THE QUEENSLAND FLOODS

[Maureen K Clifford]

Yes John it is - we have signs now on the telegraph poles just around here.

Found 2 very fat, much loved geese. They are safe and well and now residing at *********if they are yours I am sure they are missing you as much as you are missing them. One of my neighbours told me the lady who found them came down to check where the water was up to with the two geese trotting along behind her like obedient dogs.

Nobody knows where they have come from...Common sense says it must be somewhere close as don't know how they could possible have survived the Bremer let alone stayed together. And they also managed to rescue those poor exhausted horses from the Bundamba race course. That was a good save. Sadly others have been seen drifting downstream and that breaks your heart - loss of life is tragic - be it human or animal - they are all Gods children.

But as Anna Bligh said we are Queenslanders and we will rise to fight another day.

Cheers

Maureen

[Bellobazza]

Greetings Queenslubbers...
Leonie and Maureen in particular. Wonderful to hear that you at least escaped the flooding; we were very concerned for you.

Absolutely heart-breaking to see the loss of life and the devastation to peoples' homes, towns and businesses, especially that inflicted on the Lockyer Valley towns.

Something I have been impressed by as I watched events unfold on television is the calm and assured way that the various mayors, emergency services spokesmen and, especially, Anna Bligh have led their communities in the face of calamity. From where I sit, I think they all performed magnificently. I feel quite sure that their quiet, determined response must have reassured many panicy residents, and set a benchmark which was matched by those in the front line. Unfortunately, popular press being what it is, Anna Bligh's moment of emotion will probably overshadow the leadership that she displayed, which is very unfortunate.

An important observation made (by Kevin Rudd, I think) that I believe is worth bearing in mind by all of us is this...this is not a Queensland disaster, it is a disaster for Australia.

...it "breaks our hearts, but it won't break our spirit".

Cheers, Will.

[Maureen K Clifford]

You are right Will it won't but as the waters recede there are a lot of tears adding to the levels - but that is a good thing as well you have to let those emotions out and there is no shame in Anna Bligh breaking down or nearly breaking down. At the end of the day she is a woman, she is in the thick of it with her own family (parent) caught up, and that does not for one minute diminish her strength it adds a very human face to a problem that is affecting our whole nation. Who could not be touched at times like this.

As you say our leaders have been fantastic - from local Councillors right up to the PM - even Prince Charles has been mightily impressed with the Aussie spirit.

Saw a bloke wearing a Tshirt helping out and it cracked me up - the words said. God is coming -Quick, look busy.

Cheers

Maureen

[Dave Smith]

G/Day Will
We in the west have been watching in between our bush fires and cyclone threat up north, when Anna Bligh had to take some time to go and rescue her mum and showed some emotion on the TV she went up in our estimation, just goes to show she is human hey.


Dave S.

[Leonie]

Hi everyone, just a quick note to let everyone know that I am still in the land of the living too. We were cut off by the water for 24 hours or so and without power from Tuesday night until last night, but not flooded thankfully. This block is long and narrow so we share a fence line with six neighbours four of whom were flooded, one up to the roof line, so we were very very lucky.

Lots to catch up on, see you all later.

[Maureen K Clifford]

Welcome back to the almost dry brown land Leonie - glad you got power back that makes a big difference

Cheers

Maureen

[Irene]

Great to hear from you Leonie!! Sounds like both of you were extremely lucky!!
Now the clean up begins - and how great is it to see the outpouring of help??

Catchya
IRene

[Neville Briggs]

Welcome back Leonie. Your neighbours flooded up to the roofline !! that amazing isn't it.



Neville

[Heather]

Pleased to hear you are ok Leonie. The clean up effort by volunteers looks amazing and warms the heart.

Heather