Wet but not Drowned

Most of you would have heard that Brisbane is in the midst of terrible flooding.  Leah and I are fine, our house is high up a hill.  The water didn't get as high as they expected but the devastation is terrible.  Our neighbourhood is all but cut off, though the waters are going back down.  Thankfully we've had two days of sunshine in a row.

We took a few pictures but, honestly, if you aren't from here you wouldn't know what you're looking at. I'll try and find a few to post in the next few days. Basically I wanted to post so you all knew we were fine.

Ross got out just in time.  The day he flew out the rain was coming down in buckets and that afternoon the river burst its banks.  They're saying the clean-up is going to take weeks and the rebuilding could take years.  There are thousands of people here who have been chased by water out of their homes.  15 people have lost their lives and there are grave concerns for a dozen more.

We're going to look for opportunities to volunteer this weekend.  In the meantime, I'd ask you all to make a donation to help the people of Queensland who have been stricken so hard.

http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html

This is the Regatta CityCat stop.  The blue part is the roof of the shelter. I'm pretty sure the whole thing broke it's moorings later in the day and it's now gone.  Lot's of ferry stops were lost yesterday.

This is Sylvan Road.  From here we're over 200 metres to the river.  On the right hand side is a huge liquor store and several body shops that didn't make it.  At the end of this street is the Regatta Hotel.  A Toowong landmark.  These last two pictures were taken yesterday before the peak.  The water came up about a foot more than this photo, but it was expected to rise more than three times that.  Thank goodness it didn't.

Here's a picture of the park, another several hundred metres back from the river.  The footy field is completely under water.  This is 3 minutes walk from our house.

The water is going down, but if we have another big rain event we could be in for some trouble. The grocery stores in our neighbourhood have been closed for two days, and they were pretty much stripped of goods before.

One thing is for certain.  These floods are going to have a long lasting impact on peoples lives.