Australian floods!

[Squirt's Mom]

Are all our Australian family alright? The stories and pics hitting the news here is scary so I'm checking up on ya'll!

Hope everyone and their loved ones are ok!
Hugs,
Leslie

[gpgscott]

I am sure we will hear from both of em soon, but just to put a quick note here, I have communicated with them and understand they are both OK at this time and a long way from the dramatic flooding.

Scott

[Squirt's Mom]

Cool! I have talked with John II and he and Angelina are fine, too. Waiting to hear from Jane and Franklin now but John says they are far down river from the floods.

Thanks for passing the word on!

Hugs,
Leslie

[John II]

Sydney - Check.
Thoughts and prayers with the people suffering to the north. :(
8 dead - 4 of those are children :(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(
and 72 missing.
I'm hoping those people are just without means of communication.

[gpgscott]

I am sure we will hear from both of em soon, Scott

Sorry to neglect others, I immediately thought of Alison and Jen.

Best wishes to you others down there as well.

Scott

[John II]

"The flood will move through the valley this morning and will head further east into the Brisbane River and into Ipswich and Brisbane within 36 hours."

So worrying about Alison now... :(

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/at-least-eight-dead-72-missing-as-inland-tsunami-hits-queensland-towns-20110111-19ldz.html

[AlisonandMia]

John, I'm 99.99% sure that we will be fine. There will be flooding in lower lying areas and our neighboring town of Ipswich could be in for some serious flooding. My daughter was just saying that quite a few of her friends have family in Toowoomba (severely hit) though.:(:(:(

We will be staying home today though - not a good day to be out and about for sure.

Alison

[Squirt's Mom]

Good to hear from you, Alison! Glad you and yours are alright and I like your odds for staying that way!

Hugs,
Leslie

[littleone1]

I hope all of you will be okay.

[John II]

Ah good to see you check in Alison! :)
I like your percentage!
Are you on higher ground?
(just for that 0.01% ;))
I saw a report that said they were expecting a king tide up there at the same time! :eek:

[AlisonandMia]

Yes, I think we are in for spring tides this week (tomorrow) - and then again on Australia day for that matter. And they are having to let water out of the dams (some at 140% apparently). The Brisbane River is a tidal river too.

I didn't go and have a look at the river today on my morning dog walk but will have a look later.

We are on higher ground. For me the biggest personal risk is algae-covered pavements. I'm having to wear Crocs with socks over the top when walking the dogs at times - as long as the socks hold up all is good. The humidity is a killer though, and Zac wears his raincoat like it is a haircoat (are you trying to make me look silly?!?) - Tink couldn't care less, a walk is a walk and a wet walk is best of all because there a bits of dead frog and toad(:eek:) all over the road. I really have to watch her!

Alison

[John II]

Here's a link to a map of the Brisbane suburbs expected to flood:
http://images.brisbanetimes.com.au/file/2011/01/10/2126839/Overview_Sububs.pdf?rand=1294655936549

[AlisonandMia]

On the map to which John just posted a link, we are at Riverhills - lower left hand corner. (Wacol (not that far) is near the lowest red dot.)

To put things in perspective for our Nth American friends my daughter has prepared a map:

[gpgscott]

The map is nicely done, the area of flodding is crazy large.

The US has also had epic floods, tamed somewhat by our public works and army corps. Hope we never experience them again.

Blessings to all of those in trouble right now.

Scott

[Squirt's Mom]

Great! Tell your daughter thanks, Alison!

Wendy, Harry and Izzy are in Melbourne so they should be fine, too!

Hugs,
Leslie

[AlisonandMia]

Brisbane was severely flooded in 1974 (same time of year) and in the wake of that a lot of dams and other flood-mitigation measures were put in place (1974 was a political/bureaucratic stuff up as well as a natural disaster) and this time, at least for most of Brisbane, things are looking a lot better. Some of the low-lying areas are going under or have gone under though.

The other towns are having unprecedented flooding as rivers and creeks break their banks. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/11/3110285.htm

Meanwhile at our house Zac isn't feeling well in his tummy.....:eek::( And we are starting to get thunder which stresses him out....

Thank goodness Tink, the fluffy little toy dog, is made of sterner stuff! (Touch wood!!)


Alison

[frijole]

I feel so out of it... CRIKEY as you would say! I didn't even know this was happening... course I shovelled over 12 inches of snow this morning and it is supposed to be 25 below zero tomorrow... Hope you guys stay dry and safe!!!

[BestBuddy]

Ali, tell your daughter I love her map. It gives a great perspective on the size of Aust. and the distance between us. Lots of rain here but no flooding thank heavens.

Jen

[Casey's Mom]

Alison, glad to know you are safe. I too loved your daughter's map, gives a great perspective and lets us know where all of our Oz cush friends are located in relation to the floods.

Keep us updated, and stay safe.

Love and hugs,

[John II]

The Mayor of Brisbane is currently on TV advising of the disaster expected. 6500 properties (homes and businesses) will be flooded when the waters arrive, and 16000 more will suffer partial flooding!
:(
(and pets are not allowed in the evacuation centres)

[AlisonandMia]

Arrggghhh! Now we are in quite a bad situation.... Zac is not well and all the vets around here have been ordered to shut up shop and go home. The emergency service at the Uni is almost certainly cut off by local flooding too!

He isn't desperately ill by any means but there is definitely something wrong with his GI tract - my best guess is he's drunk some doubtful water in the backyard.

Looks like we are going to be "vetless" for at least 3 days. What to do? Yesterday he got a very light diet and today he's had nothing.

[BestBuddy]

Ali,

I hope you can get to a vet if needed. Maybe they will have emergency services??? Go with the light or nothing diet. Just plain chicken and white rice is a good backup.

Jenny

[AlisonandMia]

Well he doesn't want to eat today at all. He got a light diet yesterday, basically a bit of banana (he loves banana) and a small amount of his regular raw last night. The banana seems to have fixed the diarrhea he's had over the last couple of days but now he's feeling pretty yucky by the looks of things. The only thing he wants to eat is grass (of course) - we have plenty of that!

I think we'll skip dinner and try a bit of banana tomorrow morning - or continue on nothing if he still feels too seedy.

Unfortunately chicken (cooked or raw) just doesn't really agree with him in anything like large amounts - I know it's weird but that's the way he is! He seems to be fine with the small, homemade dried chicken breast treats I give them though - but any more than that and it tends to go through him a bit.

Alison

[BestBuddy]

Just watching the news now and the flooding looks devastating. I hope you stay safe and dry Ali and that Zac doesn't need that vet.

Jenny

[AlisonandMia]

It could be a close run thing with the flooding - but we should be ok!

Zac is feeling better and actually had a bit of a playful romp in the backyard a few minutes ago. I think he was saying he wanted me to throw a ball for him. I didn't. He needs to take things easy for a while.

[BestBuddy]

Glad to hear Zac is feeling a bit better. The waters look a bit close to me. Do you know what time the water in your area should peak? How did your home/area go in the 74 floods?

Jenny

[AlisonandMia]

Our block would have been fine in 1974. However, this one is set to be higher! That map (posted above) is the latest projection for tomorrow which is when it will peak here. It will peak in the CBD on Thursday.

It will definitely be too close for comfort and will no doubt smell pretty horrible afterwards. Displaced snakes are an issue too - I will have to keep a good watch with our outside birds in particular. I had some fun gently evicting a 2ft long young Brown Snake from my mother's house a few weeks ago before the rain really got going (she lives closer to the river than us but on higher ground).

The Brisbane River is down the end of our road and we have had sight-seers streaming past all afternoon. It is apparently quite a site to see! It is all but dark now so I'll go have my sticky beak in the morning. The local rowing club has had to remove all their boats from their clubhouse (at 5.30am today) and their brand new clubhouse is almost underwater now - they have removed the doors. Their brand new $250,000 pontoon took off out to the Pacific so they won't be too happy about that either. And my mum saw a kangaroo being swept down the river this afternoon!

Alison

[AlisonandMia]

The Mayor of Brisbane is currently on TV advising of the disaster expected. 6500 properties (homes and businesses) will be flooded when the waters arrive, and 16000 more will suffer partial flooding!
:(
(and pets are not allowed in the evacuation centres)

Just heard on the local ABC that they are allowing pets at the evacuation center. Cats in carriers and they have accommodation for 300 dogs. Other pets to be contained.

I had also heard earlier that animals were not being catered for. Looks like the RSPCA or some similar body has intervened!:D

Alison

[frijole]

Alison, Sending warm thoughts to you and to Zac! WOW. Hope his tummy is better soon.

[Casey's Mom]

Alison this all seems to close for comfort - please continue to update us.

Love and hugs,

[lulusmom]

Alison, I'll be keeping a constant eye on the forum from work today so please keep checking in (if you are awake) to let us know everything is okay.

[bernie47]

We are checking in ..unbelievable ..Perth WA..couple of hundred ks from fires.. but have a friend in Brisbane no contact yet ...Catherine Ken and Natcho ..

[labblab]

Alison, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you as well!

Marianne

[Squirt's Mom]

Catherine, good to hear from you and to know you and yours are alright and far removed from danger!

Alison, that does look awful close, honey! Do keep checking in as you can. Question - is your "sticky beak" like our "rubbernecking"?

Jane, Franklin and family are alright, too!

[littleone1]

I'm keeping you in my thoughts, Alison. I hope that you and your family don't have any problems with everything that's going on.

I'm glad that everyone else is out of danger.

[Sabre's Mum]

Hi Alison

Hope you are alright!! We have constant news coverage here and it is truly devastating! Grantham, along with other areas, hit SO hard. My uncle and family lives in Brisbane ... I must check with Mum which suburb they live now ... used to live in Morningside.

They are saying on the news that it is and likely to be worse than the 74 floods ... so hoping you will be OK. I had read on Dogzonline (oz site) that many animals have no shelter at all ... people waiting to be rescued with animals and the animals were not allowed to go with them. Great to hear that some dogs (and cats) will have shelter.

Take care
Angela and Flynn

[lulusmom]

I'm hoping Alison is still sleeping soundly and I'm relieved to see Catherine checking in with us. Big time prayers are being said in California.

[Squirt's Mom]

Any word from or about Brisbane?

[AlisonandMia]

Woke up this morning (early) to see a backwater of the river across the road about 5 doors down from us. And it is still going to rise through today as the tide comes in!

I think we are going to have a wet yard but hopefully our house will be spared. Neighbors are moving out downhill from us...

Alison

[labblab]

Oh Alison, that's WAAAAY too close for comfort!!!!!!!!!! Even if you don't flood, is there a danger that you'll lose electricity and also your ability to communicate with us? :( :(

Marianne

[AlisonandMia]

Should be able to communicate. I have a wireless modem (linked to mobile phone system) and a couple of lap tops which are charging now.

If that happens I won't be on much but will be able to check in from time to time.

It is 6.41am here now and it should peak here at 5pm, apparently.

Alison

[Squirt's Mom]

Don't be brave! Take the babies and go to higher ground...where you can ck in if possible but don't take any chances please. geez...my nerves are shot way over here....I can't imagine seeing the water below me and knowing it is still going to rise! :eek: Please, please, please be careful!

[AlisonandMia]

The very most we will get is 6inches in the house. Severely annoying but not dangerous. We may end up going to my mother's (we'll have to walk the last bit).

Alison

[lulusmom]

Wow, that is too close for comfort, Alison! I'd be a nervous wreck....oh wait, I am a nervous wreck so I can't imagine what it must be like to be looking at a river five doors down the street. Unreal!!!! The weather and everything else can change on a dime so I'm glad to hear that you have a back up plan, even though you may have to hoof it part of the way to your mom's place. Still saying prayers that you, your family and your property gets through this unscathed.

[AlisonandMia]

At least it isn't raining today! If it was raining it would be 100 times worse!!:eek::eek::eek::eek: (All these people carrying mattresses on the tops of their cars.)

Alison

[BestBuddy]

I'll be watching out all day Ali. Glad the rain has stopped there at the moment. We have no flooding near us but this rain just will not stop. It's miserable "Summer weather".

Jen

[Roxee's Dad]

Good Thoughts and prayers going out to you Alison.

[lulusmom]

These videos gave me goose bumps and not in a good way.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/23805812
http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/23805812#video=23815550

[Casey's Mom]

Thinking of you Alison -

Love and hugs,

[frijole]

Sending love and kind thoughts Alison. Hope you are staying dry and safe. xoxox Kim and Annie

[John II]

Pacing and worrying and thoughts and prayers. :(:eek::confused::eek::(

[AlisonandMia]

We are ok - we've left our house and put everything we haven't taken with us UP. We are camping at my mother's place - we have no power and I'm doing this on a laptop with a very sad, flaky wireless connection. We have a lamb roast on the BBQ.

However (and I feel superstitious saying this:o:eek:) it is looking like we might be going to miss out and hopefully our next-door neighbors downhill from us may have also have missed out.

We've had an even more dramatic day that we might otherwise have had as we found out that my 15 yo nephew (who lives with us) has whooping cough:eek::eek::eek:. So he's on antibiotics and the rest of us and my mum have had to be immunized! Because of everything I ended up giving my husband the shot.

Need to go and do a few things - such as trying to have one last sticky beak (yes that is rubber necking but maybe not quite so blatant) in the dying light.

I'll check in tomorrow - I have two charged up laptops at my disposal.

Alison

PS: Tink thinks it is all a game and Zac feels he has been trying to tell us that the sky was falling for years and now he has been vindicated at last! Poor fellow! He doesn't want to let his mummy out of his sight at the moment. Tink is cool about everything but probably a bit bored.

[BestBuddy]

Thank heavens you are ok Ali. I have been watching the news on and off all day and the floods are devastating. I was hoping you would be lucky enough to be out of the main flood area although even being close has it's problems.
Stay in touch.
Jenny

[John II]

(sigh of relief)
:o:p:):D

[Casey's Mom]

Glad you are all okay Ali - :):) I was very worried and watched for news late into the night so now we can hopefully get a collected sigh of relief.

Love and many hugs,

[Roxee's Dad]

Checking in and very happy to see you are okay. :)

[frijole]

Thanks for the update. Stay safe and love, Kim

[lulusmom]

Very relieved here too. Whew!!!

[Squirt's Mom]

~~whew~~ What a relief to see you post and to know ya'll are out of harms way for sure. :D:D:D Another friend over there posted a map on FB of the projected flooding in Brisbane but it rotated and moved so I couldn't place where you were by your map compared to that one, but it didn't look good for the city as a whole.

I hope your nephew is better soon and that the rest of ya'll escape infection.

[lulusmom]

Here is an article that a lot of us insurance folks got this morning:

http://fpn.advisen.com/fpnHomepagep.shtml?resource_id=135479137-922043930&userEmail=don.magnuson@gamcustom.com#top

I also wanted to mention that I have a lot of animal welfare friends in Australia and I read that the outpouring to foster animals during this horrible time has been amazing. One of my friends on face book volunteers at the RSPCA and posted that a family came in to see if they could foster one of the hundreds of dogs displaced and unbelievably, the only animal they had left was a chicken. They agreed to foster the chicken. There's apparently a lot of big hearted animal lovers in Australia. Good for them!!!

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/01/12/australia.flooding.animals/?hpt=C2

[littleone1]

I'm glad you're okay, Alison.

[Dollydog]

Me too!!! :D :D

[labblab]

Hoping that you are all still safe and dry, Alison! We'll be anxious for a fresh update whenever you are able to check back in with us.

Marianne

[Squirt's Mom]

Hoping all is well with you and yours, Alison.

Prayers for all....

[marie adams]

So glad you are safe Alison and I hope you get to go home soon!!!

[gpgscott]

Glad you had a place to go to Ali and hoping your home is not badly damaged.

Hope the young one with the cough gets better soon.

Scott

[k9diabetes]

Just a note to let you know we are worrying about you all from our house.

I moved to California six months before one of the worst floods in Sacramento in recent memory in 1986. The friend I moved down here with was living next to a canal and had to leave her apartment by boat with the water waist high. Fortunately, I had opted for higher ground and was safe and dry. It can be really fluky what it hits and what it doesn't.

Zac... finally his dire predictions come true! Jack salutes his efforts to save mankind by warning them!

Natalie

[Franklin'sMum]

Anyone heard from Alison today?

[Roxee's Dad]

Haven't seen Ali on for almost 36 hours...Hope everything is okay. Keeping the good thoughts and prayers flowing.....

[Squirt's Mom]

Me, too, John.

Did Sydney escape? I think this got worse than they expected as the water ran down river and the rains kept feeding the swells. :(

I saw Jane posting and have heard from Catherine, so that is good!

Prayers continue for you and your family, Alison as well as for all of Australia.

[Squirt's Mom]

Just saw this story on the flooding in Brisbane:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110114/wl_asia_afp/australiaweatherfloods

Brazil has been hit very hard by floods and mud slides, too. Do we have any Brazilian members? Seems like we did at cc.net but I'm not sure about here.

[labblab]

Oh, I so wish we'd hear from Alison again!!!!! To calm my nerves, I'm telling myself that probably the whole communications grid is disrupted in the wake of the damage, and that maybe it'll just take a while for her to get through to us again...:(

Marianne

[Casey's Mom]

Yes me too worried about Alison - hope we hear from you soon.

Love and hugs,

[frijole]

I check this thread first thing every time I get on my p.c. Thinking of you Alison and sending love and strength to you, your family and your city! Kim

[Squirt's Mom]

Brisbane is a real mess so I keep telling myself that is why we don't hear from Alison - she simply cannot get a connection right now. She said the wireless she had was very weak days ago and I can't imagine it got any better once the waters really did their damage.

If we just keep calling for her here, she will hear us and come home. She will, she will, she will.....

[AlisonandMia]

Finally managed to get a connection - at 4am. Can't get a online during the day as the cell phone system is so overloaded, and some of the towers are running on battery power as well, I believe.

We are still blacked out but fortunately there are some houses not that far away where power has been restored so I've been able to charge laptops at friends' places etc.

I've got to get back to sleep now but will check in when I can.

Alison

[Casey's Mom]

Thank you!!! Sleep well my friend.

[Squirt's Mom]

Thank goodness! :D SOOO glad to hear from you Alison! ~~whew~~ :D

My thoughts and prayers remain with you and your family, and all of your countrymen.

[gpgscott]

Brazil has been hit very hard by floods and mud slides, too. Do we have any Brazilian members? Seems like we did at cc.net but I'm not sure about here.

We have Marcela, from Brazil, but I think living in Florida, although she perhaps has family still in SA as I remember her taking trips now and then.

Scott

[John II]

As the floodwaters drain away from Brisbane, there's news of severe flooding in north-west Victoria! :eek: One town is facing a once in 200 year flooding! :eek::eek::eek:

So do we need to start worrying about Jane (to the north) and Jenny (to the south)?:confused::eek::(

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/floodrelief/flood-hit-victoria-braces-for-devastation-as-looters-raid-abandoned-properties/story-fn7ik2te-1225989126764

[BestBuddy]

Jenny is fine.:D

We've had lots of rain and there is plenty of water around but nothing to threaten the houses or people in them. It is causing a few plumbing problems (toilets and showers backing up) but we can live with that until it dries out.

Jenny

[John II]

Jenny - good to hear. :D
Jane - are you out there Jane? :p

[Franklin'sMum]

I'm here John, spent the day sleeping is all. The very minor flooding we had a few weeks ago has gone down, so if we get more coming down river from these floods, there's a bit of space to take it before it gets close to being a threat (don't get me wrong, I strongly doubt we'd get anything like the Queensland floods).

Hugs,
Jane, Franklin and Angel Bailey xxx

[John II]

OK then - all checked in - yay! :D

[mytil]

I am so very glad to read our Aussies buds are doing okay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lulusmom]

Glad to see everybody checking in. Man oh man, it's been a rollercoaster ride worrying about our Aussie family. I think I see several new wrinkles and who the heck would know if I have any new gray hair? :D No rain in sight at my house and 80 degrees in January. Gil finally dusted off the bike and went riding in between football games.

[Dollydog]

Good to hear from everyone in Aussieland!! Canadians complain about the cold and snow and ice....but we can deal with it and to some extent "control" it. Flooding, hurricanes and tornadoes scare me....they can be so devastating.
Thanks for checking in with us....(((HUGS)))

[mytil]

Has anyone heard from Wendy or Loraine?

[Squirt's Mom]

I have talked to Wendy on Facebook and saw a post from her yesterday I think it was.

Just looked...I saw the post on my page yesterday but it was posted on the 13th.....

[Squirt's Mom]

Just talked to Wendy and they are ok as far as the flooding goes. She says prices of food, fuel, etc. is already out the roof and still rising. The grassland area where the sheep and cattle are raised is the area now being affected by flood waters so food prices are going to get worse. :(

[H-man]

Hi guys,
you are so sweet for your thoughts - we're OK in Melbourne.
Have just posted an update on Harry in general discussion area too.
Natural disasters have a way of bringing us all together dont' they?
xxx Wendy