I was just digging through our photo collection for @krystle's latest post "Meet Katana ❤ Unique Autistic Quirks Part 1" - when I came across our photos of the last time we had major flooding in my home town. Story time!
So what happened ?
Back in 2011 my home town had one of its worst floods in decades. We were stuck in our local neighbourhood for a while, major roads were closed and it was a scary insight into how fast society falls apart in a natural disaster.
These floods took a lot of lives, destroyed homes and multi-generation family businesses over a massive area and even 5 years later areas still haven't recovered.
Toowoomba got the worst of it
One day I may write an epic downtherabbithole post about the bigger picture (fraud, mismanagement or mass murder?) but I'll try to keep this post focused on how it affected my home and my family, with some previously unshared photos for steemit :)
I took these photos around my neighbourhood
These photos were taken by me in Goodna, Queensland - this suburb took some bad damage and many homes and businesses were lost. These are all taken within a block of the main business district of Goodna, right near a major highway - but its barely recognisable!
You can see the area (today) on google streetview here , this begins on the highway directly below photo 2
SES workers did an amazing job around the clock.
All the construction equipment went under eventually
Youtube video from Karen Orrock
The fragility of the food supply line
The floods were also an uncomfortable reminder of a few things:
- How fragile our local food supply chain is
- How impulsive and short sighted our neighbours are
Once the immediate danger passed, when people realized we were on an inland island with fuck all food and no ETA on resupply. Local supermarkets got rushed first.
@krystle and I immediately stocked up on smart supplies , prioritizing foods that would last and could be stored and prepared without power. Meanwhile the mob was on a mission to get all the coke and junk food ...
By the end of day 1 the local supermarket was stripped and everyone was hostile/panicked already..
Low points
1) A local "character" had ignored all of the notices saying 1 loaf of bread per family and grabbed heaps, had a tantrum at the checkout, RIPPED THE BREAD APART and stomped off.I can't stand food waste.. Waste in a food shortage made me rage
2) By the end of the first day everything worth taking was gone , and nearby bottleshops started having (illegal) auctions for the remaining cartons of beer.
Ipswich has a healthy population of alchoholic bogans, so the competition was fierce.
Its not just people getting hungry..
The floods also pushed a lot of the wildlife into suburbia, including sharks at maccas
TWO bull sharks have been spotted swimming past the McDonald’s restaurant in Goodna.
Queensland Times article
It also led to heaps of wildlife rescue stories , like this local legend saving skippy
Photo by Villiers Nick De - See more in this Herald Sun photo gallery
If this happened again.. Lessons learned
Our food storage game has improved now - but now instead of a single 2 year old we've got a 5 and a 7 year old to feed (constantly) . Unfortunately we still don't live in a place big enough to grow our own sustainable food supply :(
Dont be a tourist. I was an idiot for spending so long as a stunned observer. Seeing the local landscape change so dramatically and nearly all the landmarks dissapear was surreal, and I took stupid risks taking photos in the middle of a natural disaster instead of immediately securing supplies.
Location Location Location - our house at the time was surrounded but not directly flooded. We sat in an untouched island while countless others lost everything around us :(
We've moved since, but we had the advantage of updated flood maps and found an even better spot :)
Do not trust the experts - In the leadup to this we were told countless times dont worry, that the area would be unnafected, the dams wont burst and everything would be FINE. Then we had an inland tsunami.
Flood levels in Ipswich (courtesy of BoM)
Class action lawsuit and more information
If you're a local affected by these floods , you may be interested in the class action lawsuit. You can find some good resources and contacts at goodnaflood.blogspot. The class action is being handled by Maurice Blackburn , and deals with just part of the criminal negligence of Seqwater and associated groups.
If you cant get enough photos, see these high quality aerial galleries from nearmap via the ABC.
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