Flooding in Australia - NSW's turn!

Twelve months ago, the eyes of all were focused on Queensland and the devastating floods affecting much of their state.

Again this year they've had flooding rains, but this time they've also moved much further south, across the border into much of Northern New South Wales.

NSW SES website has up to date information

Maitland floods 1955

The North Coast, New England, North West Slopes & Plains and Western regions have been hit and many shires within these areas have been declared natural distaster zones.

Moree (Feb.2012)

The news bulletins are touting these flooding events to rival those that hit Australia in 1955, and in some places, the flooding has exceded these record levels.

Moree area, Feb.2012

What was shaping up to be a bumper year in the farming community has, once again, been thwarted by Mother Nature.



The ripple effect from these floods will be felt for years to come. Again.

SES & RFS crews sand-bagging a house

My thoughts and prayers go out to those who have had their lives disrupted by the flooding, been evacuated, or suffered flood damage to their properties and livestock.


And to the emergency services helping these people - please, stay safe!!!

For those needing help in floods and storms ring the SES 132500 (Australia only).

Weather system feeding the flood events

RWA Flooded Communities Book Appeal update

I've just been over on the RWA Flooded Communities Book Appeal Facebook page and read the good news.

Donations have broken the 1000 books mark - so far a grand total of 1159 books in less than a week!

Hoo-yah!

Thank you to everyone who's donated and a huge hug to all our collection point members and those distributing the books!

Great job.

Helene Young - After the Clean Up

I've just been over at Helene Young's blog reading her latest post, After The Clean Up.

She lives in far north Queensland and these recent floods have brought back a precious childhood memory of the Brisbane floods of 1974.

What was her wonderfully touching memory? Guess you'll just have to head on over and find out.

RWA Flooded Communities Book Appeal addendum

There have been questions raised about the prohibitive costs of sending book donations nationally as well as to Australia from overseas.

The RWA executive committee have put together a brief Q&A to answer questions that have been raised about this issue. I've placed it at the bottom of the article as an addendum on the Flooding In Australia post. Please see it for details.

Thank you again for the wonderful support and offers to donate books and in kind.

RWA Flooded Communities Book Appeal

The Romance Writers of Australia committee has started a drive for book donations. They're calling it the RWA Flooded Communities Book Appeal.

If you're one of my regular readers and would like to link this post to your blog or preferred social network, then feel free to do so. Pass it on to anywhere you think it might be useful.

The more people who know, the more books that can be sent to those who need them. RWA has said they'll take donations from anywhere, so long as people are willing to send the books.

If you read this information and feel moved to help, thank you in advance and with heartfelt appreciation.

Many thanks,
Kylie

*PERMISSION TO FORWARD*

As some of you may already know, a team from the RWA commitee has started a drive for book donations...

RWA Flooded Communities Book Appeal

We've all seen the devastation the recent Queensland floods have wrought and have wondered how we can help. We know that for many affected families, books will not be high on their priorities list for some time to come.

But...we also know how valuable books can be in providing time out when reality gets tough.

So…with the aid of some wonderful volunteers, we've put together a Romance Writers of Australia Flooded Communities Book Appeal.

What we need?
FICTION BOOKS! Romance books, children's books, young adult books, genre books, whatever – either new or in sparkling condition.

Please send them to:

RWA Flooded Communities Book Appeal
PO Box 1717
Noosaville Post Office
Noosaville BC
Queensland 4566 
Australia

When to send them?
Now! And any time over the next few months. The books will be boxed and delivered to the appropriate libraries/schools/neighbourhood centres/community centres in batches as soon as the communities are ready to receive them. We'll be liaising with councils, libraries and schools to ensure this is done appropriately. Feel free to pop a note inside, or if you're an author, sign it.

Questions:
If you have a question about donations, email Jess Anastasi: Jess(at)jessanastasi(dot)com

If you work in a library / council / community centre / school in a flood affected area (in Australia), email Rachel Bailey: rachel(at)rachelbailey(dot)com(dot)au

Thanks for your cooperation and support!

Jess Anastasi
RWA Flooded Communities Book Appeal Team

ADDENDUM:
RWA will not be accepting cash donations for the RWA Flooded Communities Book Appeal. Instead, we 
direct everyone to the charities already in place: the Premier's Flood Appeal, or the RSPCA Queensland.





Q. I’m overseas and would like to donate but the cost of sending books is very 
expensive?
If you are an author, send one copy of a book. This will keep your individual 
costs down, but will also contribute to our book appeal.
 Alternatively, consider buying a book from The Book Depository, which offers 
free postage to Australia. The book can be sent directly to the appeal.


Cash donations can be made to the charities listed above.



Q. I’m in Australia and have many books to donate. What is the cheapest postage 
option?

Australia Post offers a 3kg satchel anywhere in Australia for approximately 
$10. Please ensure the books are wrapped in bubble wrap to miminise damage in 
transit.

Instead of boxing books, you'd fit (if you could manage it) about 5-6 trade paperbacks, 17 paperbacks or 32 category books in a red, prepaid 3k satchel from Australia Post. So for $10 it's pretty cheap. If you put books in satchels, it would be nice if they bubble or cardboard wrapped them first, particularly if the satchel is still a bit empty. The books can tend to move around. There's also the 500g satchel that is $4-5 and fits a couple of books.

Band together with friends, your family, your writing group and send books 
together to minimise postage costs.



Q. I’m in Brisbane. Can the books be dropped off?

We have a drop-off point in Carindale available. Please contact Jess Anastasia 
- Jess@jessanastasi.com for further information.


If any other RWA member in Qld can offer a drop off point, please contact Rachel 
Bailey: rachel@rachelbailey.com.au

Aussie Humour

There's no doubt about it, the Aussie larrikin sense of humour is alive and well despite the devastating floods afflicting our country at the moment.

After so many sad and disheartening moments in the last few weeks, I found this shot on one of the news websites.

King Wally lives on - thanks to some floaties, a snorkel and goggles!

The photo is a statue of Wally Lewis, Queensland rugby league football legend and icon, holding aloft the State of Origin shield. It's placed outside Suncorp Stadium in the state's capital city of Brisbane. The stadium was flooded but it seems King Wally survived, thanks to some generous soul.

Thank you for the laugh.

Flooding in Australia

My heart aches every time I hear an update about the devastating floods in Australia at the moment.

SES volunteers

As a member of the volunteer NSW State Emergency Service, I've seen the damage and devastation storms and floods can reek on homes and communities. Losing a home or worse, a loved one, in a tragedy such as a flood, flash flood or drowning affects me the most. Sure, the physical cost of a disaster is staggering but it's the human cost that lives on in memory for years to come.

This morning I read 75% of the state of Queensland has been declared a disaster zone. The Northern Territory, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia have all been hit by flooding in the last few weeks or are in flood now. Entire towns, villages and communities have been isolated, inundated or are experiencing the worst floods in 50 (and in some cases 100) years.

The only states not flood declared are Tasmania (although they're on flood alert with heavy deluges expected today) and Western Australia (they're in drought and are suffering bushfires!).

The flooding in Queensland alone has affected over 20 cities and towns and 200,000 people, and 38 local council regions have been declared disaster zones.*

The cost to the national economy so far is estimated at $6 billion, with agriculture and mining at the top of that list, and this value will rise as the clean-up and long term affects on communities are counted.*

For anyone reading this from overseas, I've included a couple of maps to give you an idea of the scale of the flooding. There's one with the USA superimposed over Australia and another with Europe.

There's also a map of Australia (various colours) that show the rainfall we've had. Using that as an estimate, look at the light green, green, light blue, dark blue and purple areas on it and you can pretty much say that's all land affected by flooding. Now compare that land mass to your superimposed images of the USA or Europe. Staggering, isn't it?

The news can be a double edged sword - you see or read the good, bad and ugly of the disaster. The generosity of people helping out (not just those in paid jobs), the homes and livelihoods lost, the toll on whole communities (and this case the whole country), the deaths, and the lower-than-scum looters.

Rainfall Percentages chart from the Bureau of Meteorology

But the most heartening aspect, and something I hold onto each day when I switch on the TV to watch the news? The way Aussies pull together to support each other.

Volunteer and government services are working around the clock to provide rescue, evacuation, essential supply drops or emergency accommodation. People are opening their homes to evacuees or people stranded because they can't get home.

Volunteers assisting with storm damage

And we can't forget the Flood Relief Appeal. While people may not be able to help physically, many have contributed financially.

To date, nearly $33 million has been raised. And this doesn't count the aid (eg.emergency service manpower) we've been offered from overseas countries like New Zealand and the USA.

When times get tough the outpouring of support and help is overwhelming and certainly brings a tear to your eye.

To anyone who has helped in any way - donations, physical support, prayers, volunteering...thank you, thank you, thank you!

My Country
(by Dorothea McKellar)

(partial poem, verses selected)

I love a sunburnt country,

A land of sweeping plains,

Of ragged mountain ranges,

Of droughts and flooding rains.

I love her far horizons,

I love her jewel-sea,

Her beauty and her terror -

The wide brown land for me!

Core of my heart, my country!

Her pitiless blue sky,

When sick at heart, around us,

We see the cattle die -

But then the grey clouds gather,

And we can bless again

The drumming of an army,

The steady, soaking rain.

An opal-hearted country,

A wilful, lavish land -

All you who have not loved her,

You will not understand -

Though earth holds many splendours,

Wherever I may die,

I know to what brown country

My homing thoughts will fly.

Trained SES floodboat volunteers

* Figures, maps & some images from the internet article titled Queensland Floods, and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology site.
* SES photos from a variety of sources such as the NSW SES website (home site & individual units - Gundagai & Warringah) & The Australian newspaper.
* Poem by Dorothea McKellar taken from a website dedicated to the Australian poet.

Flooding (part 2)

Do you realise the incredible power water has and just what it can do to roads during flooding? Here are a few photos of how it can undermine the road you can't see because it's cover with water.

They demonstrate the danger of crossing floodwater in a vehicle and the risk you put yourself, anyone in the car with you or the people who have to rescue you in when you do.

Road markers and the sides of roads can often be swept away in floods and trying to get across stretches of water like this is extremely dangerous. You have no idea how fast it may be flowing nor the extent of any undermining of the road base.
Many people think 4WD or larger vehicles are more likely to cope - wrong, the force of water can push OR float any vehicle off the road.

Causeways can have the tar stripped from its surface, then the dirt underneath is eroded away. This is not a wide strip but it's wide enough to trap or snap an axle on a vehicle.

 Culverts can be damaged. Look at how much this one has been damaged. Imagine if the tar remained but what was underneath it had been washed away. The "crust" of a road may look solid but underneath may have been eroded. That's happened to this culvert before.

 Underwater you can't see these sorts of potholes. This hole is a foot and a half deep (half a metre).

A good foot of this road and half a lane has been washed away.

Flooding in Australia

If you've been watching the news you'll know a lot of the eastern states of Australia - Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria - have spent the last week being deluged with massive amounts of rain.

After a decade or more of drought, it was finally good to see the land being restored by revitalising rain. I've been living in my area for almost 20 years and this is the best I've seen it in that time.

But now a slow moving pressure system has deluged my area with over 7 inches of rain in less that 4 days creating almost record height flooding. And I suspect, looking at the long range forecast, there is more to come.

Bumper wheat, cotton and canola crops are now rotting and perishing in sodden paddocks, if they haven't been washed away. Roads are being lifted and eroded by flood water. People are being evacuated from towns and villages. Local councils will soon need to apply for disaster funding to repair the damage. Heartbreaking stories are airing on the local news.

Mother Nature continues to amaze, inspire and devastate me at what she's capable of. It reminds me of the Dorothea McKellar poem My Country.

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die -
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold -
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.


An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land -
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand -
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Our local SES volunteers monitoring the creek height