Thursday 13 January 2011

Thursday was much the same as Wednesday. We watched the news, shook our heads and scoured the internet for affected street listings. We squinted when they showed the area close to Orvon's work, unsure whether it had been affected. We got out the map book and tried to compare the areal footage we were finally getting. (To see some cool interactive before and after photos, check this out.)

I made bread rolls for those in the nearby evacuation centre. It was such a small thing, but it seemed like something home made would be nice if I was in their shoes. When I took them in I saw people without a lot of hope in their eyes and other people holding them up, helping them fill out forms and sorting clothing donations. Some had mud on their feet or were sitting in the carpark with displaced pets.

The whole thing had seemed so unbelievable and now it was starting to sink in. It was becoming clear that this was just our new reality. The course of the entire state's future had changed. We weathered the Global Financial Crisis pretty well, and now, without warning we were being knocked off our feet. But, the Premier (State leader, like Governor) seemed to be handling everything so well and although there was a feeling of devastation for those personally involved, we were feeling generally settled. We were comfortable in knowing we had followed counsel (maybe not perfectly, but well enough) to store food and a financial reserve. Maybe we wouldn't be eating peaches and avocados and bananas, and we might be making our own bread or skimping on milk, but we would be generally fine.

This feeling of security only made me feel more unjust in being untouched in this disaster. I was sitting in my home with the computer, tv, even fridge, knowing how many people were without these luxuries and were facing huge financial burdens. I feel so fortunate that we were spared, but hope that I can still learn to be humble and grateful and provident from it.



The river peaked at 4.5 meters, again lower than expected, sparing thousands (including Orvon's work, we hear from his boss who was able to drive in in hos 4 wheel drive). Knowing that it had peaked was a relief, looking at the horrific pictures of our city, at least we knew it had hit the worst. But we knew the real damage would be seen when the waters receded. So, again we went to bed, waiting to see what morning would bring.

Wednesday 12 January 2011

Wednesday morning the kids were awake around 5 am, having gone to bed so late, I knew this was going to be a bad day. We waited around most of the morning to see what happened when the Bremer river in Ipswich was expected to peak. It had been predicted to peak at 22 meters, then 20 and I think it's actual peak was about 19. That one less meter saved about a thousand homes. We couldn't believe we were seeing the grocery store with water up to it's roof.



We headed home when it was clear that there were no concerns in us getting cut off. We stopped at McDonald's and ran into the Elder's Quorum President who reassured us that no one in our ward was in danger of flooding. When we got home I spoke to the Bishop's wife who told me much the same but that the members in one suburb were cut off and they had no power. They'd been unable to reach some of them, but there was no reason for concern. One elderly sister was cut off as well, but she had power and I called her and she told me she was too old to worry about things like not being able to get to the shop for a few days.

We did hear that several families in the ward next to ours had homes under water and were relieved to hear they all had family to stay with. This disaster was starting to get really close to home.

Again, we spent the whole day watching the news and seeing pictures of the water rising in areas close to us. I've seen pictures of floods before, but seeing somewhere that is so familiar with water up to the roofs was so strange. Somehow it's harder to comprehend when your seeing the tips of your very own golden arches. (a different McDonald's obviously) It really amazed me how much water there must have been to fill in such huge areas.

Wednesday night we went to bed again waiting to see what the morning would bring because the Brisbane river was expected to peak at 5.5 meters at 4am.

Tuesday, 11 January 2011

I realized today that I should be blogging about the flooding and what has been going on here. Things have been hectic, so I'm a little behind, but to give you the full picture I thought I'd take it a day at a time.

On Tuesday we woke up and went about getting ready, the Stake Relief Society President called me to see how our ward was doing because we'd been having a lot of heavy rain. It was almost consistent for weeks and sometimes really heavy. It is the wet season, but it was already a very wet summer. Then I got a call from Gloria telling me to turn on the news. She told me there had been an "inland Tsunami" in Toowoomba and major flooding was expected for Ipswich and Brisbane. We turned the tv on and watched horrific video of the 8 meter wall of water ripping through the main street of Toowoomba. They said the flooding for our area was expected the next day, so Orvon went in to work.

Leilani, my first counselor stopped by to discuss our plans for an upcoming Relief Society activity. We quickly decided it would be about emergency preparedness. Even as she was there, we couldn't turn away from the news and they announced the suburbs at risk included the area where Orvon was. Ansel called and said that the motorway Orvon uses to get home would be closed in a few hours. I called him and urged him to get home quickly. Leilani left and in the half hour she had been there, the water was beginning to stand in our front yard. I watched her splash through our new lake in the heavy rain and tried to think what I needed to be doing. I took a deep breath and said a prayer to clear my mind. I found myself crying as I asked that we might be spared, knowing that several people had already lost their lives and so many thousands were yet to loose their homes and everything they have.

As I gathered documents and quickly assembled a 72 hour pack for Elissa (I last put them together before she was born) I continued to worry about Orvon getting home. I could picture the low point in the road where I knew the water would start covering the road first. I was relieved when he finally told me he was on his way home. I tried to do what I could to ready us if we needed to evacuate, but I was distracted by cranky, hungry, neglected children. So, I made lunch and put Elissa to sleep. I started looking at my watch thinking Orvon should be home any minute, and continued to wait. I knew if he didn't make it through he could be stuck on the other side of the city for a week. I started getting really anxious and continued to imagine that low point in the road. I felt sheer relief when I heard the garage door go up.

Once Orvon was home and we were able to plan, we decided to go spend the night with his family just so we wouldn't find ourselves cut off from them. We didn't imagine the house was in danger of flooding, but with water standing in the front yard and the graphic images on tv, we took a few quick precautions and packed clothes and food in case we were stuck there for a few days.

We had a great evening with his family, even though we weren't really in any danger of flooding, it was really nice to be together with everyone. We spent the night with Ansel and Gloria and got the kids to bed way too late. Then, because we were glued to the tv (and the Gough boys just have to watch a movie when they get a chance), we didn't get to bed until after 1am.

It was hard to get to sleep knowing what the morning would reveal. The water was already in the river system, it was going to happen and there was nothing to be done about it. As I laid there I remembered the Koala Sanctuary was right on the river. I fell asleep thinking "what about the koalas?"