She alright!

The sun came out and shone this morning on what was a very swollen, muddy, fast moving river. But the great thing for us in West End is that it just lapped the edges of the park - a lot less than we had been preparing for.  We saw some logs and bits of pontoons go past at speed but thankfully not all the debris and boats and household goods we saw during the flood 2 years ago...

My thoughts are with the people further north in the state, particularly Bundaberg. They've had a real battering with high speed water up to the eaves of their houses, having to be rescued by helicopter from their roofs. I don't envy them the task ahead but if the folk up north are anything like they are down south, there will be lots of support, plenty of laughter through the tears and new friends to be made along the way.

Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie!!!

It's been a long time in between drinks but I thought I'd better check in with you and let you know how things are going from my point of view in Brisbane at the moment.

 As you may or may not know, we're bracing for another flood thanks to Ex Tropical Cyclone Oswald. The peak is expected tomorrow but we've already seen plenty of chaos due to roads blocked with trees down, debris all over the road and power lines scattered everywhere. This shot was taken outside where I work up in Mount Coot-tha. Luckily for us the tree fell towards the road, otherwise it would have been curtains for the security guard!

We think the peak down by the river will be significantly less than in 2011. For me, personally, that means water in the carpark but not in the flat - whew!  But watch this space - I'll keep you updated.

Oh yes - happy Australia Day holiday!

And now here's Bob with the weather...

I suppose after last year we're all a bit more alert when the Bureau of Meteorology refer to rain in terms of being an "event".

So what's happening in South-East Queensland at the moment is plenty of rain. 100mm a day with no sign of it letting up over the next few days. The day before yesterday there was a dog on a surf board on a flooded street. Yesterday was a little less light hearted - there were lots of flooded roads and some cars went under in flood-prone areas like Toombul. The good news for me is that Wivenhoe Dam (the big Dam protecting the Brisbane River from drastic flooding and consequently my flat which I've just finished renovating) is only 75% full as of yesterday - the absolute capacity is 200%. Last year it got dangerously close to 200% but I am - erm - anxiously confident that this year they will have the benefit of hindsight and start releasing some of that water soon.

Everything's going to be fine.
>breathe<

Anniversary BBQ

 

As this weekend passed, so did the anniversary of our flood. There were street parties around flood affected areas and I managed to catch the tail end of one on Saturday night, straight off the plane - to hell with the jet lag! Then yesterday a couple of familiar faces turned up and laid on a celebratory BBQ in the local park... so we came down for a little look.
Does anyone else smell an election?

January Theme Day: Photo Of The Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I think people in Brisbane are probably sick of hearing about the floods which is why I hesitated before posting this one. Having said that, it was the defining event of the year for my family and many others in Queensland and it is appoaching the one year anniversary so I'm giving it another airing here.

This photo was taken on January 14th at 6am  - just before we walked back into our flat to see what awaited us. The water had subsided really quickly overnight - this street had been under two metres of water 24 hours before I took this shot -  and the belongings which had been floating around in the murky water for days landed haphazardly all over the streets. Our first floor flat got about 30-40cm - not enough to be a disaster but enough to have to dismantle cupboards and floorboards and get rid of some of our larger furniture.

We were among the lucky ones - Aside from the hard work put in by countless volunteers during the immediate aftermath, we had friends with enough room to take us in and give us the phone number of a good plumber, plasterer, electrician and tiler. The son of a friend of ours painted our walls for free. We had enough money to bridge the gap before the claim money came in. We moved back into our flat with a brand new tiled floor on Valentine's Day and had a brand new kitchen fitted by about April. By that time a lot of people were still waiting for insurance money to come in before starting to rebuild.

Aside from the story behind the photo, I just like the oddness of stuff  being where it's not supposed to be.

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I'm off on my holidays for a couple of weeks - back mid January!

The iconic pub The Regatta Hotel sits on Coronation Drive in Toowong. It's been 9 months since the floods and the ground floor still remains closed while they rebuild. You can pop in for a drink or something to eat, though, as the first floor is open.

By the way - you can't see it very well in this shot but the jacarandas are in bloom again. Expect some purple here soon!

 

Homecoming

As the moon rose on Saturday night, a few of us gathered to welcome the owners back to their house after a 7 month displacement across the road. 

At the height of the flood, they had canoed around the neighbourhood via back gardens and between houses - taking an unfamiliar route not dictated by paths. The water level here was about two thirds of the way up the windows of the upper floor. After the flood, the old wooden house had groaned and creaked and twisted itself dry. It became a higgledy-piggeldy house where no door fitted its frame, no wall was straight and no floor was even. From the vantage point of their little rented cottage across the road, they watched the builders come in and slowly, bit by bit, straighten the place back out again.

Now, they are back home and the place looks great. The walls are straight and, as we found out, the floor smooth enough to do the twist on.

Now and Then

I know I've only just done a post on it a few days ago but here's another view of our sparkling new CityCat terminal.
Below is a view of the old building taken January 12th this year almost 24 hours before the river peaked. You can see the roof of the old bike shelter just next to the lower bough of the fig tree. The rest of the building is submerged. That green thing sticking out of the water in the middle distance is the roof of a steam roller which the council didn't get around to moving.

West End Citycat is Now Open!

It's been over 6 months but we've finally got our Citycat service back and a really fancy "flood-proof" pontoon.

Oxley Creek Common

Back in January this urban green space area, south of the city, was under several feet of brown river water. Being close to several industrial estates, there was a worry that the chemicals from there mixed in with the flood waters but it looks like they might have dodged a bullet. The plants and wildlife are slowly returning.

On the radio yesterday

As part of a flood-recovery series, the local ABC radio station did an outside broadcast from our local sailing club yesterday... so I thought I'd go down and take some photos. The presenter on the right is interviewing two women plumbers (two of only fourteen women plumbers in the whole state of Queensland!) who helped people get back on their feet after being inundated. I got interviewed too it was very exciting!

Back To Normal

The sand is back in South Bank and the swimming lagoons have re-opened after the flood devastation. It's looking great. We are, however, going though something of a cold snap; crystal clear blue skies with daytime highs of about 20 degrees and overnight lows of about 6.
Not a chance of getting me in that water.

New Farm Flood Marker

 

Despite the flood waters ebbing months ago, I spotted this just recently on Brunswick Street, near the park.

Flood Proofing, Queensland-style

 Queensland homes are traditionally built on stumps. It has for some time been the trend that people with enough money would raise the level of their home in order to make way for a couple of rooms underneath. Round our way in Hill End, people are going up to escape another inundation.

Unfortunately for me, I live in a brick and concrete block of units so we're rooted. (To the ground).

Flood Rebuild Update

We went around to what is left of my friend Bron's place on Sunday. The January flood waters came about 3/4 of the way up the walls of her wooden house causing the floor and the walls to warp. After plenty of to-ing and fro-ing with the insurance company, work finally started in earnest about 10 days ago. The builders are pretty much starting from scratch so while it's something of a shock to see the shell where her home used to be, it's also a new beginning.

Their place is in the 3rd photo down on this post from January.

Ex-Terminus

One thing about the flood. It's forced some of us to do the repairs and renovations we've been putting off for years. And I'm not just talking about my back room. This is West End Ferry stop - well, this was it about a week ago. It's now gone completely. The vague promises before the flood that it had been earmarked for a re-fit at some point seem like a distant memory. The work is in full swing and we hope to have a fully functional terminus at the end of June. Yahoo!

Avid Listeners

Last night in our local bookshop Avid Reader, some of our local community gathered to tell our flood stories. It was a great night with plenty of funny and quirky stories. The atmosphere was buoyant and there were a lot of laughs. Some people jumped up on stage to say their bit while others just joined in from the audience. I finally got to meet another local blogger, Steve, who had organised the whole thing. He effortlessly steered the evening along, sharing the time out and sugueing between story-tellers like a pro. I brought along a few snaps from this blog to show people. There was even a familiar-sounding song to round the evening up - the chorus of which we picked up fairly quickly... 

Am I ever gonna see my place again?

No way! It's flooded! Mud off! 

And a top night was had by all!

April Theme Day: Edges

Today is the monthly theme day for City Daily Photo bloggers and this month the theme is Edges. I've chosen to show you the edges of the Brisbane river two months on from when they became a bit blurred and we all got a bit wet.  Things are still in repair mode with ferry stops and pontoons out of action. It makes me wonder. If it takes months for a city to clean up after a few feet of relatively tame water, how long for Japan?


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Nose Ache

 If you head down to West End Citycat terminal, it's a pretty sad sight. There's nothing left of the walkway or the pontoon with the exception of the two vertical posts sticking out of the water. A couple of steel drums stop you from falling into the muddy mangroves. You can do the outdoor equivalent of pressing your nose up against the window by looking across the river to St. Lucia and seeing the Citycats in their temporary new terminus.

>sigh<

Drain Strain

Yesterday saw a humdinger of a storm pass over Brisbane. Reports of 40mm of rain in 15 minutes. We got a knock on the door of a friend who was chatting away to his daughter when he noticed toys and books floating down a stream in the middle of living room. Drains in our area couldn't cope and backed right up into houses - some of whom that had just cleaned up after the floods. Being one story up, our place survived unscathed but my friend's place around the corner took on water again. This time it came up so suddenly, her and her husband ran downstairs, wading in the water to hold up their brand new washing machine while the waters rose around them. (I think they managed to save it) The chances are the drain was still full of mud after the cleanup which would have contributed to the surge. 

Talk about kicking someone when they're down!