Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Brisbane and Queensland: please help

Right now the East Coast of Australia is experiencing flooding, expected to become more disastrous than the 1974 flood, which affected much of the same area.

The last figures I heard were:
9 dead
62 missing
300 people being airlifted out of Forest Hill
15,000 homes and businesses affected

The flood levels are expected to continue to rise this week. I have seen some truly horrifying footage both on TV and online today - cars being washed away in Toowoomba, a clip on the news of a floating van careening into a tree that a man was clinging to (how he managed to hang on, I don't know. Rescuers were able to get to him shortly after. They had to half carry him out of the water, he was dazed and completely exhausted).

Brisbane and Queensland are in chaos. Homes and businesses have been either completely lost under the water, smashed by torrents, people's belongings and loved ones carried away. The death toll will only continue to rise and the damage count is already in the hundred millions.

Kira, a fellow blogger, is actually in Brisbane but she's in a suburb which is safe (for now). Jerry's also on the Gold Coast. I never thought I'd be so happy about living in Perth, but right now I am.

Please donate if you can, and pray if you're the praying type. We were not prepared for this. Surviving the next week is going to be incredibly difficult for thousands of people, and once the waters have receded, the grieving and rebuilding is going to be even harder. I'm donating what I can when I get paid on Thursday.

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