Thoughts for Australia

[Arfur Teacake]

Hats off to the Queensland Australians and how they are coping with this terrible flood
with resourcefulness and dignity .
I heard one town has had not one single case of looting etc and are just helping each other cope. Lets hope this is the final night of the water rising?

[Steve Crook]

Spare a thought for Kitty Whiskers, she's up that way somewhere.

There's nothing sorrier looking than a bedraggled kitty


Steve

[jimw1]

Lets hope this is the final night of the water rising?

I Certainly hope so' the Pictures coming from Australia are quite shocking

[Mortdecai]

What got me was the report of a Bull Shark swimming down a suburban street
Wadsy, you allright mate?
I know you're not in Queensland, but those sharks are crafty beggars.

[Mark O]

What got me was the report of a Bull Shark swimming down a suburban street
Wadsy, you allright mate?
I know you're not in Queensland, but those sharks are crafty beggars.

I've heard there are crocodiles swimming in the streets, my thoughts and prayers with the people of Australia at this cruel time........

[Moor Larkin]

4 dead in German floods in the last couple of days too, although Germany could be on the other side of the world so far as the British news media is concerned...

God Bless them all anyhow. I was especially impressed with one poor Aussie single dad featuring in a news feed, who looked about ready to cry as he remarked that there would be no point in him returning with his boys to his home because it wasn't there anymore..... then he stiffened his mouth, almost smiled and remarked something like, "We'll be alright though" .... The spirit of the Blitz is safe down-under it seems... No mention of it being the governments' fault either........

[Kitty Whiskers]

Wel, I'm in Brisbane and the peak has happened. It's very weird here because, after months and months of endless rain, the sun has come out in the last two days for the peak of the flooding - A huge help for the evacuations and rescuers as you can imagine. If you're in one of the high areas, you wouldn't know anything was going on. It feels like Christmas day - all the neighbours are home and the streets are quiet. Thankfully, the powers that be have been prepared and they've got things sorted out pretty smoothly. People are now safe in Brisbane and have food to eat and people to help them out. There have only been two people arrested for looting in the state- they were trying to collect the loose boats on the river in Ipswich (a bit ambitious) but otherwise everyone's been tucking in and helping out. We have another 24 hours of high water then the fun begins - the clean up.

Spare a thought for the poor souls who lost everything, and the poor animals who always seem to get forgotten about in natural disasters. The real tragedy will be in around Toowoomba after that terrifying flash flooding. 74 people are still missing. Absolutely terrible.

[wadsy]

What got me was the report of a Bull Shark swimming down a suburban street
Wadsy, you allright mate?
I know you're not in Queensland, but those sharks are crafty beggars.

No sharks down here Mort! Poor Kitty's copping it though in Brisbane. There a bunch of

hard cases up there though, you can't keep em down for long. Like Kitty says the clean up

will be a mammoth task!

[Onedin]

Wel, I'm in Brisbane and the peak has happened. It's very weird here because, after months and months of endless rain, the sun has come out in the last two days for the peak of the flooding - A huge help for the evacuations and rescuers as you can imagine. If you're in one of the high areas, you wouldn't know anything was going on. It feels like Christmas day - all the neighbours are home and the streets are quiet. Thankfully, the powers that be have been prepared and they've got things sorted out pretty smoothly. People are now safe in Brisbane and have food to eat and people to help them out. There have only been two people arrested for looting in the state- they were trying to collect the loose boats on the river in Ipswich (a bit ambitious) but otherwise everyone's been tucking in and helping out. We have another 24 hours of high water then the fun begins - the clean up.

Spare a thought for the poor souls who lost everything, and the poor animals who always seem to get forgotten about in natural disasters. The real tragedy will be in around Toowoomba after that terrifying flash flooding. 74 people are still missing. Absolutely terrible.

Thinking of you and all the others over here, Kitty..........thanks for responding to this thread.

[Kitty Whiskers]

There was a second case of looting today - teenagers broke into a pub. Good to know people in this state have their priorities right. Your family jewels are safe in your abandoned home, but your beer cellar is forever in peril. When Dalby flooded a week back, the only place that was overwhelmed by panic buyers was the drive-thru at the pub. Headline news this evening in the local rag is the XXXX factory is going back into production soon. Well, to be fair with all that cleaning up ahead, there's going to be a few people working up a thirst.

Goondawindi is expecting floods tonight. The river in Brisbane peaked again at 4pm and has dropped about a metre already. The weather has been beautiful, oddly enough. Certainly makes everyone's job's easier, and we're ever so grateful. Spirits are high and thankfully the three tiers of government have been amazing in information relay and organisation. I think people are just counting their blessings.

[didi-5]

Take care everyone in that part of the world x

[smudge]

The most noble story from this terrible time I heard on Radio 4 this morning. A boy of 13 had drowned after insisting when rescuers came that they save his 10 year old brother first. Amazing courage and selflessness.

Jordan Rice is truly a hero.

R.I.P and Respect, Jordan.

Smudge

Australia floods recede to reveal extent of damage - TODAYshow.com

[Mr Sloane]

My thoughts go out to everyone struggling with the freak weather at the moment whether it be Australia,Brazil,Southern Asia or anywhere else.

[smudge]

My thoughts go out to everyone struggling with the freak weather at the moment whether it be Australia,Brazil,Southern Asia or anywhere else.

Well said Mr. S.

Seconded,

Smudge

[wellendcanons]

Hats off to the Queensland Australians and how they are coping with this terrible flood
with resourcefulness and dignity .
I heard one town has had not one single case of looting etc and are just helping each other cope. Lets hope this is the final night of the water rising?

Hear hear. I have found the news very shocking about the floods in Queensland. I too hope that things get back to normal over there as quickly as possible. My thoughts go out to all the people and animals who have lost their lives and to those whose homes have been flooded. I'm so glad that Kitty's all right.

wec

[Kitty Whiskers]

There have been some amazing stories of bravery and sacrifice here. One poor bloke saw his wife and child swept away, but immediately swung into action to save his neighbour. People have been swiming into torrents to pull people and animals out (there's one lovely picture of a chap rescuing a joey).

The one word that people keep using here is 'surreal', and although it's one of those overused terms, it's actually very apt. It's hard to describe the atmosphere here - oddly calm and accepting would be best.



Anyone coming to Queensland in the next couple of years - please bring a pair of overalls and a shovel.

[Arfur Teacake]

My thoughts go out to everyone struggling with the freak weather at the moment whether it be Australia,Brazil,Southern Asia or anywhere else.

Yes of course I hadnt heard of the Brazil or the S .Asia floods at the time of writing but I do know of the Australian membership on this board and just wanted them to know we were thinking of them.

It seems like one thing after the other these days maybe old Harold Camping is right?

[Kitty Whiskers]

My thoughts go out to everyone struggling with the freak weather at the moment whether it be Australia,Brazil,Southern Asia or anywhere else.

It's certainly hammered home how much people are affected elsewhere and how lucky we are. Often when you read about disasters in other lands, it's too large and remote to put into a context. We were looking at images of Haiti a year after the earthquakes on the news last night and really just felt grateful that we're here, even with our level of disaster. We're a rich nation with a lot of resources and a supportive and organised government. We'll be back to normal in a few weeks (more or less). Other parts of the world will still be struggling to recover a decade from now. It's very sobering.

[Mr Sloane]

It's certainly hammered home how much people are affected elsewhere and how lucky we are. Often when you read about disasters in other lands, it's too large and remote to put into a context. We were looking at images of Haiti a year after the earthquakes on the news last night and really just felt grateful that we're here, even with our level of disaster. We're a rich nation with a lot of resources and a supportive and organised government. We'll be back to normal in a few weeks (more or less). Other parts of the world will still be struggling to recover a decade from now. It's very sobering.

Yes it does show how lucky we are, we have just had a month of moaning about a little snow and disruption it certainly puts our problems into perspective.

[Steve Crook]

Yes it does show how lucky we are, we have just had a month of moaning about a little snow and disruption it certainly puts our problems into perspective.

I've been dealing a lot with some people in Brazil recently, they were setting up a Powell & Pressburger retrospective at a Film Festival there. I've just emailed them to check that they're all OK

Floods in Australia, Brazil & Sri Lanka. Earthquakes in Haiti & New Zealand. It's getting harder to find anywhere safe to live or even to visit.

Steve