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.
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| Suitcase left on a pedestrian shelter. Coronation Drive, Brisbane River |
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| Broken fencing on the Brisbane River/Coro Dr |
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| 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.
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