water's rising

I've just woken up to a sunny Brisbane day and considered briefly that maybe it's been a dream. The television says otherwise with Ipswich completely under water and areas of Brisbane already replicate those of 1974.

Port Office Hotel in the CBD 1974

Disturbingly, there's been looting in Ipswich, what is wrong with some people?

Last eve i googled 'volunteer help brisbane floods' and joined hundreds of others across Brissie filling sandbags. The closest BCC depot to me was Balmoral. There was such an array of people there. Some of the young guys i spoke to had driven from the Gold Coast specifically to lend a hand.

I'm not on Facebook and have never used twitter but those i spoke to last night had heard about volunteering through those mediums. When i 'googled' it brought up the BCC Council facebook page where it gave me the locations etc. If anyone is interested in ways to help or are looking for updates on some things this is the link http://www.facebook.com/BrisbaneCityCouncil. It's incredibly touching to read the offers of housing and help from people across the state. It really does make you feel very proud to be an Australian. We sure know how to band together.

I read parts of the Flood Report from 1974 yesterday and although it is completely disastrous i find it fascinating that it can occur and how easily mother nature can weild her destructive wand. This fascination has translated today into a grim realisation that the 1974 floods are no longer an incomprehensible piece of history that our parents recall as a horrible time. We have on our doorstep floods of larger magnitude which affect us now - 2011 - in a time where people and business's are already trying to recover from an economic downturn and record droughts.

It's hard to believe that this is happening now, this is another shot from 1974

The electricity is off in the CBD and by the looks Warwick are underway with their clean up. There are still 90 people missing. 90!  Thank goodness for the sunshine and let's hope that it guides the SES to these missing people and finds them safe.

The aftermath of this is going to be hard for everyone to see let alone for those who will experience it first hand. I cannot believe this is actually happening.