So you might have heard that we have been having some wild weather over here in Australia....
"ex"-cyclone Oswald has spent the last few days creating merry havoc on the Eastern Seaboard as it swept down the coast.
We have had immense amounts of rain; huge winds and flooding.
Photos of some of the areas HERE
My place is dry and undamaged by the rain or wind - however some of my friends are not so lucky. The Rivers are still rising as I type and we are unsure if their homes will be flooded out again (many of the same homes went under in 2011 which was listed as "once in 100 years flood").
And in other parts of Australia bush fires still rage... Ahhh Australia - Beautiful one day, Deadly the next....
Come on over and visit!
Showing posts with label Floods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Floods. Show all posts
January 28, 2013
January 24, 2012
Potentially Paddling Pax
aka "Where did I leave my water wings?"
Long time readers may recall that about this time last year, parts of my home state (Queensland Australia) had some exciting floods (recap of it here)
Guess what's happening now? - if you guessed 100's of Millimeters of Rain falling in my local area today - you get the (rather soggy) door prize!
No need for me to panic though - my apartment block is on higher ground and is well sealed from the weather. Getting to work tomorrow may involve some splishing & splashing about, however with the new Bus transit overpass I'll avoid the one creek that could reach over flowing/ path impeding.
And with Thursday being Australia Day (a public holiday here) - with Friday my rostered day off - I really don't need to reach anywhere important until next Monday. Plenty of time for the water to subside.
Hmmm... this living in the "Sub-Tropics" - not always as great as it's cracked up to be in the tourist brochures!
Long time readers may recall that about this time last year, parts of my home state (Queensland Australia) had some exciting floods (recap of it here)
Guess what's happening now? - if you guessed 100's of Millimeters of Rain falling in my local area today - you get the (rather soggy) door prize!
No need for me to panic though - my apartment block is on higher ground and is well sealed from the weather. Getting to work tomorrow may involve some splishing & splashing about, however with the new Bus transit overpass I'll avoid the one creek that could reach over flowing/ path impeding.
And with Thursday being Australia Day (a public holiday here) - with Friday my rostered day off - I really don't need to reach anywhere important until next Monday. Plenty of time for the water to subside.
Hmmm... this living in the "Sub-Tropics" - not always as great as it's cracked up to be in the tourist brochures!
January 16, 2011
Catching up
Well I managed to trek my way into work last Friday - caught one of the few Public Transport buses running and hopped off as close as I could get to work (the Old Museum for those that are local). Walked up to Spring Hill from there (nice walk - have got to get in to the habit of that more often)
Arrived at the back entrance of the building to find a "everyone must sign in at security desk" notice - so up I went 3 floors and surprised the Security guys. They advised that they weren't happy to see me (*pouts* but they usually loooove me and my goofy t-shirt slogans and perky, happy attitude *more pouts*) and said I shouldn't have come in. I mentioned that I'd received an email from my Union that advised me of all the lovely penalties that could apply if I didn't make the effort to appear; and said I'd check things out in the library and then head on home early.
So Ironic that the first email I opened when I got the computer booted up was a directive from the Departmental Head, advising all staff not to come in until Monday the 17th [so utterly useful that he'd sent it only on the work network that so very few of us can access at home]. So I hung around for an hour or so - faxed off some urgent payments that were due; checked in with a few workmates; and then began the exciting trek home. It took me almost an hour and a half to get home (walked from the Hill down to the city and then waited for a bus to arrive). The Underground bus station was, of course, still closed due to the tunnels flooding and all buses were picking up passengers from the main street.
The CBD streets were eerily quiet on the lower Adelaide side - with neat piles of un-needed sandbags already lining the streets for pick up. I walked through the Queen Street Mall - lots more people around & about there, with some of the stores open for business and others still without restored power. A quick walk down to the next block brought me to Mr B's work building - the streets had already been cleaned off from the flood muck but the stench remained (mmm... river water + rotting vegetation + evil mud - always an olfactory delight!). Not much lingering damage to be seen on the surrounding upper streets other than high tide marks on the postboxes and street lamps. I decided not to be more of a lookie-loo and headed back to the bus stop.
Once home I collected Mr B and dragged him (kicking and screaming... well okay... merrily almost-skipping with the lure of Guinness) off to the local Pub for lunch. Great lunch consumed but sadly the Guinness was flat so B had to make do with normal beer.
Home again where I made an effort to catch up with all the correspondence I have neglected in the last week. Facebook messages sent off to J and C and K - advising that real mail from Downunder will take a few weeks to start up again (since the post office have asked for restraint until they get their local facilities back up & running); emails off to some new Green Beans Cup-of-Joe people asking for pen pals (I've sent off about 8 replies - anticipate only 2 or 3 will feel confident in engaging in correspondence exchange. I do try to be myself in those emails so I guess (maybe) I come across as a little bit too goofy for some). Oh... and I seem to have acquired a new Soldiers' Angel adoptee too. All a bit odd in the way it occurred - more odd that the person asking via email was a friend of the intended adoptee and using a third persons email address (I think it's all above board and just a situation caused by communication issues downrange however I will let my SA mentor know about it so they can add new person on to my adoptees list). I've sent off the initial contact "I come in peace!" email so we'll see what happens from there). Perhaps the lure of weird Aussie munchies will tip the balance of reply (bwhahahaa.... I'll begin with timtams and move on to musk sticks and Vegemite)
RAK (random act of kindness) that I organised pre-Christmas has also reached it's intendedvictim online friend. I actually got the message earlier in the week that it had arrived. So Big Goofy Pax smile that it made him happy.
I'm back off to work tomorrow (Monday) - leaving home earlier than normal in case the regular bus I catch isn't running. I can do the walk up the hill again if need be.
Oh... and for those that heard about my "oppsie" yesterday - my noggin is fine and the bump has gone down leaving just a bruise. No lasting effects other than a tendency to be vague and goofy (ooh.. right.. that's normal... okay - NO LASTING EFFECTS :D)
Arrived at the back entrance of the building to find a "everyone must sign in at security desk" notice - so up I went 3 floors and surprised the Security guys. They advised that they weren't happy to see me (*pouts* but they usually loooove me and my goofy t-shirt slogans and perky, happy attitude *more pouts*) and said I shouldn't have come in. I mentioned that I'd received an email from my Union that advised me of all the lovely penalties that could apply if I didn't make the effort to appear; and said I'd check things out in the library and then head on home early.
So Ironic that the first email I opened when I got the computer booted up was a directive from the Departmental Head, advising all staff not to come in until Monday the 17th [so utterly useful that he'd sent it only on the work network that so very few of us can access at home]. So I hung around for an hour or so - faxed off some urgent payments that were due; checked in with a few workmates; and then began the exciting trek home. It took me almost an hour and a half to get home (walked from the Hill down to the city and then waited for a bus to arrive). The Underground bus station was, of course, still closed due to the tunnels flooding and all buses were picking up passengers from the main street.
The CBD streets were eerily quiet on the lower Adelaide side - with neat piles of un-needed sandbags already lining the streets for pick up. I walked through the Queen Street Mall - lots more people around & about there, with some of the stores open for business and others still without restored power. A quick walk down to the next block brought me to Mr B's work building - the streets had already been cleaned off from the flood muck but the stench remained (mmm... river water + rotting vegetation + evil mud - always an olfactory delight!). Not much lingering damage to be seen on the surrounding upper streets other than high tide marks on the postboxes and street lamps. I decided not to be more of a lookie-loo and headed back to the bus stop.
Once home I collected Mr B and dragged him (kicking and screaming... well okay... merrily almost-skipping with the lure of Guinness) off to the local Pub for lunch. Great lunch consumed but sadly the Guinness was flat so B had to make do with normal beer.
Home again where I made an effort to catch up with all the correspondence I have neglected in the last week. Facebook messages sent off to J and C and K - advising that real mail from Downunder will take a few weeks to start up again (since the post office have asked for restraint until they get their local facilities back up & running); emails off to some new Green Beans Cup-of-Joe people asking for pen pals (I've sent off about 8 replies - anticipate only 2 or 3 will feel confident in engaging in correspondence exchange. I do try to be myself in those emails so I guess (maybe) I come across as a little bit too goofy for some). Oh... and I seem to have acquired a new Soldiers' Angel adoptee too. All a bit odd in the way it occurred - more odd that the person asking via email was a friend of the intended adoptee and using a third persons email address (I think it's all above board and just a situation caused by communication issues downrange however I will let my SA mentor know about it so they can add new person on to my adoptees list). I've sent off the initial contact "I come in peace!" email so we'll see what happens from there). Perhaps the lure of weird Aussie munchies will tip the balance of reply (bwhahahaa.... I'll begin with timtams and move on to musk sticks and Vegemite)
RAK (random act of kindness) that I organised pre-Christmas has also reached it's intended
I'm back off to work tomorrow (Monday) - leaving home earlier than normal in case the regular bus I catch isn't running. I can do the walk up the hill again if need be.
Oh... and for those that heard about my "oppsie" yesterday - my noggin is fine and the bump has gone down leaving just a bruise. No lasting effects other than a tendency to be vague and goofy (ooh.. right.. that's normal... okay - NO LASTING EFFECTS :D)
January 12, 2011
Updates on the Brisbane Floods
I'm still safe - still at home. Got up early this morning and checked online - work's official decree was that only essential travel should be undertaken and since Library's don't fall into the category I didn't try to get into the CBD to work.
Good thing too... since the public transport system is going to be shutting down from 1pm AND much of the power in the CBD has been shut off. B's workplace have predicted that their building lobby will be about 1.8metres under water when the peak flow hits this afternoon.
It's a frustrating feeling - watching a force of nature head your way and knowing that there is nothing you can do to avert it. I just hope that my friends who are in the flood path are now safe.
Good thing too... since the public transport system is going to be shutting down from 1pm AND much of the power in the CBD has been shut off. B's workplace have predicted that their building lobby will be about 1.8metres under water when the peak flow hits this afternoon.
It's a frustrating feeling - watching a force of nature head your way and knowing that there is nothing you can do to avert it. I just hope that my friends who are in the flood path are now safe.
January 11, 2011
Pax may learn to paddle...
You might have heard on the news that Queensland Australia is going through some fairly intense floods.
This was yesterday (10th January 2011) up in Toowoomba - which is 127kms (79miles) from my home in Brisbane
The whole Brisbane valley region area is on flood alert here - with continuing rain, run off from upstate (including the water from the ranges), overspill from the nearest dam and even high tides, it's going to get worse before it gets better!
Mr B & I are quite safe as we live on a bit of a hill away from the river and creeks. No idea if the roads will be passable for me to reach work tomorrow.
Mr B works in the CBD which is *right* next to the river - so we suspect he won't be there tomorrow either.
My Dad has been in touch via mobile phone so I know my parents and eldest brother are okay (their home is on a ridge so they should be fine). Other friends are either safely at home or preparing to pack up and move to higher ground.
More news here
Edited to add this handy dandy comparison map
This was yesterday (10th January 2011) up in Toowoomba - which is 127kms (79miles) from my home in Brisbane
The whole Brisbane valley region area is on flood alert here - with continuing rain, run off from upstate (including the water from the ranges), overspill from the nearest dam and even high tides, it's going to get worse before it gets better!
Mr B & I are quite safe as we live on a bit of a hill away from the river and creeks. No idea if the roads will be passable for me to reach work tomorrow.
Mr B works in the CBD which is *right* next to the river - so we suspect he won't be there tomorrow either.
My Dad has been in touch via mobile phone so I know my parents and eldest brother are okay (their home is on a ridge so they should be fine). Other friends are either safely at home or preparing to pack up and move to higher ground.
More news here
Edited to add this handy dandy comparison map
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