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The Brisbane Flooding brought communities together.

The weekend after Brisbane River Flooded, hundreds of volunteers took to the streets to clean up, help out and get started on the re-building of home life. 

Many volunteers were taken by buses to the suburbs most affected by the flood water.  Sweepers, fire hoses, garbage trucks and many hands made light work of the debris. Food and drinks kept the workers working and music bands cheered up the streets.

A city working together really brought a sense of community spirit to the suburbs and street parties are planned, once the clear-up is finished.

Flooding Rivers Queensland

Rising River near Warwick, Queensland

Flooding & Immigrants…..

When we first came to Brisbane, some of the early conversation we had about ‘where in Brisbane shall we live”, were about the previous Brisbane flood.

At that time we were living in a rental house in the suburb of Fig Tree Pocket, which is situated along the Brisbane river.

A lot of the flood talk was about being careful where you buy and that details of flood lines and floodable areas are available from the local council. Taking this good advice, although it did seem like another hurdle at the time, (and in many ways a little over cautious), we did buy out of the flood zone. Needless to say we’re glad we did take this advice (and thankful to of had it) and with this week’s experience understand the serious concern expressed by locals.

The climate of Queensland is unlike one we have experienced before.

The Flood water clean up begins in Brisbane, Queensland.

The river water is going down, with Brisbane river now below 3m and the Bremer river in Ipswich slowly draining away.

People can’t actually move back into their houses until they’ve been inspected by the council.

No doubt a lot of residents are feeling fed up, still a little issolated and seeing the work ahead want to get started on the big clean up.

Tags: Queensland Floods

Free Public Transport to help with SEQ flood recovery

Anna Bligh has announced that the State Government will provide free public transport for a week to help with the initial flood recovery in South East Queensland.

Ms Bligh said all public transport in Queensland’s south east would be free for a week from today (Friday 14 January).

“Our public transport network is vital to the region’s recovery,” she said.

“Many people don’t have cars, and many others have lost them in the floods. I’m also sure there are also numerous residents who’ve lost their Go Cards.

“We want to help as much as possible and making the network free for a week will keep unnecessary cars off the road, help people do some shopping and get around to help others if needed.

Minister for Transport Rachel Nolan said the measure was intended to assist the flood recovery.

“Let me be clear. This isn’t a ticket to rubberneck. It remains the case that non-essential travel is not encouraged,” she said.

“I know it’s not a lot compared to what some people have lost but every little bit helps.

“We’ve never offered free public transport on this scale, for this long, before.

“It’s unprecedented, but so is the damage and devastation we’ve seen to the lives of so many Queenslanders.”

Ms Nolan said planned fare rises would still go ahead when fares were reinstituted from Saturday 22January.

“We face a massive task of rebuilding our damaged public transport network,” Ms Nolan said.

“And keeping quality services running is vital.

“Every extra cent we receive from these fare increases will go into services and helping rebuild our public transport network.

“That means more seats on buses and more seats on trains.”

Ms Nolan said the State Government would continue to support a large ongoing subsidy for public transport services in the region.

Minister for Transport
The Honourable Rachel Nolan

A Brief look into the near Future for Brisbane.

• A lot of devastated families: grieving loved ones, lost homes, lost animals, livelihoods, businesses.
• A lot of cleaning up.
• Difficulties transporting food into the flooded areas and local crops damaged.
• An air borne disease threat: river water, burst sewers.
• Stagnant Water = Mosquitoes.
• Given that Brisbane is Australia’s 3^rd largest city, 1/5 of the Australian economy has ground to a halt.
• Mining, tourism and farming will be affected.

75% of Queensland State is said to be a Disaster Zone.

Within Brisbane… The Capital City.

11, 900 Houses are inundated with flood water

120, 000 Houses don’t have power

106 roads are closed

Many suburbs have been evacuated

4, 000 in evacuation centers

A number of suburbs, streets and houses are isolated islands

The death toll and missing persons list is tragically growing

The town of Ipswich peaked at 19.4m of water

The Brisbane Dam is over flowing and water needs to be released

But it has stopped raining

Brisbane airport remains open but the port is closed

Wild Weather – Flash Flooding & Towns under water

It looks surreal. Our television is filled with images of cars floating down rivers, boats being ripped from their moorings, towns completely under water and emergency rescue services battling against the weather.

This rain has got to stop at some point.

These floods are being compared to the floods of 1974. Tonight is said to get worse rather than better.

Brisbane CBD has been evacuated during the day to day, trains will be stopping and electricity shut off.

We’re out of the flood zone ourselves but are horrified non-the-less.