REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Dozens missing, feared dead in Queensland floods

POSTED BY: MAGONSDAUGHTER
UPDATED: Wednesday, February 9, 2011 01:54
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Monday, January 10, 2011 10:30 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Some news, not very happy, from outside the US.

Floods have cause three quarters of the state to be declared a disaster zone, and for those of you who don't know, it's a damn large state.

9 people confirmed dead and dozens missing due to flash flooding .

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/weather/weeks-of-rain-one-fatal-h
our-20110110-19l7n.html



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Tuesday, January 11, 2011 1:52 AM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


from NY times

Quote:

Australia’s Third-Largest City at Risk From Floods
By MERAIAH FOLEY

SYDNEY, Australia — Australian officials urged thousands of people to flee to higher ground on Tuesday in Australia’s third-largest city, Brisbane, as floodwaters that killed at least 10 people rushed toward the coastal capital of 2 million people

Cars jammed the streets in Brisbane’s low-lying central business district, with residents scrambling to secure their possessions and move to safe areas as the swollen Brisbane River began bursting its banks.

The city’s mayor, Campbell Newman, warned that at least 6,500 homes could be flooded by Thursday, when the river is expected to peak at about 20 feet above its usual level, the biggest flood in 35 years.

“We are facing one of our toughest ever tests,” Anna Bligh, the Queensland premier, told reporters in Brisbane. “We do have a very serious natural disaster on our doorstep and we will all have to work together.”

Five children were among the 10 killed late Monday as the deluge tore through Toowoomba and other parts of the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, upending cars and ripping buildings from their foundations.

Some 78 people were still missing late Tuesday, and police warned that they had “very grave fears” for 18 of those missing. At least 20 people have been killed in the floodwaters that have swept vast areas of Australia’s northeastern Queensland state.

Emergency crews worked frantically to rescue hundreds of people left stranded by the raging floodwaters — described by some locals as an “inland tsunami” — that Toowoomba and several smaller towns.

Around 300 people were plucked from the disaster zone by helicopter on Tuesday after the tiny hamlet of Forest Hill was cut off by the torrent, Ms. Bligh said. Some 78 people were still missing late Tuesday, and Queensland police warned that the death toll was likely to rise as emergency crews continued to sift through the wreckage.

“The circumstances in Queensland continue to be very dire indeed,” Prime Minister Julia Gillard told reporters in Canberra. “The nation does need to brace itself for the fact that the death toll as a result of yesterday’s flash flooding is likely to rise.”

Torrential rains and flooding has affected parts of waterlogged Queensland since late December. Officials at Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology have warned that the region’s soil has lost its capacity to absorb more water after more than two weeks of severely wet weather that has flooded an area roughly equal to France and Germany.

After enduring a decade of one of the worst droughts in Australian history, Queensland residents are now facing billions of dollars in costs from the floods, which began in late November and have since razed hundreds of homes and businesses, and brought the region’s lucrative coal and farming industries to a virtual standstill.

Brisbane’s main reservoir, which was created to protect the city from flooding after the last devastating flood in 1974, was overflowing, adding thousands of gallons to the region’s swollen river systems, according to Mr. Newman.

“The situation has obviously demonstrably deteriorated,” Mr. Newman told a meeting of disaster management officials in Brisbane, according to local news reports. “Today is very significant, tomorrow is bad, and Thursday is going to be devastating for the residents and businesses affected.”


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Tuesday, January 11, 2011 3:34 AM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...


for the text impaired:



Best of luck to all you auzzies. It's hard to imagine how fast that much water can travel - you think there would be time and plenty of warning, but no.

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011 5:00 AM

CANTTAKESKY


It's very sad.

Can't Take (my gorram) Sky
------
Everything I say is just my opinion, not fact.

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011 5:20 AM

BYTEMITE


Not near where you live, I hope. Damn shame about the people who died.

This kinda thing always makes me ask, though, why are we even building on floodplains and messing with leevee engineering anyway? There's always a chance of failure, and when there's failure people die and property is damaged, and this is only a 35-40 year flood from the reports. Meaning it's entirely possible to have much bigger floods.

Granted, the week of rain has something to say about this. We can drill wells, though. Highlands, why not? Human civilization hasn't been bound by it's need for a nearby river for a while now.

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011 6:44 AM

HARDWARE


A real tragedy, not like the distractions we have going on in the US.

Praying for clear skies for Australia.

The more I get to know people the more I like my dogs.

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011 6:54 AM

KANEMAN


Quote:

Originally posted by Hardware:
A real tragedy, not like the distractions we have going on in the US.

Praying for clear skies for Australia.

The more I get to know people the more I like my dogs.




We have had our share of bad weather over the years Seriously, I was watching the doc. "Storm of the century" and in it the gave a statistic I had never heard(which was a mile stone seeing I know everything), North America gets the worst weather and the most ferocious storms.

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011 8:56 AM

KANEMAN


Quote:

Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:
Some news, not very happy, from outside the US.

Floods have cause three quarters of the state to be declared a disaster zone, and for those of you who don't know, it's a damn large state.

9 people confirmed dead and dozens missing due to flash flooding .

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/weather/weeks-of-rain-one-fatal-h
our-20110110-19l7n.html






Should you get off your comp. and grab a bucket? Or you can send nikki2 some money, start a fund even, she'll keep the cash for weed for herself and her bi-sexual lover, and photoshop some pics like she did in L.A........

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011 9:53 AM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Quote:

Originally posted by Bytemite:
Not near where you live, I hope. Damn shame about the people who died.

This kinda thing always makes me ask, though, why are we even building on floodplains and messing with leevee engineering anyway? There's always a chance of failure, and when there's failure people die and property is damaged, and this is only a 35-40 year flood from the reports. Meaning it's entirely possible to have much bigger floods.

Granted, the week of rain has something to say about this. We can drill wells, though. Highlands, why not? Human civilization hasn't been bound by it's need for a nearby river for a while now.



Byte, the floods are about 2000 km north of me, I'm in Melbourne. However, the whole east coast is experiencing some of the highest rainfalls in recorded history. They are predicting flash floods here as well, and the waters will travel south through the river systems.

Brisbane is used to extreme weather. Its sub tropical, and used to very high rainfalls at this time of year - it's the Wet Season up there anyway. But this kind of rain is extremer, if you'll pardon my english.

They've cut power to much of the city.


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Tuesday, January 11, 2011 10:01 AM

BYTEMITE


Wow. Cut power to the city?

I dunno, it's a 40 year flood but if it goes this bad, I'm still wondering if engineering if a problem factor.

But anyway, yeah. It sounds really bad. Do you know if any nations have offered help or anything? This sounds almost like a New Orleans situation, with the power being cut off. If it gets much worse it WILL be a New Orleans situation. Is there an evacuation order?

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011 10:17 AM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Voluntary evacuation only in the city. I think there have been some forced evacuations in country areas.

I'm sure the blame game will happen afterwards, as it did with the 2009 bushfires down here. The way I see it is that sometimes there are just extremes of weather which are very hard to manage.

I don't see it getting New Orleans like. Frankly, I think our emergency response capacity is much better than what I saw happening there.

http://media.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/national-news/watch-how-fla
sh-flood-grew-in-minutes-2127942.html


Quote:

Authorities have called for calm as reports come in of panic-buying at Brisbane supermarkets after workers fled the CBD en masse today.

This evening, the Gateway Motorway has been cut in both directions at the Bracken Ridge Exit at Bald Hills due to water on the road.

Up to 100,000 customers are expected to lose electricity tomorrow when Energex begins turning off power to the CBD and other riverside areas.

Bottled water almost sold out at Woolworths at Garden City at 3pm today.

Today, Lord Mayor Campbell Newman warned the worst of the flooding was yet to come, with Thursday likely to be ‘‘devastating’’.

Cr Newman said latest flood modelling suggested 6500 properties could be inundated, with 16,500 to be partially affected.

However, since then authorities have updated their modelling. Brisbane City Council has released a new flood map showing the likely affected areas, with as much as 12,000 cubic metres of water expected to be flowing out of the Brisbane River per second on Thursday at 3am.

Premier Anna Bligh now says up to 40,000 homes could be affected.

While police advised there were no forced evacuations in the CBD, numerous major employers such as government departments, Telstra, Myer and David Jones all advised workers to go home.

Throughout the early afternoon, roads out of the city were logjammed and public transport crowded as workers sought to return to their homes.

Telstra spokeswoman Elouise Campion was among the evacuees who left the company’s headquarters in George Street, close to the banks of the swelling Brisbane River.

‘‘It’s just a mass exodus from the Brisbane CBD,’’ Ms Campion said from her home in Brisbane’s north.

‘‘It’s actually scary - it’s not something I’ve seen here."

Her husband also left work and rushed to their local supermarket which was inundated by shoppers stocking up on supplies.

‘‘There’s no bread, there’s no D batteries and the local Coles is packed,’’ Ms Campion said.

Deputy Mayor Graham Quirk called for residents to remain clear-headed.

‘‘People need to be sensible and not panic, but they need to be prepared," Cr Quirk said.

"What we’ve seen today is a fair bit of panic. We’ve had a significant departure of people from the CBD going back to their homes.”

An evacuation centre has been set up at the RNA Showgrounds at Bowen Hills for residents affected by floods.

A Brisbane City Council statement said the centre had been set up for those who wanted to evacuate of their own accord and could not be accommodated with family or friends. Residents were advised to take their own pillows and sheets, medication, important documents and spare clothing. Pets were unable to be accommodated at the evacuation centre, council said.

A number of buildings in the CBD and Fortitude Valley were self-evacuated, with Eagle Street at the pier now under water, according to police.

At South Bank, the Brisbane River has broken its banks, with water lapping across the riverside boardwalks in front of the State Library and Performing Arts Centre and CityCat stops underwater.


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Tuesday, January 11, 2011 10:37 AM

BYTEMITE


Quote:

Pets were unable to be accommodated at the evacuation centre, council said.


Okay, that was my heartstrings. ._. Though the fact that people were so confused and frightened that they're going back to flooded areas when they can't escape got me too.

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011 11:14 AM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Quote:

Originally posted by Bytemite:
Quote:

Pets were unable to be accommodated at the evacuation centre, council said.


Okay, that was my heartstrings. ._. Though the fact that people were so confused and frightened that they're going back to flooded areas when they can't escape got me too.



we faced that with the 2009 fires, Byte. We knew we couldn't go to the official evac centres because we had a dog and a cat and we wouldn't leave them. We were lucky we had somewhere else to go.

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Wednesday, January 12, 2011 10:30 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Yeah, got my heartstrings, too, and made me angry. How difficult would it be...I mean we did it here for Katrina AND 9/11...grrrr... Don't you have some kind of SPCA or other organizations working on that?

Me, I'd have found a piece of high ground SOMEWHERE rather than abandon mine...glad you were able to when it happened to you!

Glad you put this up, Magons. I've been thinking of you when I hear about it and hoping it was nowhere near you, too. I would have posted a thread about it, but I'm not here as much and I haven't posted any stories in a while, just responded.

But do know our hearts go out to you and we hope this passes QUICKLY--or as quickly as possible. Last night I heard that there were more rains expected; desperate as the situation is, how truly awful it will get WORSE!!!

Holding a good thought for you guys Down Under...


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




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Wednesday, January 12, 2011 11:20 AM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Quote:

Originally posted by Niki2:
Yeah, got my heartstrings, too, and made me angry. How difficult would it be...I mean we did it here for Katrina AND 9/11...grrrr... Don't you have some kind of SPCA or other organizations working on that?

Me, I'd have found a piece of high ground SOMEWHERE rather than abandon mine...glad you were able to when it happened to you!

Glad you put this up, Magons. I've been thinking of you when I hear about it and hoping it was nowhere near you, too. I would have posted a thread about it, but I'm not here as much and I haven't posted any stories in a while, just responded.

But do know our hearts go out to you and we hope this passes QUICKLY--or as quickly as possible. Last night I heard that there were more rains expected; desperate as the situation is, how truly awful it will get WORSE!!!

Holding a good thought for you guys Down Under...


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off






I think its just pure logistics Niki. You are talking about a flood that is affecting an area the size of Germany and FRance and even more, which includes a number of large urban areas with millions of people. And its not a short term measure either, many of these people will need to be in emergency accomodation ie bed in a community hall, for quite some time. And re high ground, its hard to move anywhere at present, the roads are underwater.

So its a huge disaster zone basically. I'm sure the RSPCA will be doing its best for the animals, which will also include millions of cattle and sheep not to mention wildlife, but currently dozens of people are missing presumed dead, and many more are facing real danger, so I'd say that the emergency services are doing the best they can to sort out the people first.

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Wednesday, January 12, 2011 6:13 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


A very sad story about animals, kind of demonstrated what they are up against.

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/weather/clive-palmers-helicopter-
saves-60-from-floods-20110113-19p5k.html


And there have been sightings of sharks swimming around the streets

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/flood-shark-sightings-have-r
esidents-on-edge-20110113-19ozp.html

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Sunday, January 16, 2011 7:34 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


I didn't read your links, sorry, I can't read about stuff that involves animals dying. I'm a total woos.

Magons, Katrina affected millions (I believe), and hit a VERY urban area, plus flooding miles and miles of some areas. I recognize it's logistics, but if they can get people out, they can get animals. Same thing happened in Katrina; those in charge wouldn't bother with animals, but the SPCA and numerous other groups stepped in and did it themselves. The Coast Guard ended up ferrying them around after the fact to pick up abandoned animals. T. Boone Pickens actually hired an airplane to ferry a whole bunch of dogs out here, and our Humane Society cared for them and found homes for every one.

I believe, beyond logistics, it's a difference in mentality between the people of our two countries. In India, for example, when they're hit with their monsoons, I would imagine they don't think twice about rescusing any pets.

There were stories of people trying to smuggle their pets out during Katrina (one woman hid her parakeet in her BRA!), and at times like this, a beloved pet can be precious to grieving people. I remember seeing a guy on top of his roof, water almost up to where he was, with his two large dogs. 'Copter wouldn't take the dogs, so he said, fine, leave me here...they finally took the dogs up in baskets. I'm with him, I'm afraid. But that's just me, I realize; my dogs are family, and I wouldn't abandon family even to save myself.


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




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Sunday, January 16, 2011 11:25 AM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


I don't think you can make judgments about how we treat animals, Niki based on a couple of news stories. I feel quite offended by that comment.

I realised during the 2009 fires which caused us to evacuate our home 4 times over several weeks, that as much as I care for our animals, I do not consider them to have the same importance as my human family. we had lots of discussions about this. We agreed to do everything possible to ensure their safety, but we also agreed that we would not endanger our lives to save them. That meant not trying to get home to try and save them if there was a proximity fire and we were out of the area. we would ring neighbours, sure, but I (and it would have been me) was not going to take unnecessary risks with my life. My son needed a mother more than he did a dog and cat.

It probably sounds harsh and it is harsh, and I don't expect everyone to feel the same. sometimes it takes a catastrophe for people to work out what their priorities are, and that there is a pecking order to what (and who) they care about. In times of war and famine in Europe, people ate their pets. Horrible thought, but survival can be like that.

That being said, my memory of the fires is seeing people load up their pets, including farm animals into cars and vans and flee. We were lucky we never had to make that awful decision, and our pets came with us. But then we had somewhere to go, most people did. The urban areas were largely unaffected and we had plenty of family who were in safe areas. Not so with the Qlders.

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Sunday, January 16, 2011 11:36 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


I certainly didn't mean to offend, believe me. I was thinking in part--and I may be wrong by now, I heard this stuff long ago--that Australia had some pretty severe qualifications to people bringing pets in, and I guess thinking you "should" have groups like we do who are willing to expend the effort to do what was done in Katrina. I also don't know the situation that well, so was just expressing my opinion, obviously on incomplete facts.

The difference in our beliefs might well come at least partly from the fact that I have no children, nor ever did, and have always been extremely close to my dogs (not so much the cats, but in that situation it would be the same...not so much for other pets tho', I'd probably do as you said, set them up as best I could but not do more.

If it were down to a choice, like Jim and/or Choey were endangered and so were the animals, obviously they would take precedence. But if it was just me and the dogs, I know I'd have to stay with them or I'd not be able to live with myself for the rest of my life. JUST me, as I said, and I know I'm among a minority of people who feel that way.

It's a personal thing, wherever it happens, obviously. Me, I'd try to get back if I weren't there when it happened, too; but remember I'm only responsible for myself, got no family left and only consider Jim and Choey "family". It could well be a very stupid thing to do, but for me, there is no choice.

And, of course, I can only say that I've never BEEN in that position, so I speak from ignorance.


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




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Sunday, January 16, 2011 11:59 AM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Australia has some very tough quarantine laws, niki, and mainly that was to keep rabies out. We;ve never had it here. You can bring pets in, they just stay in quarantine for a time. If you ever come here, you'd probably be amused that our customs officials appear more concerned about people bringing in plants in than being terrorists.

The RSPCA is the organisation that assists animals. Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. one of it's main QLD shelters was destroyed in the floods. I know they will be doing their best to sort out something to help the animals, I think the main task now that the waters are subsiding is food and clean water and disease control.

People came first as far as the government was concerned, and I support that 100%. You minimise human deaths, priority number one and that was a mammoth enough task. Individuals made individual choices and I am sure some would have stayed with their animals rather than leave them.

I understand where you are coming from Niki. I think things are different when you have children, particularly smaller ones. My sister in law had 3 under 6 years that year, including a small baby. She was blatantly honest and admitted that the cats were not even apart of her evac plan. The logistics were just too difficult, and sometimes there is very little warning for a fire.

The Black Saturday fires made everyone in high fire risk areas (like we are) rethink everything. I would never have thought that I would sacrifice the animals before that day. Some people would have sworn they would never leave their properties, but having watched several hundred people lose their lives, and having been in proximity to a fire and known the dread and panic that sets in, I think very differently now.


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Sunday, January 16, 2011 12:20 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER

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Sunday, January 16, 2011 1:14 PM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Yeah, it was first the quarantine thing that got me thinking as I did, and after that some other things I heard/read. We had to quarantine the Shephard we bought in Kabul before we left Europe; we left her at a kennel for I think it was two weeks while we drove through Europe. She rarely ate the entire time we were gone and looked horrible (but ecstatic) when we got back.

Thanx for the story, it DOES make me feel better...with the caveat that I look at the small number of pets and it immediately makes me think of the--probably thousands?--of others...sigh...
Quote:

The most important reason the animals need to be reunited with their owners is for the owners themselves.

"I think because a lot of [people] and particularly the Grantham people have lost everything," Dr Doneley said.

"Their pets are the one thing they can hold and say 'well this is mine' and so that's a very psychological reason for people to be reunited.

"Just to have some firm contact with the pre-flood days."

That's part of why I feel the way I do in general (not about my own); we know just how much an animal can help people in crisis, whether it's contact with pre-crisis times or not.

I never felt "bad" about you guys, by the way, I just thought it's a different attitude. I KNOW Americans are complete wooses for their pets, I've seen enough of it, gawd knows! Although in that I do have to say the Brits and Europeans may surpass us; having watched "It's Me or The Dog" for enough years to shake my head and smile at some of the outrageous things I've seen!

It's a known fact that humans without children focus on their pets, so I know I'm not unusual in that aspect anyway. My animals have actually shown me far more compassion, love and acceptance than my parents EVER did, so that probably comes into it, too. Like I said, it's just me.

Mostly I hope as many as possible get their lives back, and as many animals survive as possible, however they do.


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




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Wednesday, February 2, 2011 1:21 AM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


It's been a hell of a start to the year for our most northerly state. Cyclone Yasi, category 5 cyclone due to hit in the next few hours.


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Wednesday, February 2, 2011 6:41 AM

KANEMAN


Grab a pail now!!!!! Water from the sky.....wow.

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Wednesday, February 2, 2011 9:29 AM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Your humanity is overwhelming.

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Thursday, February 3, 2011 8:05 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


What humanity? Where? I didn't see it. Which way did it go?

Seriously, surely you didn't expect otherwise!

So how did it go? Egypt has taken over EVERYTHING over here, so I haven't heard a word. Did it pass without too much damage? And how are your rains/floods going? I sure hope things are getting better by now...


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




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Thursday, February 3, 2011 11:30 AM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


hey that's interesting, the photo changed....

It was the most awesome looking storm front, which is partially why I posted it. A huge dense circling mass thousands of km's across.

Seems the eye missed the most populated areas, but it was one terrifying storm, according to witnesses.

Here's the outcome - lots of destruction, but no reports of lives lost. http://www.theage.com.au/environment/cyclone-yasi

No bananas for us for awhile.

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Thursday, February 3, 2011 12:30 PM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


I'm glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been. that picture is quite impressive enough for ME!

Here's hoping the worst of it is over and the karma Down Under improves for the rest of the year...I think you've had quite enough, don't you?

Here's something neat which a member of the website I run who lives in Washington posted a long time ago. I made it my screensaver and it's been so ever since. Maybe someone here will be able to tell us what kind of cloud formation this is, I've never seen anything like it before:




Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




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Thursday, February 3, 2011 1:23 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


I don't know, but I'd be heading for the cyclone shelter (if I had one).

yes, we've had enough weather this year.

This is what it looked like.



And if it had been in the US


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Thursday, February 3, 2011 1:31 PM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Holy SHIT! And I thought the OTHER picture was impressive! Wow...just wow...!


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




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Thursday, February 3, 2011 2:04 PM

BYTEMITE


Those clouds are innocuous, over the rockies and some mountain ranges, you get a weather pattern that causes clouds to form like big stacks of plates. Look close, you'll see the plates, it's just these ones have the "little" plates on the bottom of the stack and makes it look HOMG.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenticular_Clouds

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Friday, February 4, 2011 6:27 AM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


We're getting the edges of it, road just flooded outside of our house and there is water flowing in down it like a river.

Sheesh

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Friday, February 4, 2011 7:15 AM

BYTEMITE


Ouch. Hope the damage inside isn't too bad, and your house is situated in a high spot.

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Friday, February 4, 2011 2:05 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Unfortunately we are on the down side of the road, and being in a bushy area, the drains are crap basically. The creek near our house has broken its banks. The levees we built last night seem to be holding, although we've had a lot of rain come in through backing up of gutters.

Uggghhhh

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Friday, February 4, 2011 2:33 PM

DREAMTROVE


Quote:

Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:
We're getting the edges of it, road just flooded outside of our house and there is water flowing in down it like a river.

Sheesh



You live right there?

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Friday, February 4, 2011 3:54 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


We live right here :)

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Tuesday, February 8, 2011 9:24 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


How's it going, Magons? I hope things have settled down again; I think I heard something about FIRES again, or was I mistaken? It just seems to never stop for you guys!


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




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Tuesday, February 8, 2011 10:42 AM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Aha. It's a big country. The fires are in Perth which is a couple of thousand of km's west of where I am.

What we are seeing is the product of La Nina weather pattern, with the extremes caused by climate change. Whether you believe it is manmade or not, we have definitely had more extreme weather events in the past 10 years.

One of the strange things about La Nina is that it creates different weather systems for east and west coasts of a continent. So while the east is being deluged with water, the west is suffering catastrophic drought.

Thanks for asking anyway, Niki. Things are okay here now. Lots of roads still flooded and half our road is gone, but we suffered minimal damage. The road ended up on our verandah and we suffered some minimal water and electrical damage.

My husband suffered a nail through his foot, you know because if you have to go out in torrential rain and climb all over the roof, it needs to be done in barefeet.

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Tuesday, February 8, 2011 11:02 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Hee, hee, hee...men! He has my sympathy.

I'm glad that's nowhere around you. Yes, Australia is big like us, and it's hard for people to realize that what's happening in one place might have no impact at all in another sometimes...when we had the Loma Prieta, friends from Back East deluged us with their worries about us, when in fact that serious effects only happened in a few places...it's just that the news makes it seem so much worse than it is by broadcasting with their "if it bleeds, it leads" mentality!

We have the same thing with our El Ninos--usually we on the West Coast get DROWNED, while the middle of the country has droughts. Me, I love 'em, selfishly, 'cuz I'm rain baby!

Anyway, for all you Ozzies, I hope things calm down! We may well be in one of "those" years where we got our rains early, then nothing. We've been in the 70s and some 80s the past week or so, sunshine everywhere since mid-January. I hate it!

Sorry about your road. In our worst Winter, when we had slides EVERYWHERE (one of which I outran to get safely to the house), two houses came down around the corner from us, and the folks whose home faced them ended up with a garage filled to the CEILING with mud. They had my sympathy, too, and we lost two people in that slide. It was totally weird, the next day we walked up around the corner and there was no sign of the homes, only a sink here, a stove there, laying in the mud. Brrrrrr! Hope they fix your road soonest!


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




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Tuesday, February 8, 2011 12:08 PM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...


Quote:

Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:

My husband suffered a nail through his foot, you know because if you have to go out in torrential rain and climb all over the roof, it needs to be done in barefeet.



Men are tough...



Best of luck with your weather.

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Tuesday, February 8, 2011 12:45 PM

DREAMTROVE


Hope you are not flooded.

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Wednesday, February 9, 2011 1:54 AM

KANEMAN


Quote:

Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:
Unfortunately we are on the down side of the road, and being in a bushy area, the drains are crap basically. The creek near our house has broken its banks. The levees we built last night seem to be holding, although we've had a lot of rain come in through backing up of gutters.

Uggghhhh



Grab a bucket and throw it on the wild fires that have sprouted up there...kill two birds with one stone. American genius.

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