Brisbane Floods.

Just to let everybody know...I'm alright, thanks for the floods of emails and phone calls to make sure!!!!! (only two people asked and neither were my parents...guess Andrew must be the favourite son now) They were mad. Luckily for us we were able to stay at Grant's in-laws who live on top of a mountain (well a hill) and therefore were able to stay out of the floodwaters. We were stranded up there though as there was no way of getting into the city or out the other direction for two days. The rain has been pouring for some time, pretty much the whole of December, but on Monday 10th was when it started to really have an effect. Grants partner's sister was washed away in her car by a river flowing along the bottom of her drive. Theres normally a street at the bottom of her drive but the rain had turned it into a proper river. Thankfully Grant and her brothers were able to push the car out and she was ok. The car mind you is a total write-off. After they had pushed her out, an 80+yr old couple attempted to cross the water in a Jaguar without any luck so they too had to be rescued. We were due to move into a house on Tuesday morning and after having breakfast in the McDonalds at Milton made our way there. When we arrived Grants father-in-law phoned and told us to get to his house right away as the city was about to flood. And flood it did. By mid-afternoon the CBD had been evacuated and the pub we work in had gone under water, Mike was stil supposed to work that night but seeing as he wasnt prepared to swim in, he decided not to. It rained for the whole of Tuesday and Wed, with the rolling news coverage brining story after story of disastour. Ipswich and Toowoomba were the worste affected and turned from Towns to lakes overnight. Large parts of Brisbane were also hit pretty bad, and all along the river was destroyed...walkways were torn up and anything floating on the river was carried away. All the boats and there pontoons and even a restaurant was seen floating down the river. The McDonalds we had brekkie in on the Tuesday morning was completely submerged by the Wed afternoon and people were even able to take canoes over the entrance gates of the XXXX brewery just along the road. On the Wed night we climbed up Mt Coot-Tha to have a look at the damage and it was pretty severe. The pics I have put up of the city dont really do the floodwaters justice.

Things were better this week but there is a lot of mess to clean up and our work still hasnt re-opened and that has been 10 days now since it closed. I dont know all the facts but Im sure they will be online or will have been broadcast around the world. I know that a few people lost their lives and thousands have losts their homes or their businesses. Spike and I have currently lost our jobs which I feel is the real disaster here!!! Seriously though, whilst our experience may have been sheltered, for many it was devastating and they are predicting cyclones to arrive before the month is over. Great time to be in Brisbane. Need to get a t-shirt made saying I survived the Brisbane Floods 2011.

P.S Thoughts go back home to everybody. Going to miss Uncle Alec a lot.