19 January

These past few weeks have been among the most interesting since I've been back in Brisbane. Firstly, it was two months of constant rain and occasional wild weather. Brisbane was more like Wellington in NZ (famous for its inclement weather) than a tropical paradise. Then, finally, when the weather cleared we had the floods hit.

Its all been a little surreal. Much of the CBD, including major tower blocks where I work, were evacuated last Tuesday. Brisbane took on the character of a ghost town save for the few people and contractor crews remaining who were all busy sandbagging their premises. Then, Wednesday dawned bright and sunny (the first such day in month). Just seeing the sun was enough to make one feel euphoric ... until wandering down to the riverside and watching the rising floodwaters as they extended over their banks and into parts of the city. Just watching the debris floating down the river was awe inspiring. There were about a thousand pontoons, tanks, trucks, and boats caught up in the floodwaters and drifting out of control downriver. Standing on the city bridges and watching the cavalcade of debris coming down then getting smashed up on the bridge pylons was freaky to watch. I think there must have been several hundred people standing on the city bridge overlooking Southbank when I was there - all mesmerised by the same sights. I saw some very nice boats (obviously someone's pride and joy) getting smashed up and then dragged down under the waters. The beautiful sunny weather, the fact that everyone was off work, and the spectacle of the rising flood waters contributed to a weird sort of holiday atmosphere, but in a terrible sad sort of way. Everyone was mindful of the terrible impacts occurring elsewhere, with loss of thousands of people's houses, and the many deaths that had occurred in nearby towns such as Grantham.

Luckily, my apartment building was safe - even though its close to the river, since it sits on a small rise. All the same, we were waiting for the power to go out since Energex had commented that large parts of the CBD faced losing power ahead of the floodwaters. Some of this was planned, remove equipment from areas being inundated, reduce the risk of electrocution and major damage to the supply network - and to improve the recoverability of these networks once the waters receded. Fortunately for me, Energex managed to keep power flowing to my building despite the major problems facing other tower buildings just a few hundred meters down the road.

On the down side, the floodwaters ran into the basements of many of the office blocks here in the CBD - including the Riverside Centre complex where I work. These waters got into lift shafts, electrical generators and communications systems. As a result - the Riverside Centre remains closed even though its a week after the floodwaters have receded. I managed to get access a couple of times, once with our IT team helping them retrieve backup tapes ... which also involved Brad, one of the IT team members who's distantly related to McGyver, it seems, jury-rigging a shoulder strap on a server then carrying it by torchlight down nine flights of stairs. Then again I went further up to our own offices on Level 18 to retrieve a laptop. A week without power, and the heat of the Brisbane summer had turned all the kitchen refrigerator into breeding grounds for mold and bacteria - not mention whatever was growing in the air conditioning. Hence a big cleanup needed when power was finally restored.

As for the other cleanup, I spent some of Saturday helping clean up one of the restaurants along the riverside boardwalk below my work (you can see from this image how the waters got in ... and this is the day before the waters reach peak level). Besides the restaurant staff, an army of volunteers (myself included) just turned up - picking up buckets, scrubbing brushes, and sponges - and assisted with the clean up efforts ... scrubbing down tables, helping rip out wall panels, hosing out ovens. cupboards and other things. There was a huge effort from everyone involved, and it really was phenomenal to see the community to come together in such a way.

See this link for some interesting before and after aerial photos of the flood.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/infographics/qld-floods/beforeafter.htm

Tags: Floods, Brisbane, Queensland