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.
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Lang Pde, Auchenflower at about 9:30am |
The water's now creeping up Dunmore Tce; Jetts (a gym) is completely flooded, I think.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Perishables Party! |
We have to keep our chins up.