Good to hear you're OK, Tan.
Cheers Brian ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Brian Walters Western Sydney Australia http://lyons-ryan.org/southernlight/ On Thu, 13 Jan 2011 12:11 +1000, "Tanya Love" <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi guys! > > Thanks so much for your concern! We are high and dry, thankfully. I > have > largely been offline and just FB'ing on my iphone as we have been told to > conserve water/power etc as much as possible. I have been tempted to get > out and take some pics but just can't bring myself to do it as there is > so > much suffering going on and the government is imploring people not to do > so. > My husband works in the city in one of the worst affected areas of > flooding > at the biggest hospital in the state. Due to a few emergencies, he was > required to stay back amongst it all whilst our (uninsured!) car was > parked > right in the middle of the flood zone. I was very panicked cause if we > lose > that car, we are buggered, with five kids and all. I was also freaking > out > that he would try and be a hero and get to it somehow (it is a raised 4wd > so > could most likely be driven out if he could reach it). Anyways, as it > turned out, he had to walk through waist deep water to get to it, but was > able to save it and get back to the hospital in time to assist a lady > delivering a 25 week old baby via emergency c-section. It is not known > if > the baby will survive. :( > > That pales in comparison though to another story that was just publicised > in > the area of Grantham (where almost all of the fatalities have been, and > continue to be discovered). A lady gave birth to her baby on her kitchen > bench with her husband standing in knee deep water to deliver it. Then > all > three of them had to spend the night on the bench as the water rose > around > them. Thankfully, they were airlifted to safety early in the morning, > just > as the water was about to consume them. How's that for an amazing story? > > It is sunny and bright here today. A typical summer's day. Dry around > our > house and our suburb. It is a surreal thing to know that if I got in the > car and drove for 10minutes, I would be entering a veritable war zone and > witnessing utter destruction and tragedy. There are helicopters > constantly > going over to remind us of it, and yet, if it wasn't for the empty > supermarket shelves and the fact that we now have to boil our drinking > water, things would be oddly normal for us. > > Yesterday, when dropping my husband at work between tides, I made a wrong > turn and ended up on a one way street over the bridge to Southbank/West > End, > due to road closures. I had two of my kids in the car and it completely > freaked me out as I don't know the area well at the best of times and > trying > to find a dry road to turn down was scary. It took me an hour and a > half > to navigate the suburb just to find a way back to the bridge and to > safety. > It was in the peak time as the water was rising heading to high tide and > I > was really scared when the gravity of it hit me. > > Things to note that you might not understand in the US - there is two > lots > of flooding that you may be seeing on the news. One is the flash > flooding > that occurred in the Toowoomba/Withcott/Grantham/Marburg area. This is > where the fatalities have occurred as it was described as an "inland > tsunami" and not only was everything wet/muddy, but it was violent and > destructive too. The images/stories that you are seeing of people > trapped > in cars etc are from this event. It is true that they won't be finding > many > of the victims for coming days as due to continued rain in the area, > recovery operations weren't able to access them. It is a sad fact that > yes, > there were entire families trapped in cars and possibly drowned. :( One > particularly heartbreaking story was of a family of a mum and her 10 year > old and 13 year old boys being rescued from a vehicle. The 13 year old > told > the rescuer to save his little brother first, which they did, and the 13 > year old and his mum were subsequently drowned. Another was of a family > being rescued in a boat and their life-jacket wearing 4 year old fell > over > the side and was swept away and drowned. I can't think of any more > insurmountable horror in my mind then seeing my 4 year old baby swept > away > and drowned in raging flood waters. I had to stop myself from watching > the > news after hearing this one, to say that it is heartbreaking is an > understatement. > > So, the second type of flooding is what Brisbane/Ipswich is experiencing > now. It is a result of all of our creek/catchment systems converging and > carrying downstream the masses of water that has accumulated from other > flooded regions. All of this water is trying to get out to sea, and > basically, Brisbane is in the way. Brisbane is built over and around the > river that is carrying all of this water, and the banks are/were unable > to > contain it thus, it is seeping out into the city/suburbs. This is the > flooding that I witnessed in Southbank/West End yesterday. It is an > eerie > thing. All of the power has been cut, so the suburbs are really quiet. > People were just standing around watching the water as it was rising > silently and engulfing their lives. It was almost like a fog sweeping > in, > just menacingly edging in and bit by bit covering everything in its path. > > Thirdly, the thing with Brisbane is that the Brisbane River is tidal. > So, > there are continued "peaks" with each tide. And, between tides, the > flooding drops significantly, only to return again 12 hours later. The > peak > that occurred at 4am this morning was due to this, and was considered to > be > the highest that the water levels will come up. Then, at high tide this > afternoon, it will be up again but not as high as this morning, and with > each high tide subsequently, it will be lower than the previous one, > until > it starts to pull away from the areas not normally flooded. > > This experience for us anyways, in some ways has been similar to our > experience of 9/11, in that we are kind of outside observers but glued to > the television/internet, not wanting to turn away for a second in case it > suddenly changes and heads in our direction. It has commanded our full > attention and basically rendered us all incapable of continuing every day > tasks, even though we are still dry, if that makes any sense? Obviously > the > after effects and global scale of it are nowhere near the same as 9/11, > but > I am sure you get what I mean. We are thanking our lucky stars, just as > we > were during 9/11 that we are where we are and that not being able to buy > groceries and having to boil our drinking water is as bad as it gets for > us. > Personally, I am also very relieved that my older kids are visiting their > Dad in North Qld at the moment, so are completely unaffected by it all. > > We are planning on taking it in turns to go into the city and volunteer > in > recovery efforts in coming days, as one of us will always need to be here > with the kids, as we really want to help. It is hard though as many of my > clients are interstate/international and are still demanding photos on > deadlines, not realising the full gravity of what we are experiencing > here > at the moment. > > The thing is though, whilst so much media attention is on Brisbane, with > it > being the state capital, there are many other towns since Christmas that > have been in dire straits (such as Rockhampton/Emerald where my > mother/family live), and the rainfall that we have been experiencing has > now > moved southward and will be creating havoc in NSW, VIC and SA now. We > also > have alerts out now about gastro/mosquito related illnesses/disease, so I > guess we have all of that fun to look forward to in coming weeks too. > > Thanks again guys/gals, we are safe, which is much more than many of my > friends/family are! > > Hugs, > Tan.x. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of > Stan > Halpin > Sent: Thursday, 13 January 2011 11:21 AM > To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List > Subject: Re: Queensland Floods > > I only rarely log onto Facebook, but just went there to check on Tanya's > current status. (Which is as good as can be expected. There was a scare > that > her husband might not make it home from work through flooded streets but > he > and the car made it.) While there I noted a post from Jay Taylor. The > fundraising for his daughter's funeral (and her son's future expenses) > continues. Go here http://funds.gofundme.com/1nuo0 to donate. > > stan > > On Jan 12, 2011, at 6:31 AM, Mark Roberts wrote: > > > Tan has been posting comments on Facebook. The's still above the water > > line at last report. > > > -- -- http://www.fastmail.fm - Email service worth paying for. Try it for free -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
