salvaging memories

It's been a big week and the topic of conversation on every Queenslander's lips is 'the floods'. I just have one little story that I wanted to document.

Yesterday, after pushing slush out of homes and discarding people's belongings (so many antiques...) onto huge piles in the middle of the road I came across some ladies who were salvaging an elderly woman's photographs. I was so happy to assist.

I chatted to this lovely, lovely woman as she cleaned off cd's in her kitchen sink. She'd lived in the property for 30 years and talked of her son whom she'd travelled the world over with, hence the bundles of photographs. She was so humble as she sympathised at the devastation of others and repeatedly said it was too nice of us to help and not to worry ourselves with the photos. 

Photos are the history of a person, their family and their life. We persevered. Below is the backyard of her home in Milton. The water had reached waist deep to the top floor. So much lost.

We separated the photos one by one, dried them with a chux and either placed them on a dry area or pegged them to the 'hills hoist' as you can see.

As she was leaving she spoke to one of the other volunteers and emotionally revealed that her son had passed away in recent years. The same son whom she'd travelled with and was pictured in many of the photo's. She insisted that we write our name's down so that she could send us a thank you note, she was so appreciative. This woman was so lovely that she didn't want to bother us with something that was in fact very special to her. We were so pleased we'd salvaged what we could.

And ... a change of tempo ... as it turned out, my fabulous sidekick for the afternoon has a blog called http://awhitecarousel.com/. Have a look, it has the most beautiful images. She comes from an Arts background and you can tell. She's pretty handy with a shovel too.

On another brief note. I had to go to the coast today and decided to bring this plant home with me. I left it down there 5 months ago and it was not nearly as impressive as this. It seems that on one hand, tenants will steal your remote control for the DVD player(and replace it with a curb side pick up remote that's broken) and on the other - water your plant.

brisbane's east begins to feel it

This is kind of old news now as it's more than probable become worse, but here are some shots of beautiful Bulimba at about 4pm today - the drain pipes were backing up and pushing water up into the lower areas.

 That's Hawthorne Road ahead (above pic)

 This is part of the new development on the waters edge at Bulimba

 There are a number of 3 storey homes on the water that face over to Hamilton. The bottom levels being basement which are garages and whatever else. Bags are stacked high to prevent water flooding down below

 Trucks find higher ground out on Lytton Road away from the low lying areas around Hemmant

Towing boats pull reckless pontoons out of the river and  look to be storing them down Wynnum Creek to prevent more debris being released into the bay

The blue skies and sun shine over the bay which is a colour i hope i never ever see again. In the distance you can just make out where the river water meets the ocean in this pic, it's so defined in real life though, like when you pour balsamic vinegar into olive oil . This was after lunch. It's brown as far as they eye can see and fairly angry out there now. Those poor fish.

I bought today's paper which as you can see is covered in plastic. I dread what tomorrow's front page will look like. I see the city skyline in the distance and find it hard to believe the images on tv are what is occuring below. The birds are chirping out here on the bayside like everything's ok.

Grantham is a town no longer. A Current Affair is on right now and it's heart breaking - this is such a deeply saddening tragedy. It makes me feel sick like i'm sure everyone else.I was in Ipswich a couple of months ago scrounging for antiques. I cannot believe my eyes. The water levels are astronomical.

Thankfully our water is still clean in Brisbane and useable and if anything, the drought taught us how to conserve it. We'll need alot of clean water to wash away this mess.

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.