost 1000' above sea level to our West) which suffered a 7.5m inland Tsunami wave with 10 killed and over 90 still missing. In Ipswich, the river is already at +19m and expected to get to 20.5m. In Murphy's Creek and the Lockyer Valley, it's total devastation.
Power has been cut to the Brisbane CBD this morning and we are watching City Cat terminals with water up to their roofs, huge pontoons, some with boats still attached being dragged down an angry and bursting Brisbane river.
We expect to be cut off as Norman Creek floods later today / tomorrow but we are not predicted to flood. I have included flood flag maps compiled at 9.25pm last night - we are on the "South" map and you will see the flooding extends to the end of our street approximately 500m away. Our old home in Gillan Street which backed onto Norman
Gillan Street and our rental home.
The water was up to the third step and rising! Creek will be completely inundated.
We know the UK media is carrying news stories, but if you want more information, try the Nine News, ABC or Brisbane City Council websites, noting that some of these are not working.
The irony today is that with all of this grim news in a fast - changing situation, the rain has stopped and the sun is shining for the first time in weeks!
Thanks to all of you who have been contacting us with messages of concern, we really appreciate it, but please spare a thought and a prayer for those who are substantially worse off than us.
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Debbie Hepplewhite
non-member comment
So sorry
I am so, so sorry about all the flooding and had not thought for a moment that you were in the midst of this crisis. Thank you for sharing this information with me - and I just hope that there is not a repeat of this disaster for others. No, I cannot envisage flooding the size of France and Germany combined - it is utterly mind-boggling. All the very, very best - lots of love, Debbie XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX