flooding 2013 style

The flood waters are creeping down the main street of The Village. The locals are taking it in their stride with a horde of sightseers down watching the waters rise. In true Aussie spirit a group are sitting on the veranda of the pub, surrounded by flood water and drinking their way through the flood.

An automated telephone and text message came through to evacuate to the local high school but as we are much higher than the high school we are staying in our house (and probably wouldn’t get across the duck pond to get to it anyway!). We checked flood levels to ensure we were above known flood levels before we purchased the house.

We still have power, which amazes me. I hope it continues, but we are well stocked for torches and candles if need be. I froze water in large blocks to keep the freezer cold if the power does go out – I learnt a couple of things from the last flood even though it was in the city! This is when it pays to have a landline and a telephone handset that doesn’t work off electricity because if the power goes and mobiles go flat it is nice to have the old fashioned but dependable landline.

I suspect that school won’t be resuming on time, with Ipswich flooding to peak once at midnight on Monday and then again late on Tuesday. If it does, I know one teacher who will probably be absent!  Brisbane is expected to peak at noon on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. The Village is upstream from both and we are experiencing a peak tonight.

From our top garden terrace we watched the water gradually spread out across the plain and The Village. It really does look like an inland sea.

Tomorrow is another day, and we all hope the sun shines and everyone stays safe overnight. Two major floods in two years is traumatic and life destroying for so many people, some of whom are still to have their homes rebuilt after the last flood in 2011. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.