Support NeoGAF

[BowieZ]

Does congratulations mean something different in Australia? Gillard congratulated Salvation Army workers for handing out food. Just seems like an odd thing to say.

Well, it's awkward, yes, but it's simply a short means of saying "I wish to congratulate/praise your efforts." I'm pretty sure it's not a distinctly Australian usage.

 

[speedpop]

Flood peaks not to be as high as initially predicted, most likely due to the heavens not pouring as much as it had over the past week.

Going to leave Browns Plains and head to Forest Lake to see how my brother is going, then hopefully drive back over the Indro bridge later in the evening if given the all clear that the floods won't get any higher. If Jindalee bridge gets re-opened, all the better.

 

[evlcookie]

Are they sharks in the pool or am i just seeing something?

 

[Meadows]

huh, well that settles that debate

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

they're showing cricket. what the FUCK.

Because cricket is awesome.

 

[jamesinclair]

This article,
http://climateprogress.org/2011/01/12/deadly-flash-flood-hits-australia-rain/

suggests that perhaps not signing the Kyoto agreement was not the best call.

Australia had its wettest spring (September – November) since records began 111 years ago, with some sections of coastal Queensland receiving over 4 feet (1200 mm) of rain.....The ocean waters surrounding Australia were the warmest on record during 2010, and these exceptionally warm waters allowed much higher amounts of water vapor to evaporate into the atmosphere, helping fuel the heavy rains.

Global warming leads to an intensification of the water cycle. Drought severity is increasing in some regions and extreme precipitation is increasing in other regions. These are not merely predictions – an increase in drought severity and extreme precipitation have both been observed.

 

[Salazar]

Riverside restaurants got fucked up.

:lol

 

[Bernbaum]

Flood level peak was a meter less than the high predicted.

They're saying it's going to drop at a rate of about 10cm an hour, but perhaps stall when the high tide comes in.

Really tempted to go into the city and have a sticky-beak around, but it's exactly what the emergency services don't want people to do.

I'll be home from work for the rest of the working week, and I daresay that any other Brisbanites who can get into work next week will return.

Then the clean-up begins...

 

[speedpop]

Following family friends into the Valley sometime soon to see how their store is. Teamaster represent!

If they need any help we'll stick around and then try to get back home before the next peak. Hopefully the road leading into our street isn't flooded to a large capacity where we can't get our car through, but judging by this graph the water is barely 0.5m higher than when we left.

Even if the power is out in the suburb, I'd still rather be there and help the neighbourhood clean up when the water recedes slowly over the next day or two.

 

[Gazunta]

Following family friends into the Valley sometime soon to see how their store is. Teamaster represent!

If they need any help we'll stick around and then try to get back home before the next peak. Hopefully the road leading into our street isn't flooded to a large capacity where we can't get our car through, but judging by this graph the water is barely 0.5m higher than when we left.

Even if the power is out in the suburb, I'd still rather be there and help the neighbourhood clean up when the water recedes slowly over the next day or two.

If you're going into Fortitude Valley, can you take some pics? I'm not seeing anything anywhere...

 

[speedpop]

Will do, though it'll only be around Wickham St and a bit near Gipps St.

 

[Aruarian Reflection]

I'm really surprised how little attention this is getting in US media. The 1st anniversary of the Haiti earthquake is getting more publicity than the floods.

 

[Salazar]

I'm really surprised how little attention this is getting in US media. The 1st anniversary of the Haiti earthquake is getting more publicity than the floods.

UK tv is supposedly showing some gnarly images. Relatives have phoned expecting me to be inhaling mud and fending off crocs.

 

[Jintor]

I'm really surprised how little attention this is getting in US media. The 1st anniversary of the Haiti earthquake is getting more publicity than the floods.

I'm going to assume the yanks believe that Aussies are totally self-sufficient.

 

[Cohsae]

UK tv is supposedly showing some gnarly images. Relatives have phoned expecting me to be inhaling mud and fending off crocs.

I'm really hoping that you didn't correct those views. We have a reputation to uphold you know.

 

[SealSqueal]

Yeah there is lots of coverage here in the UK. Just checked Fox News website (as I do every now and then to see what the loons are being fed), and it's even headline news on their frontpage.

Anna Bligh just dropped the 'they will not break our will' line, people be getting drunk now.

 

[ClivePwned]

can we add the word 'vision' to the list of overused words?

 

[Kritz]

I feel kinda bad because the most Tassie's got in terms of water these past few days is a bit of a puddle on the road that might splash someone.

 

[NotWii]

More shocking scenes from the Brisbane flood...

This man's chair pit has been inundated by the recent flooding. The owner says that these water levels are unprecedented. He's had to evacuate all persons from the pit, which has annihalated seating capacity. The true damage won't be revealed until water levels recede. This truly is Queensland's darkest hour.

I thought he kept sharks in his swimming pool, which would be released when it floods over :lol

 

[MisterNugNug]

Hope you Aussie Gafers are safe, I was watching the ABC link earlier, crazy stuff. How does this compare to Katrina?

 

[Choc]

people who think the orb spiders are bad check this out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_funnel-web_spider

at least you dont have those in QLD :|

 

[Bernbaum]

people who think the orb spiders are bad check this out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_funnel-web_spider

at least you dont have those in QLD :|

Yes we do. They're all over the fucking place and I see them all the time out bush.

 

[Choc]

really? wow must have migrated

 

[legend166]

Hope you Aussie Gafers are safe, I was watching the ABC link earlier, crazy stuff. How does this compare to Katrina?

Relatively, it's going to cause a bigger impact to Australia's economy than Katrina did to the US economy.

On a human and absolute level, no where near Katrina.

 

[MisterNugNug]

Relatively, it's going to cause a bigger impact to Australia's economy than Katrina did to the US economy.

On a human and absolute level, no where near Katrina.

Do you live in Queensland? As an American, the idea of living in Australia intrigues me.

 

[legend166]

Do you live in Queensland? As an American, the idea of living in Australia intrigues me.

No, I live in Sydney.

 

[NotWii]

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2007/s2069159.htm

 

[Grug]

Do you live in Queensland? As an American, the idea of living in Australia intrigues me.

Brisbaneite here... wassup?

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2007/s2069159.htm

Dude piss off with the conspiracy shit.

 

[Grug]

My friends own the Great Aussie Sweet Company at Southbank.

Will probably be my first destination in helping with the cleanup.

 

[Choc]

i wouldn't say its conspiracy.

That page says it involves UOQ and it was being tested in 2007. It's a stretch to say it caused this but who knows...

 

[trinest]

i wouldn't say its conspiracy.

That page says it involves UOQ and it was being tested in 2007. It's a stretch to say it caused this but who knows...

Yes but that was 2007, stuff which happens in 2007 doesn't effect 2011.

 

[$200]

Just returned to Brisbane from a one month vacation this morning :|

 

[seanoff]

watching Nine this morning for 10 mins.

The Mad Monk (Abbott) gave Anna Bligh a huge rap. Not sure his state lib supporters will be too happy.

 

[Pristine_Condition]

Hope you Aussie Gafers are safe, I was watching the ABC link earlier, crazy stuff. How does this compare to Katrina?

From what I'm reading, the area affected by the flooding is much larger, a shocking 350,000+ square miles, (larger than France and Germany combined) vs. Katrina which affected 90,000 square miles, (about the size of the UK) but in terms of costs and lives lost, Katrina will end up still being much worse.

People forget Katrina resulted in the deaths of between 1,200 to nearly 2,000 people, and piled up a massive loss of property worth around $90 Billion in 2010 money, not counting losses to the economy because of having most of that area of the Gulf's businesses, refineries and ports shut down for a while. 5.8 million individuals were in the path of the destruction, and even today, it is estimated that there are around 1,000,000 persons still displaced by Katrina.

This does not in any way discount the real pain and suffering our friends in the Queensland area are going through right now, or the danger that is still out there. Lives are still being lost due to flood waters, and the cleanup and recovery from this event will be massive, costly, and, I'm sure, frustratingly-slow, for those in the region.

My prayers and thoughts go out to all of those out there. It may be hard to see the silver lining to this dark cloud right now, but it's nice to hear these reports of people being brought together by this disaster. That's what happened here in Texas with Katrina. I volunteered for a bit at a shelter that filled up fast and soon became basically a hub for getting displaced people into spare rooms, ect. in people's homes. People were willing to take strangers into their own homes. The outpouring of support was truly amazing to see.

 

[Tntnnbltn]

Yes we do. They're all over the fucking place and I see them all the time out bush.

The primary range of the Australasian funnel-web spiders is the eastern coast of Australia, with specimens found in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, and Queensland.[1][4] Reports that these spiders occur in New Guinea and other islands in the south Pacific have been shown to be false (Platnick, 2008[5]). The only Australian states without funnel-webs are Western Australia[6] and the Northern Territory.

Once again, Western Australia proves how it is Bestern Australia.

Spoiler

No one gives a toss about ACT or TAS

 

[Gazunta]

http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/queensland_floods.html

Google Maps with flood overlay

 

[Salazar]

That story (front page of the Australian, I think) about the shy little little bloke who asked rescuers to take his Mum and his brother before him and then drowned. God damn.

IT IS almost unimaginable the fear 13-year-old Jordan Rice would have felt as the car he and his family were in was pummelled by a wall of water.

But as it began engulfing the vehicle, Jordan, who could not swim himself, insisted his younger brother, Blake, 10, be rescued first.

Young hero ... Jordan Rice, 13, insisted rescuers should take his 10-year-old brother Blake first. By the time his turn came, it was too late.
It was a heroic gesture. One that cost him his life.

And, like so many others who have risked their lives to save strangers, it almost cost the life of one of the rescuers, Warren McErlean.

Mr McErlean thought he got it wrong when he saw a water gauge on a street in Toowoomba rise 20 centimetres in 10 seconds on Monday afternoon.

Five minutes later he was clinging to a pole, dodging cars and wheelie bins after he risked his life to try to save the Rice family.

While Blake was rescued, Jordan and his mother, Donna, 43, perished when they were swept away in the flood.

''When I first saw the car the water was up to the number plate,'' Mr McErlean, 37, a Toowoomba builder, told the Herald.

''I thought I would push it backwards but by the time I walked 20 metres, it [the water] was up on the bonnet and coming up the windscreen.''

Mr McErlean grabbed a rope, tied one end to a post, the other around his waist and set out to rescue the woman and two boys but the fast-moving water swept him downstream.

Another rescuer, known only as Chris, pulled Mr McErlean to safety before tying the rope to himself and approaching the car to grab Jordan.

But Jordan wanted his brother to go first so Chris took Blake, handing him to Mr McErlean part way across before heading back to the car.

''I had the boy in one hand, the rope in the other. I wasn't going to let go but then the torrent came through and was pulling us down,'' Mr McErlean said.

''Then this great big tall fellow just came out of nowhere, bear hugged us and ripped us out of the water.

''When I got back I turned to look at the guy [Chris]. He looked at me and we knew it was over. The rope snapped and the car just flipped.''

Chris, who had been holding Jordan's hand until it was torn from him, flew metres in the air before locking his legs around a post in the centre of the road, said Mr McErlean.

''The others were just gone, just disappeared,'' he said.

 

[trinest]

Once again, Western Australia proves how it is Bestern Australia.

Spoiler

No one gives a toss about ACT or TAS

Or WA

 

[Salazar]

In other news, they breed us tough North of the border.

I'll leave you Southerners to think about what that means.

 

[Veins]

Once again, Western Australia proves how it is Bestern Australia.

Spoiler

No one gives a toss about ACT or TAS

This man speaks the truth.

 

[AnkhWeasel]

WAGAF (or PerthGAF) - it exists!

 

[shanshan310]

In other news, they breed us tough North of the border.

I'll leave you Southerners to think about what that means.

Anna Bligh was pretty much in tears when she said that.

Is it true Brisbane State High has gone under?! Thats pretty far back/ up a hill. :S

Man, this is feeling really surreal. I mean, its not flooding in my part of Brisbane, and Its even sunny now. Its hard to imagine that just over the hill Brisbane's underwater..

 

[Choc]

'As we weep for what we have lost, as we grieve for family and friends we confront the challenge before us. I want us to remember who we are. We are Queenslanders.'


anna you champion, amazing performance so far.

churchillian like

 

[Grug]

watching Nine this morning for 10 mins.

The Mad Monk (Abbott) gave Anna Bligh a huge rap. Not sure his state lib supporters will be too happy.

Playing politics at this time would be suicidal. Even the rabble that is the Queensland LNP would realise that.

'As we weep for what we have lost, as we grieve for family and friends we confront the challenge before us. I want us to remember who we are. We are Queenslanders.'


anna you champion, amazing performance so far.

churchillian like

Let's not go nuts.

 

[Choc]

Playing politics at this time would be suicidal. Even the rabble that is the Queensland LNP would realise that.

this is not true grug. Well yes its suicidal but the LNP of QLD are dumb enough to do it

last night a LNP MP from QLD criticisd the Government for releasing water out of wivenhoe when they have had massive water restrictions and have required water. He thinks they should be saving it for drinking later

guy is so uninformed its not funny

 

[Sew]

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/te...ted-as-floods-sink-telcos-20110113-19oz4.html

 

[Salazar]

:lol

WTF.

 

[Router]

And so begins the rise of petrol prices

 

[Sew]

I told you there was a hiss in the line.

rimshot.wav

 

[NotWii]

It looks so peaceful when you don't have people talking over the footage

RussiaToday's compilation of flooded brisbane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDip6a9kfB0