I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Off-Topic => Off-Topic: Talk about anything you want. => Topic started by: -Lady Noir- on January 12, 2011, 11:39:41 PM
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Large parts of Brisbane remained submerged Thursday after floodwaters swept through, claiming yet another life.
The death toll from the flooding was 15, Queensland police confirmed Thursday.
More than 70 people were missing and officials predicted that the toll would rise as rescue workers are able to enter buildings that are currently underwater.
The floods started after the Brisbane River peaked about a meter short of the 1974 flood record.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh talked about the devastation the floods caused during a news conference Thursday morning.
Satellite view "This morning, thousands of people in southeast Queensland have awakened to the unbearable agony of their homes being devastated, their businesses, their workplaces being devastated and, for some people, they've seen both their workplaces and their homes washed away," Bligh told reporters.
Aerial views of Brisbane showed islands of roofs and treetops jutting from a sea of muddy brown water -- or stranded high-rises jutting starkly from murky river overflow.
"I could see hundreds of roofs yesterday and that's all I could see was those rooftops ... underneath every one of those roofs is a family, underneath every one of those roofs is a horror story," Bligh said about her flyover of the affected area.
The Brisbane, which slices through the center of its eponymous city, peaked at 4.6 meters (just over 15 feet) overnight, but could rise again when the tide turns in the afternoon.
Officials had predicted a crest at 5.2 meters -- and nearly 20,000 homes fully engulfed by the water.
But Bligh said 11,900 homes in Brisbane were fully flooded and 14,700 were partially flooded. In addition, about 2,500 businesses were fully inundated and 2,500 more were partially inundated, she said. Many of them will never again be habitable, she said.
Electricity was cut to 37 substations in the Central Business District, and 118,000 residences were without electricity. Temporary mobile phone towers were being erected to restore cell phone service, which was spotty or nonexistent in many areas.
"As we weep for what we have lost and as we grieve for family and friends, and we confront the challenge that is before us, I want us to remember who we are -- we are Queenslanders," Bligh said. "We are the ones that they knock down and we get up again."
The flooding in Brisbane follows flooding elsewhere in the state. Soon after Christmas, water from torrential rains swamped the northern city of Rockhampton, 600 kilometers (370 miles) north of Brisbane, triggering a massive recovery operation to rebuild the town. Those floodwaters have been sweeping toward the coasts since that time.
So far, 70 towns and cities in Queensland have been affected by the flood, Bligh said.
"Either inundated or cut off from major supply lines and isolated for weeks."
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This story has been on our national news for quite some time now. I saw the most frightening thing on TV last night. It was video shot from a lowflying airplane. It showed a wall of water crashing through an open field, gradually inundating it. I couldn't believe it.
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I did start a thread about this , my brother lives in Rockhampton !
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Oh did you?! Sorry i searched for a thread before i made this one and couldn't find one :(
Does he? Far out.. Mikes Dad who donated him the kidney in December was here on holiday, he lives in Ipswich and was due to fly home Wednesday just gone.. but is stranded here! So glad he didn't go home earlier. Their street is half under!
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Their street is half under!
Yikes! It must be awful for him knowing that he's got to go back to that.
I did start a thread about this , my brother lives in Rockhampton !
Was he badly affected? He hasn't been there long, has he?
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He emigrated last year. Luckily he lives on the top of a hill so the water hasnt reached the house , but getting food , especially fresh stuff like milk has been terrible. The shops are cut off for deliveries , so even though he can get to the shops , there is nothing in them ! I suppose he has been very lucky compared to some.
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The good news is they can show you how wet the soil is in Queensland with one pass of the Smos satellite, the bad news is they can never figure out your dry weight :)
(http://shup.com/Shup/458812/Smos2011-01-17_185143.gif)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12206639
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now the floods have migrated to country victoria,nowhere near as bad as the queenslanders
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Country Victoria just never seems to get a break! Fire, flood, it just never ends for them. [shakes head]
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I was looking at my cousin's house last night on http://www.nearmap.com/
if you want to spend time looking at flood footage, search on a sodden brisbane address. Hmm. Like say, search on "brisbane markets".
See attached, a jpeg I have taken from nearmap of my cousin's house.
It looks like just the top of the roof was sticking out of the water at its heights, see the change in colour of the roof from red to mud.
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That's a sad sight, nat!