YOU can HELP - FLOOD VICTIMS

[eidsvold]

here

you can donate to help those who have lost everything in the horrific floods in Qld Australia

fwiw - $10 equals about 6 pounds 50.

[eidsvold]

some info here

and

places inland from brisbane have seen whole towns just inundated with tsunami like weather - massive flash floods that have ripped houses from their stumps - people missing - lots not even reported missing cause they are in affected areas. That is beside those areas north of Brisbane that are still inundated and facing further rain. An area larger than France and Germany is under water. Some people have lost everything!!

[ivykaty44]

we have friends who had their drive swept away yesterday - lucky they are 20 miles outsdie towomba (sp) and the house is ok and granny flat - but scary.

Friends also in deception Bay and at the moment they are ok but it is so worrying

[eidsvold]

more info here

Perhaps MN TOwers could put this as a campaign

Families have lost everything. Today a young child fell out of one of the boats trying to get him to safety and his life was lost - whole families have been swept away - rescue folk just can't get to them

[Saltire]

I'm bumping this for you

[Chil1234]

Without wishing to appear cold-hearted I haven't seen any Red Cross appeals or even a message from the Australian government that they need financial aid from overseas. I appreciate that the situation is desperate, even tragic, and people are suffering but, as a 'first world' country, will they not have schemes in place to help their own people as we would do here?

[eidsvold]

yes we do have things in place from the state and federal government but you are talking about whole towns being totally devastated. One town has been flooded three times since christmas

[eidsvold]

you also have people who are most affected are those who can least afford to lose everything

[BitchingAroundTheClock]

I sent $10 this morning

Chil - after Hurricane Katrina the US requested help for NO's.

And given the area that is flooded I dare that a smaller country such as Australia doesn't have the means to cope with it either (neither would the UK if we had flooding on that scale either I'm sure)

\link{http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html\they have launched an appeal}

The British Red Cross launched an appeal after the Victoria Fires the other year 3 days after they had started. TBH given the recent flash floods that added to the already huge problems I wouldn't be at all surprised to see an appeal set up there either.

[eidsvold]

you are right bitching - we are so reliant on rail and road network for supplies etd - whole swathes of major arterial and high ways have been washed away. Some farmers who have made it through 10 years of unprecendented droughts were looking forward to some reprieve - now they face being totally wiped out.

some areas in qld are now facing the mopping up process - other areas are still waiting to be hit by flood. At the moment people are just trying to get through this.

Thank ou for your donation.

[eidsvold]

to put it into context - at the moment an area larger than france and germany put together is under water - nth qld faced torrential rain and we are still waiting for further predicted cyclones to appear.

There is then the whole south east corner to be counted in that. You simply cannot comprehend the area of devastation

[thumbwitch]

It is going to cost 100s of millions, if not billions of dollars just to put the towns back together. Insurance companies are already saying that they are unlikely to be able to cover all claims.

Any financial aid would be very helpful and much appreciated - people's entire lives are being swept away; whole towns, as eidsvold says, houses have been ripped from their foundations. It's desperate and it's going to get worse before it gets better.

[thumbwitch]

Also bear in mind that the taxpayers will be funding most of the cleanup, and there are only 25 million people in Australia, as opposed to the 300+ million in the USA and the ~60 million in the UK. If the USA needed financial help, how much more will Australia need it?

[eidsvold]

map of area here


Some people are still under water a week later and are looking at being away for at least another week before the water totally subsides.

To put that map in perspective - to drive from Gold Coast to Rockhampton would take roughly 8 hours and then the distances from the coast inland.

They are still waiting for it to hit Brisbane.

[thumbwitch]

What time is the king tide expected, eidsvold?

[BitchingAroundTheClock]

Christ that's fucking huge when you see it on the map like that.

[eidsvold]

thumb - they are saying ipswich and brisbane are at risk up until Friday at this stage. Tide etc around their time. It is 9am there now.

Whole towns - if you can see condamine for example - have been evacuated and they are still expecting more floodwaters to rise.

The major dam which was built after 1974 floods - is taking in over 2 sydney harbours worth of water every day. To protect the wall they have to release water - they have no other choice - the dam is at 200% capacity. So they are releasing a sydney harbours worth of water.

[thumbwitch]

Wivehoe Dam - yes, I heard that, shocking isn't it! but it has to be released because if that dam bursts, Brisbane and everything from the dam down to it will be, as DH would say, gorn. They thought Toowoomba flash flood was bad - that dam breaking would be wipeout. How awful though - having to releas all that water, knowing that the tides are so high as well and it has almost nowhere to go. No wonder Anna Bligh looks at breaking point whenever she appears on TV now.

[BitchingAroundTheClock]

\link{http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/weather/nasa-satellites-capture-amazing-pictures-of-queensland-floods-20110106-19gql.html\these were taken before the latest flashing flooding]

they're a bit complicated to look at if you're not used to satelite imaging - but there's explanations with each picture

I dread to think what it looks like now.

[eidsvold]

sorry that is 3pm our time.

Anna Bligh looks exhausted.

[BitchingAroundTheClock]

\link{http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/weather/nasa-satellites-capture-amazing-pictures-of-queensland-floods-20110106-19gql.html\bollox try again} - these were taken before the latest flash flooding

[BitchingAroundTheClock]

actually this is probably even better \link{http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2011/01/11/f-australia-queensland-floods-by-the-numbers.html\this it's the same images from the other link} but you can slide the thing up and down to see the before and after more clearly.

[thumbwitch]

wow, s'gonna be worse than 1974 and that looked dreadful. :(

[babylanguagelearner]

thing is, I can understand it is hard for people to comprehend the scale. I live in Brisbane and I can hardly comprehend that 3 nights ago I was watching the telethon on TV that was raising money for the flood-affected people in regional Queensland. No one could have imagined that it could get so much worse, end up flooding Brisbane itself, much less have an inland tsunami hit the Toowoomba area. There are now 90 people listed as missing. It is a real tragedy.

[eidsvold]

at first thumb they were saying 1 metre about 1974 levels but now they really can't say for sure.

[mazfah]

I wonder how much Aus donated/helped/gave aid to the Pakistani flood victims?