Monday, January 17, 2011

15/1/11: Day Five

15/1/11 (Saturday); 6am


I will never again underestimate the miracle of a hot shower.

We've been watching the news on TV (luxury!) and there are just so many heartbreaking stories out there - people who've lost their family, homes, businesses. If I watch too much of this I'll end up a useless mess, so it's best to just get out there and be useful.


5pm


It's so good to be home. Can't imagine what people who've lost their homes must be going through.




We got home, and looking at the streets around us it seemed almost apocalyptic. Browned leaves were falling off trees to the silty ground and they looked like ash. All greenery below hip-height seemed like it'd been sucked of life. It was like a photoshop newbie had gone through and sepia-fied the crap out of everything.



So, so many houses around Perrin Park (or Perrin Lake, now) have been inundated. I guess people who evacuated started heading back in yesterday, because piles and piles of grey-brown furniture, books, clothing, bicycles, miscellaneous bits of wood and screen doors and even an entire scooter lined the footpaths, awaiting collection by the rubbish guys.

We cleaned out our fridge when we got home - bloody rank. Then we donned our cleaning gear, grabbed a broom and walked along the street to try help.

We made a little bit of a dent; at one unit the walls were made of plasterboard, which had crumbled into thousands of piddly chunks all over the floor, leaving only the frame's wooden skeleton inside. The owners/residents were taking it really well despite that, telling us half-jokingly not to clear a certain pile of rubble as it was a dam they'd constructed in front of the bathroom to contain the unmentionables that had backed up out of the toilet.
After a while, though, we ran out of people to help in our area. Once they'd gotten everything out and started hosing their houses down, there wasn't much we could do. And heaps of people around here needs the power switched back on.



What they're going to need now is money (and hopefully, good insurance policies). I've heard that so many people won't be covered by their policies - people who've been paying it for 20, 30 years have been told it doesn't cover flooding from a river breaking its banks, or that it doesn't cover flooding at all unless you specifically asked for that coverage in the first instance. It's all about the fine print.

14/1/11: Day Four

14/1/11 (Friday): 7am

S has taken his bike out to see what the situation is. Word is that the water has started to recede significantly. It's at 2.6 metres now - a good thing, too, because I know people are here have started to feel quite abandoned or forgotten by authorities. Not everyone has a BBQ, not everyone would know that the Barracks supermarket is open, and not everyone could even make it there.

Dylan will be able to get here tonight. Should we stay here or head to Taringa?


9.30am

S was on the phone to his mum. They're saying that because Taringa/St Lucia is at one of the bends in the river, it's likely debris from upstream (Lockyer Valley etc) is likely to wash up there. "Debris" includes the bodies of the people still missing, so apparently they might be focussing a body search on our area, including where the water's still high around the corner from my house. No way am I going home before Dylan gets here.

R & I just went on our weird daily walk around our island. We saw an ambulance trying to get onto Milton Road, but it was blocked by floods. It did a u-turn and pulled up next to the Auchenflower train station, and they loaded someone onto a stretcher and into the van. A train took off a little while afterwards. I don't know if someone had a heart attack at the station, but I'm really hoping they weren't hit by the train. I know a lot of people have been using the tracks as a thoroughfare, while all the roads are closed.

Looks like Coro Drive is being cleaned up now towards the Regatta end, but the city end is still thoroughly out of action.

Suitcase left on a pedestrian shelter. Coronation Drive, Brisbane River

Broken fencing on the Brisbane River/Coro Dr
Drift restaurant, as heaps of people would've been watching on tv, has had a rough time of it. It wasn't the whole restaurant that people saw crash down the river, though - it was the floating beer garden.

Drift restaurant, Coronation Drive




Lang Parade is a swamp. Mud and worse cakes the road. A girl in gumboots was cleaning up her driveway; two other guys were wading hip-deep into the water with cleaning gear. Why not wait til you didn't have to submerge yourself in that muck?




Everything the water touches has turned brown; trees and bushes are covered in silt and are starting to wilt already. It looks like the water's sucked the life out of everything it touched.




The Frog & Toad is going to need a lot of work.




3:30pm

Just back from another hot walk to Caxton St. It's even more surreal now - pubs either have the news on the TVs with the volume muted, or they aren't showing coverage of it at all. With no power at home this is quite frustrating.

Some roads are opening up now, but there's still no direct route home that I know of - parts of Milton Road and Coro Dr are still closed. People are driving like bloody idiots, too, straight over witches hats and around 'road closed' signs, only to be turned around by police a few metres down the road. Why can't people just be patient and not make the recovery process harder?

Still no power here. Everyone is starting to go a bit bonkers. Not long til Dylan lands now.


7pm

The power's on! THE POWER'S ON! Good thing, too - we were about to go all Lord of the Flies.


10pm

Dylan's here. He's brought me some stylish purple gumboots and gloves. He brought masks, too; he went to a dentist to ask for some, and explained he was flying back to Brisbane to help with the cleanup. To which the dental nurse replied, "Oh, do you have a cold?" and charged him $30.

We'll head home tomorrow, try to help people on our street - even if we just end up cooking them sausages on the BBQ.

Friday, January 14, 2011

13/1/11: Day Three

13/1/11 (Thursday); Day Three


The river has peaked at 4.5 metres - a metre below the 1974 floods. 25,000 homes and businesses have been totally/partially flooded. Towns further upstream have run out of water - but Brisbane should be ok for a little while at least.

They're talking on the radio how it's lucky the water didn't get to the predicted levels. I think it probably hasn't made a difference to my unit, but I am holding out hope that only the floor is flooded or that it didn't even make it to the door. Why didn't I grab my file of papers? Or any of Dylan's suits? I think I didn't really believe it would flood, and I was too panicked to think clearly.

I can hear blood pounding in my ears, but I don't feel that stressed or anxious at the moment. Just disbelieving that my little home might be gone.

Helicopters again this morning. They've started sending in the military to Toowoomba and Lockyer. I wonder if my friend in the reserves is getting sent up? It stinks outside.

Bundaberg is flooding again. Will that come down here?


7.30am


We just checked - the milk is still slightly cold. So we're boiling water on the barbie and I can have coffee! And bread with peanut butter and honey!

A girl from upstairs was telling us about a guy she saw, walking along Coronation Drive and lugging a suitcase behind him. She got talking to him and he told her the case was full of beer.


11:00am


OUR HOUSE IS SAFE!

Earlier today on our morning walk, R and I met a couple walking around Auchenflower, looking at the floodwaters. They told us they had come from Toowong. I asked if they knew anything about the situation in Taringa, and they said they didn't but why didn't I just look it up on the internet? They didn't realise we had been without power since Tuesday night.

So they took my house address and my phone number, and said they'd find out for me. Such kind people. A couple of hours later I got the text:

"Your unit is ok road is closed and you missed it by millimetres."

Possibly the best news I've ever received in a text. I think they must've actually gone to my suburb to find that out. Thank you so much for that.

S also went for a big bike ride this morning, and apparently managed to find his way all the way to our unit. He says the water stopped just at our driveway - and if the water had risen to its predicted 5.5 metres our unit would've been flooded. Other places along the street are completely underwater, and debris has been strewn all along the road.

This is what we saw on our walk this morning:

Chaseley St is more flooded than yesterday. About 11am

Only the Frog & Toad's roof is showing, 11am

Lang Pde is a lake. 11am

The water on Cue St has come right up, 11am

It's kept creeping up Dunmore at Lang Pde, 11am

Coronation Drive was amazing, and surreal.



Debris? On Coronation Dr, 11am

We saw a lizard clinging to the river side of the barrier on Coronation Drive. I couldn't help him.



And here's a better view of the amount of water that ended up on Coronation Drive.


2:00pm


We ventured up to Barracks shopping centre to check out what was open. It's weird, everything there is open and buzzing, cars everywhere. We had lunch as at cafe - so good to have a cold beer, a coke and a hot pizza, and to watch TV. The pub had Channel 9 on, and they were basically just commentating footage from a chopper. The way they talked, it was as though they thought it amazing that the water had flooded across Coronation Drive and pooled behind untouched houses. That's daft. The water has come up from behind, through canals, storm water drains, creeks, any connection to the river in low-lying areas.

We can see military helicopters sometimes now, which are huge, and lots of normal choppers.




6:30pm


Cooking bbq for dinner again. We're definitely all going stir-crazy. The heat doesn't help. Dylan's flying in tomorrow - hopefully he can get to Auchenflower without too many problems. We need to do this together.

We probably won't have power for a week in Taringa, and we might be some of only a few people living on our street for months.


10:00pm

Explosion! Everyone woke up to a massive bang outside, and we all freaked out and ran to the balcony. Turns out it was just a blown bicycle tyre. Shows how tense we all are.

12/1/11: Day Two

12/1/11 (Wednesday): 5:45am

The power went off at about midnight last night. Now the only news we get is from a battery-powered radio, tuned to 612 AM - Brisbane ABC. Lots of people sneer at it but I know everyone goes to them first with information - police, politicians, energy companies, road closure reports, health authorities.

We've heard Coronation Drive has started to go under in Milton. Lang Parade, Roy St and Kilroe St in Auchenflower are completely submerged. Milton Road, at least behind us, is also under water. Dunmore Terrace has also gone under at the down-hill edge, attached to Lang Pde. 

We are essentially surrounded by a moat.


6:00am

The news says 10 people are dead and 78 missing. 800 people slept in evacuation centres in Ipswich last night. Milton and Oxley are flooded. Power is expected to be cut in the CBD soon. Why do they keep talking about the power in the CBD? It'd be a ghost town there at the moment. Surely power outages in the suburbs are more important.

R & I had a bit of a weird situation just now. We've been trying to keep in contact with people we see on the street, as we're all stranded in here together. A car drove past and R waved from the window - before realising it was a car we'd seen driving recklessly around the streets a few minutes earlier, going the wrong way up one-way streets at at least 70km/h. He saw us, reversed back, and just stared. Didn't say hello or wave... just stared at us. We went inside and he reversed into a driveway across the road to see us better. He eventually went away, but it was creepy. What if there are unsavoury types trapped with us on this suburban island?

I can hear a fire alarm going off. Is that from water or are people being evacuated?

I've had so much support and texts and phone calls from everyone I know. I feel really loved. 

I just got word that the end of Westerham Street in Taringa - my street - has started to flood. I thought I would be ok if my unit flooded but I'm really upset. I love our little home. I wish Dylan was here.


1:00pm

Lack of sleep = cranky, overreacting Sian. Chilling out now.

The river's 3.75 metres and rising in Brisbane. A 5.5 metre peak is expected tomorrow, at 4am and 4pm. The fourth story on the AM radio news was entirely about Westerham Street, I'm not sure why - maybe the journo lived there or knew someone there? Apparently people on the opposite end of the street to me woke to water lapping at their doors; cars and ground floor units already under water. People further up the street, the ABC told us, were frantically trying to get furniture etc out while they could. I think my place will definitely go under with the rises predicted.

The water on Lang Parade has turned into a river of sorts (we had a look this morning). It's unbelievable. There isn't even water here usually; it's just flowed through from a nearby storm drain/creek.

Lang Pde, Auchenflower at about 9:30am

The water's now creeping up Dunmore Tce; Jetts (a gym) is completely flooded, I think.

The intersection of Dunmore (left) and Lang Pde, Auchenflower at 9:20am

The underground car parks everywhere around here have flooded, and the underground footpath (taking people from the underground car parks in the John Oxley Centre to the floating restaurant, Drift, under Coro Dr) has basically disappeared.

Lights for the below-ground footpath from the John Oxley Centre can just be seen;
Coronation Drive, Milton at about 9:20am

We are essentially trapped. The only way out, by car, is Chaseley St, but Coronation Drive is blocked off so we couldn't get any further anyway. Buses are ceasing services at 1pm. Trains are still running on the hour, but the one here is only servicing about three stops. Milton is under water.

Drift Restaurant, on Coro Drive, has been in danger of floating off down the river. Emergency services have tied it to fences and done everything they can to stop it from breaking loose and damaging bridge pylons on its way down. The water's up to its roof but the beer garden is still floating next to it.



Even if we got on the train, which is possible, where would we go? We're on high ground, we have water/food/bbq, and we're sticking here. It's kind of reassuring to know that we don't really have a choice any more and just have to stick it out.

Helicopters, rescue and TV, are constant. Alarms are going off all over the place. Every now and then I hear people on the street talking about how they're leaving. Neighbours from our floor tried to leave because they were concerned about their car here, apparently, but they came back within 20 minutes after seeing the extent of the situation.

So tired, haven't been sleeping properly. Thank god R still has an old-fashioned cord phone (not cordless or operated by electricity) so we can contact our families and let them know we're okay. We could be stuck here for up to a week while waters recede, considering it hasn't even peaked yet. Apparently they have slowed releases at Wivenhoe Dam to help Brisbane etc, and then will open them up again at the weekend.


1:40pm

Chaseley Street has begun to flood, with water coming straight out of the drains on the sides of the street. We're officially stuck here. What if the water makes it up to us?

Cue street is crazy as well.

Cue St, Auchenflower at 10am

I still can't believe the extent of the damage on Lang Parade. The Frog & Toad cafe will be full of muck when the water recedes.

The Frog & Toad on Lang Pde, Auchenflower at 10am


3:20pm

The river is now 4.2m, tipped to reach 4.5 this afternoon and 5.5 tomorrow. Brisbane water is still safe to drink, and with 2 to 3 days supply we're all being asked to conserve it. E-coli has been found in water supplies out in Chinchilla. Raw sewage is going into the river from inundated treatment plants.

Brisbane airport is still open. That's a relief. 


6:30pm

One of the good things to come out of this situation is that we're meeting people we never would have usually; earlier we were talking to a girl while out looking at the water and learned she lives two storeys above R&S. She and her flatmate came over to use the BBQ (all they had was pasta and rice) and, considering the power had been out for almost a day, we decided to have a Perishables Party.

Perishables Party!

We have to keep our chins up. 

Thursday, January 13, 2011

11/1/11: Day One

11/1/11 (Tuesday); 11:50pm

Brisbane is flooding. I woke to a message from my boss this morning saying we should do what we could to save our homes, and we could work from home if necessary. I panicked on my own (Dylan is still in New Zealand) in our low-lying unit and fled to a R&S's apartment in Auchenflower - even though it's closer to the river, it's on a high hill.

When I left I took a suitcase with me. I thought I was probably overreacting and we'd all have a good old laugh about it later, until I drove around the corner and found the local park and street already underwater.

Perrin Park, Taringa at about 8am
Heroes St, Taringa  (next to Perrin Park) at about 8am

Lang Parade, the street behind Dunmore Terrace (where I'm currently based, on the corner of Dunmore and Lima), has flooded.

Lang Pde, Auchenflower at 3pm.

It's crazy.



The soccer field is completely underwater - it's that mass of water behind the fence in the photo that looks like a lake. Roy St and Kilroe St are also starting to go under.

Roy St, Auchenflower at 3pm.

There's a cafe on Lang Parade - the Frog & Toad. The water's definitely going to take it under. I used to get burgers from there sometimes.

A rear view of Frog & Toad Cafe, Auchenflower - the white building to the left of the phone box.

We spoke to a guy who'd gone into the water to help tow out a daft mercedes 4WD that'd broken down in the middle of the giant puddle. He said he had to crawl under the car, completely submerged in the muddy water, to find the tow bar. He'd cut his arm. I hope he doesn't get an infection from the contaminated water - who knows what's in it.

4WD driving through water on Lang Pde, Auchenflower

The river is also looking really angry, and moving so fast. I wonder if the water could possibly go over Coronation Drive?

The Brisbane River, Auchenflower, at about 3pm

I'm trying to stay calm, but conflicting reports and a lack of information on how evacuations might take place are making me increasingly anxious. It didn't help when R woke me up to tell me her friend said all of Auchenflower was being evacuated and we were being ordered to get out. We tried to call the police's floodlink line, but they didn't know any more than we did and would just say, "I can't confirm anything, information is being constantly updated,". 

So when I leaned over the balcony and saw flashing police lights at the end of the street, we figured our best bet would be to talk directly to the police themselves. We ran down the street, meeting a young couple on the way who excitedly informed us that Dunmore Tce (the street the apartment's on) would soon be an island and we should get out before the water rises even more. 

The police were not much older than me, in their twenties, a guy and a girl. They were there to stop people from driving into Lang Pde, where water had risen dramatically since we'd walked down earlier. Water was also covering parts of Milton Road just behind it. They told us if we're on high ground, and have supplies, we might be isolated when waters rose but we'd be safe. And if they were to evacuate people on our street they'd make enough noise for us to know about it, so we should get some sleep while we could. We thanked them because who knows how long it'd be until they get a good night's sleep?

So we're staying - which is a relief, because where would I go? I might get hurt just trying to get home, and what if home was flooded? I guess they can get us out by boat if necessary. I like boats.

This is where our fortress is based, so you know what I'm talking about with the various streets:


What a terrifying, exciting thing to be part of. I'm so grateful to R&S for taking me in. If I'd stayed at home I'd probably be breathing out of a paper bag by now.

Going to try to get some sleep now. Electricity might be cut off by tomorrow. Charging my phones while I can.