Not the Ashes...

[Aperitif]

...the floods.
Has this been mentioned in the café yet?
It is terrible for residents of Queensland, with another eight people killed today. "A wall of water as big as Sydney Harbour is making its way..." - so an Aussie radio reporter described the events...
And last week an area 'as big as France and Germany combined' was underwater - but only an area occupying the 'three o'clock position on the edge of Australia.
All that to say that the scale is hard to comprehend and, of all the elements, water is, for me, the most powerful. Vital yet destructive - I hope there is some respite for the citizens of that part of the world.
Guardian interactive map here.
Some Christmas flood pics from the Herald Sun here.
Nature eh?

This video was posted in the Sydney Morning Herald today - take a look.
[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYUpkPTcqPY[/media]

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Grim stuff, Martin.

 

[MacB]

quite a video, those cars are tossed around like toys, I thought the guy that moved his was taking a chance as well.

 

[theclaud]

quite a video, those cars are tossed around like toys, I thought the guy that moved his was taking a chance as well.

Crikey. Scary stuff. Yup I was glad he made it, even though it was a bit of a Darwin-award manoeuvre...

 

[Aperitif]

I spent a while looking at the other video reportage, and the immense power was sending floating trucks into trees and flattening them. Quite a distance abouve sea level too, so there is a long way for the water to descend...

 

[Scoosh]

An amazing video - and it certainly appears to be 'real time'.

Incredible just how quickly the situation went from "nice pics of 'look how much water is in the river' to 'very threatening' to 'downright scary' !"


We have friends in Toowoomba - who are fine- and they sent this interesting (and in some ways, very Australian

) observation:

It has been raining here since the beginning of December with just a few hours here and there of clear sky. We are very grateful since we have had a very dry decade and the rain is now filling the local dams and reservoirs once again. It is not unusual for Australia to go through long periods of drought and end with flooding rain, so although it is gaining a lot of attention in the media, we are enjoying the change of season.

Every cloud ... silver etc

- even though these flood levels are quite a bit higher than the previously recorded highest, in the 1974 flood 'season'.


It's not just because they are safe and out of harm's way - they're just Aussies !

 

[Keith Oates]

What is happening there is terrible and must be frightening for the residents, I only hope the deaths do not increae any more but it seems that is inevitable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[4F]

That bloke moving the white car took one hell of a chance, the strength and speed of that river looked chuffing bad.

 

[Aperitif]

Today's news is worse - plenty of video info within this site ...Ipswich is preparing for trouble, but the weather forecast is looking better for the people.