Australian Floods?

[jehayes]

Any news from our Antipodean colleagues on how the floods are going. The pictures shown on the news here from Brisbane are really impressive. Are all MM's in OZ OK?

[AuS MaDDoG]

Absolutely Tragic!! and heartbreaking. the damage done and still being done. Death toll is now at 15 confirmed, and more expected.
Both Paul and I are fine with no threat, amazing considering we are north & south of Brisbane and probably only 10 to 15mins away from flood affected areas. I believe Ross (Surfcnc) would be ok where he lives also. I will try to call him and confirm.
Other than that I am not sure of any other MM's around the area.
Glad to be able to advise all is well :)
Thanks for your thoughts

Cheers
Tony.

[AuS MaDDoG]

Spoke to Ross
all Good!!:D

Cheers
Tony.

[Surfcnc]

Hi All

Thanks Joe and Tony. High and dry as Tony reports.

We sure have been wet recently here in Brisbane. As in any tragedy some good news and some very bad news has come our way.
The good news is that we were able to avoid river flooding levels above the two largest floods in recent history in 1974 and 1893.
The bad news is many people have died and the city faces a massive cleanup effort followed by a huge repair bill.
I anticipate that reconstruction will take in the years to fully restore us back to a pre 2011 flood condition.

The areas of inundation have effected all socio economic levels.
A few thousand people are currently in temporary shelters and power is mostly cut off to the flooded areas and their immediate surrounds.
This includes our central business district of the city of Brisbane.

I have taken some photographs so that eveyone might see a little of what is happening, but in no manner does this reflect the magnitude or severity of the damage to Brisbane city.

Visit my pics for a week or so at http://picasaweb.google.com/rawb111/BrisbaneFloods13Jan2011Resized#

As I was around in 1974, I know we can look forward to some muddy and mouldy homes once the water recedes.

Regards
Ross

[jhiggins7]

Ross,

Thanks for sharing the photos. Our sympathies are with you, your family and those many others affected by this tragedy.

[Gerald D]

A Brisbane friend sent me a link to this (http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/images/nla.map-vn000001550980-s001-m.jpg) old map (big file). He used that when selecting a house to buy 5 years ago, and he is very grateful now.

[domino11]

Ross,
Thanks for the picture link. Hope this all ends soon for you guys. :)

[Gerald D]

We are also having severe floods (http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/scores-dead-homeless-in-sa-floods-1.1011571) up north, but this doesn't grab international attention because it is the sort of thing expected from Africa. It is in a region with low economic activity. However, there is a chance that parts of Johannesburg may flood this weekend and this may make the news.

A business colleague told me today that he typically records 500mm (20 inches) of rain per year, but this year he has already recorded that amount by yesterday!

[Gerald D]

Brasil is also having a hard time (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12181869).

[smreish]

...and Brad had 20" of snow yesterday. Interesting year for sure.

[MetalHead]

Yeah and we have had 4 days of recovery from a snow/ice storm here. Been 13 years since that happened this time of year here in the South East US !!

[polishpickle]

Isn't global warming nice.

[jehayes]

Tony/Ross: Thanks for the update. Glad you are OK but sad about Brisbane. Joe

[bradm]

Glad everybody is okay. Yes, we got 20", but that's not life threatening here. Kids out of school for two days - they're happy and we're frazzled ;)

[normand blais]

2010 has been the warmest year ever recorded in canada, with flash flood and mud stuff .We have it better than our southern neighbor, one more reason not to join. I see new trend coming "rooftop boatbuilding "
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Weather+made+news+making+confused/4043561/story.html

[polishpickle]

Here they can not even agree on the warmest year They say it was 2007, 2010, 1998, 1934 with 1934 winning out as the warmest.

[Surfcnc]

Anyone interested can look in the online news services and see our Brisbane people working together to do the initial cleanup of the flood damage.

To give an idea of the scale of damage, the Brisbane Lord Mayor was quoted today in our Sunday papers saying "90,000 km of roadways across the state of Queensland were in need of repair".
90,000 km - I knew we were a big state but that big -WOW.

Financial donations to the official Queensland Government Flood Relief Appeal may be made at http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html
Please pass this link on to anyone that might have the capacity to donate to this worthy cause.
Please ensure you confirm the bona fides of anyone representing themselves as a charity fund or collection agent for the flood appeal.
Lets make sure the money gets to where it is intended to go.

Thanks for your support and concern.

Regards
Ross

[AuS MaDDoG]

Volunteered my day yesterday helping with the clean up in the business area of Rocklea.
Made me feel good to help though, and would do it again!! It was also great to see so many other people coming from all over and getting their hands dirty to help the people that have virtually lost everything.
Boy was I tired today :)

Cheers
Tony.

[Surfcnc]

Onya Tony