SMS messages

It's a bit of a worry when you get an SMS from Lloyd (on camp in Tasmania) saying "all safe don't panic" and then another "evacuating". It seems that Tassie also has experienced a lot of rain and the camp had the risk of flooding if a dam was to burst. It was a precautionary measure. Lloyd was out in a community centre for 2 hours then it was considered safe to return to camp. He's now safely back home near Brisbane where we are high and dry.

I've got two loads of 10-day-old smelly washing to do - yuk - but can't complain. Many in Brisbane have huge amounts of Brisbane River mud to clean out of their homes.

Praise God for the thousands of volunteers who are helping.

Floods close to home

Here's a couple of pics of 'our' park (it's okay, we're up a good many metres from here):

Our turn

Today was spent in flood preparation as the flood is due to hit Brisbane fully on Wednesday and Thursday. We're high and dry here but I still checked that we had flood insurance to be sure. I also stocked up on non-perishable food and the car was filled with petrol. It's unlikely we'd be affected or isolated here but the petrol supply may be dicey and when there are floods the trucks can't supply the supermarkets. At Coles this afternoon the checkout lady told me they are running out of milk as the supplier is under water. Also, the electricity may be cut off.

Hubby was sent home from work on an enforced break since normally he works in Brisbane where the floods are expected to hit higher than 1974 levels.

I'm praying that everyone will be safe and the dam will hold.

The floods get closer

I've just been watching a video of the mini-tsunami that just went through Toowoomba this afternoon and it's something else watching cars get swept away, upside down and knocking down trees. Bridges have been washed away and a building in the main part of the town has collapsed. Apparently at Esk the water rose 3 metres in 10 minutes and a house was swept away downstream. With no warning many were caught standing on rooftops and had to be rescued by helicopter.

I'm concerned for a friend who has a house on the Brisbane River bank. One more day of heavy rain is predicted before it will ease a little on Wednesday, but the rest of January is expected to be solid rain. I'm just praying the forecasters are wrong.

More added on Tuesday: Our thoughts and prayers are with those who lost loved ones in the terrible tragedy at Toowoomba.

Nuclear physics after dinner anyone?

Matt is growing at an amazing rate at the moment which is a challenge for me since he seems to have inherited my coeliac problems (buying cheap, gluten-free snacks is somewhat expensive if I don't have time to cook). At dinner last night I piled his plate up in the hope that he would not be asking me for snacks within at least an hour after dinner. I must have overdone it because there were a few mouthfuls left when he asked if he could be excused from the table.

As he left the table he was in a terrible hurry on his way to surf the internet explaining, "I just *must* find out about applying heat to plutonium."

The scientist inside of me was asking, "Why?" and "What for?" but the tired mother who got up at 5 am to take Lloyd to the airport for his trip 'overseas' to Tasmania just thought, "Whatever" and kept quiet.

Not Flooded

The awful floods here in Queensland seem to be making the world news as we've had people ask if we've been affected. The question is not surprising since the floods cover an area the size of New South Wales, or the size of France and Germany put together.

No, we're not flooded here close to Brisbane, but have had the wettest December on record. We've had so much rain that, in our area, the recorded rainfall was twice that of the previous wettest December. There's still 3 months of rain to come and the possbility of a few cyclones so we're not ruling out flooding in Brisbane. After all, with full dams the water has to go somewhere. I think we'd be safe where we are - there would have to be enormous flooding in the rest of our town before it got anywhere near us who are a bit higher up.

I have a couple of friends in the flooded towns. Both are safe and dry but know people who have lost everything with no hope of insurance. They were insured, but the insurance company wouldn't give them flood insurance.

Nine years ago I remember going to the park near us in bright sunshine. Then huge clouds came over and dumped 16 inches of rain in 4-5 hours. It was a once-in-a-century event. At one point I wondered if we were going to be on the news after standing on the roof of the picnic area. Before it got to that point we waded through knee-high water (me carrying Matt) to get home. I never underestimate the speed at which water rises.

I'm praying for a drier start to 2011 without the predicted cyclones.