Queensland Floods

[ralph]

Not sure if this has made it into international news, but Queensland is suffering from the worst floods in its history.  In what is looking to become the biggest natural disaster in Australia's history, these floods started just after Christmas and has been steadily getting worse every day.  The scale of this is unbelievable, some places have flooded, receded and flooded again three times since Christmas.  The flooded area is estimated to be the size of my state of Victoria - over 87,000 square miles.  Local coverage - http://www.couriermail.com.au/

Three days ago, what is being described as an inland Tsunami, an eight metre wall of water swept through Toowoomba without warning.  This footage shows what was a tiny creek turn into a raging torrent in a matter of minutes. Toowoomba Flood 2011.01.10

Mother nature is truly a powerful, powerful thing.  Here's hoping this starts to get better soon and everybody up there stays safe...

[Crispy]

It has made the news, at least the news I pay attention to, which is NPR (the ABC to you). Sounds unbelievably awful, and for perspective for people here, the area is said to be about the size of Texas , which is mind-boggling to me.

[walterfredo]

damn nature.....you scary!

[ALady]

I wondered how you guys were faring.  The reports on NPR have been pretty scary.

ralph, if you attend the Wishlist pre-party fundraiser for the Newcastle Eddie Vedder show, all money raised will be donated to the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal.  (And my friend Rob is running that party, so please say hi and ask him how he enjoyed Bridge School  ;))

Here's a link to the Facebook page for the pre-party fundraiser:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=165231556848677

And a direct link to the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal donation page:

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

New Yorkers, there's a flood relief fundraiser at the Australian (20 West 38th) this Saturday the 15th from noon-midnight, and Thursday the 20th from 6-10 pm.  $20 cover goes directly to the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal and includes a free drink.  Live Aussie music, raffles and door prizes too.

http://www.theaustraliannyc.com/

Pitch in if you can.   :)

[ralph]

damn nature.....you scary!

It seems to be happening everywhere. 400 dead in Brazil from flash flooding and landslides. Maybe M.N. has had enough of our destruction and is fighting back...

12 months ago the flooded area of Queensland was in the middle of it's worst drought in history with water supplies were at record lows. 3 days ago the dams were at 190%. Some places had their average yearly rainfall in 72 hours. The amount of water is truly unfathomable. Even here in Victoria we've gone from severe drought to flooding in the last few months. It just won't stop raining. Ironically we still need it as our water supplies have only just reached 50% even after 3 months of well above average rain...

[ralph]

The biggest cyclone in 100 years will hit the coast of Northern Queensland in the next 4 hours. The size of this is truly frightening. Winds of over 300kms are expected to last for 4 hours.

For those who say climate change is a myth, I present to you Queensland in January 2011. If the floods didn't get it, the cyclone will.

Fingers crossed this isn't as bad as it is predicted to be...

[TheBigChicken]

buckle down and hang in there. Were praying for you in Florida. Keep us posted and please be SAFE !!!!!   Whats up with all the snakes I heard about ?

[ralph]

Thankfully Im a long way from this, but its pretty scary for those concerned.  The eye of this thing is 50km big.

I did the only thing to do when your country is about to get hit by the biggest storm in living memory - I went to a Rock n Roll show!! Gotta keep on keeping on...