Drying Out

Well, at last, Brisbane, Ipswich and the Lockyer Valley are all drying out from the most dreadful floods South-East Queensland has ever seen.  We've had the most rainfall since 1974 and a week on, the clean-up goes on.  Volunteers Queensland has been inundated with people who are showing up in Wellingtons with brooms, buckets dressed in hats smothered in sunscreen and ready to work from dawn til dusk to get Brisbane and Ipswich back to the way it was.  This flood has taken away to much and killed up to 20 people; with many more still missing.  But there's still hope in the air.  

The CBD is beginning to work again as the surrounding area of Southbank, Milton, Auchenflower and other inner-Brisbane suburbs are being cleaned up.  Schools are being cleaned up; getting ready for school to start next week.  And for the ones that can't open until a few weeks for now?  Well, they Education Department will place the students with sister schools until their schools are up to scratch.  But it will take up to year for this flood to be clean up and a lot of money; along with much more planning to make sure a flood like this doesn't destroy this much so quickly again.

Meanwhile, for the people who didn't have their houses taken by the flood, there are the problems of wondering if the shopping centres will have enough food to go around.  Will my next shopping day be like my last one?  Or will I have to go without some things?  Will Coles and Woolworths' shelves be half-empty, or will they be fully-stocked?  Who knows until I get there.  

This has been a really stressful time for not just people here in Brisbane; but anyone who has been affected by the floods all over Queensland.  And now, they're being affected by floods in Victoria; and my heart and prayers go to those people who are being displaced there by them.

The one place I find it's most distressing is in Rockhampton.  I received a phone call from a friend of mine the other day who lives out in Gracemere.  He told me that they weren't getting any food from Rockhampton; nor were any of the other regional centres.  Rockhampton got all the food drops and is inundated with so much food that its shops are too full from it all.. so they're selling food for less than a dollar; not thinking that there's people who are cut off from the town centre who can't get to them.  I really wish I could get onto somebody who can help get through to their mayor so they can get some food before they run out.  

Well, this is all from me.  This week hasn't been all that exciting personally.  I'm getting into reading two books, my laundry again and playing the piano is more enjoyable as it's dried out enough to play it now; and it doesn't sound horrible from the wet weather.  Otherwise, the citizens of Queensland and Brisbane are all taking each day as it comes... good things keep happening to us as we face our city going from a place of disaster to a place of beauty again.  Until my next post, keep safe and I'll still be here.