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Dreadful floods in Australia

(56 Posts)
nanna8 Sun 27-Feb-22 08:10:11

We are having the worst floods for many years in Queensland and North New South Wales. Several have died already and several places have been evacuated. It looks truly shocking.

nanna8 Tue 01-Mar-22 02:48:38

It is so dry down here where we are and our hearts go out to those up in the north where it is unbelievably wet and dangerous. A land of contrasts but this year not so many bushfires . Vast swathes of the country are under water, all wasted , we never learn.

PamelaJ1 Tue 01-Mar-22 09:50:41

The world seems to be going to hell in a hand cart. The storm is heading to Sydney now according to the paper this morning.
Luckily my DD’s house is up a hill. Except they are staying near Sussex Inlet at the moment and it’s a bit low there.
They seem to be fighting fires or dealing with floods more and more often.
Hope all of you on living over there are safe.

Callistemon21 Tue 01-Mar-22 10:52:39

nanna8

It is so dry down here where we are and our hearts go out to those up in the north where it is unbelievably wet and dangerous. A land of contrasts but this year not so many bushfires . Vast swathes of the country are under water, all wasted , we never learn.

It never ceases to amaze me that we can send men to the moon, missions to outer space, oil and gas across continents but can't get water from one part of a continent or country to another where it's needed!

nanna8 Tue 01-Mar-22 11:37:43

Brisbane has just received 2/3 of its annual rainfall in 2 days. Shocking. Helicopters are rescuing people from rooftops,bridges have been flooded and loads of houses totally submerged.

Callistemon21 Tue 01-Mar-22 12:44:50

And it's scarcely been on our news, nanna8 even though lots of people in the UK have relatives there.

I was reading about motorists and lorry drivers stuck on the main road between Brisbane and Sydney - an Aldi truck was carrying chicken which people with primus stoves cooked and handed out to everyone. Farmers brought down trays of fruit and water from nearby farms too.

Blossoming Tue 01-Mar-22 12:49:58

Sorry to hear people are suffering in Oz.

DaisyAnne Wed 02-Mar-22 10:20:07

Like PamelaJ1, my son and his family are on higher ground but they have received flood warnings, severe weather warnings, road weather alerts, hazardous surf warnings and marine wind warnings.

It is not good and although I believe they are safe he tells me that a lot of people are being evacuated in regional areas. It has rained solidly for a week and between 8 pm and 12 pm, their time they have a "rain bomb" coming; whatever that may be. They are expecting 100mm of rain in the next 24 hours.

I think we would be hearing a great deal more about it but Ukraine is pushing other news down the broadcasts.

Callistemon21 Wed 02-Mar-22 10:23:56

They had over a metre of rain in a few days, think.
The whole of Lismore was evacuated.

DD was going out today to try to help others who had been flooded rescue their stuff. Now I'm worrying in case she got stuck in a flood somewhere. Mothers never stop worrying.

Kalu Wed 02-Mar-22 10:54:47

I had a FaceTime call from DD which was upsetting news. The the water levels had reached the roof of their house. Her latest call showed the water had receded but everything in their house has been badly water damaged to render them unfit for purpose.

They have been instructed to place whatever they can manage to lift and place it at the front of their house for refuse collection.

It’s heartbreaking to see how badly their home has been destroyed. ?

Callistemon21 Wed 02-Mar-22 10:58:47

Oh no, I'm so sorry Kalu, how dreadful.

I am so upset, too, that this has had no more than a flippant 30 seconds coverage on the news.

The Ukraine situation is devastating, frightening and upsetting and deserves its place as the main topic of news but there are other disasters happening which deserve more than a passing mention too.

Kalu Wed 02-Mar-22 11:04:02

Well done your DD Calli. DD has told me the support and kindness from neighbours and strangers reduced her to tears at one point.

Fingers crossed your DD isn’t stuck in a flood area. x

nandad Wed 02-Mar-22 11:12:53

So sorry to hear of this. We have friends and relatives dotted around NSW and Queensland and weren’t aware. I hope you and yours are safe and that the water levels are receding.

nanna8 Wed 02-Mar-22 21:59:15

The press don’t hear or care about us over here, more concentrated on Europe but things are getting more and more desperate. Funny because we hear about Europe even if they just have a bit of a downpour. Ah well, out is sight, out of mind.

Callistemon21 Wed 02-Mar-22 23:43:48

nanna8

The press don’t hear or care about us over here, more concentrated on Europe but things are getting more and more desperate. Funny because we hear about Europe even if they just have a bit of a downpour. Ah well, out is sight, out of mind.

You're not out of our minds, nanna8 on here.

I mentioned it at a meeting I went to this evening and, in the main, most were unaware.
They are now.

Kalu thank you, and sending kind thoughts to your DD and SIL. I hope there will be no more rain there just yet.

nanna8 Thu 03-Mar-22 02:34:30

Thanks Call and I hope your family are safe! Still hasn’t rained down here but I would probably prefer drought to flood!

Elspeth45 Thu 03-Mar-22 06:12:21

Still raining here in Sydney, Nanna8. Everything is beginning to smell now!

baubles Thu 03-Mar-22 07:35:00

I’ve seen and heard nothing about this awful flooding until I clicked onto this thread.

I’m so sorry to hear of the plight of your family Kalu.

Callistemon21 Thu 03-Mar-22 11:33:37

Just chatted to DD, it was sunny yesterday so people were clearing up, she made three journey to the tip with a car full of her friend's ruined belongings.

However, a hailstorm is forecast for tonight, everything being covered, moved or battened down.

farview Thu 03-Mar-22 12:29:09

My son and family live about 20mins north of Byron Bay...on the coast...are trapped as they cant drive or walk anywhere..people stuck in cars on the M1 for two days...its a terrible situation...

PamelaJ1 Thu 03-Mar-22 13:09:27

Compared to the news that is concentrated on Ukraine the coverage of the floods in Australia has been tiny but the Times has been reporting on it on a daily basis.
None today though, just an article about Clive Palmer who has bought Hitlers Mercedes’ for his new motor museum in Brisbane!

I hope everyone who has been adversely affected by the disaster gets some help. Australia is a very resilient country and will get through this as it always seems to.
I know that my DD’s department will be up to speed, as they were during the fires.

Kalu Thu 03-Mar-22 13:16:17

Thank you Baubles. Typical, isn’t it? Everything going well in the family, too good to be true, it was only a matter of time until another problem came along.


I fear this will scupper their plans to come here in the spring this year, so a ripple effect, (excuse the pun), we may hopefully see them later in the year.

Like many on GN, we haven’t seen ours since summer 2019?

My thoughts are with all, here and in Australia ??

Katie59 Fri 04-Mar-22 08:47:39

Just heard from sister in Brisbane they recorded 780mm rain in 4 days over 30 inches!, they are on high ground so no damage.
The most she remembers in 40yrs, “you get used to it”, it’s the stoical attitude you have to have if you live in Australia, floods, droughts and bush fires are all part of life as is useless polititians.

Witzend Fri 04-Mar-22 08:58:42

I’ve seen plenty about the floods on the BBC news website.

If not for Putin’s Hitler-type actions taking up so much room in the papers, I dare say there would have been more mention of the Australian floods.

There was plenty about the drought and bushfires not so long ago - when we didn’t have Putin monopolising the news.

Callistemon21 Sun 06-Mar-22 14:46:04

At last the Army has been called in to help.

People sitting on top of their houses, stranded, have had to rely on volunteers with small boats to rescue them. People stranded on main roads have been left without food or water by the authorities.

Callistemon21 Mon 07-Mar-22 19:33:49

Thank you Alex Beresford for reporting this, albeit briefly, on the extended ITV News.

It is being described as a once in 1,000 year event over there.