Brisbane--A City Inundated
Watching Australian TV you might be forgiven for thinking you're in the middle of an apocalyptic Hollywood movie going crazy with the CGI. From the gunmetal gray skies to the torrential rains and powerful floodwater tossing cars around as if they were Hot wheels toys you can't but feel a tremor run down your spine.
The first impression that washes over you is that it can't be happening. This is a nation on the driest continent brought up on water reservation measures. So you can imagine the horror when that precious commodity you've been taught to save lashes out in a fury that has to be seen to be believed.
In Brisbane, whole suburbs are poised to go under the floodwaters. The Brisbane River had earlier burst its banks and caused the first wave of destruction. Now it is the turn of the Bremer River where waves of water have completely submerged the town of Ipswich. The inner suburbs of Fairfield and Chelmer have been inundated with most homes being flooded. You can barely see the tip of traffic signals peering valiantly over the flood waters. Evacuation centres have been set up and the State Emergency Service have their hands full with sandbagging and rescuing the stranded.
Looters have raised their ugly heads in various parts of the submerged city prompting the enraged Mayor Paul Pisasale to declare, "If I find anybody looting in our city they will be used as flood markers."Flood waters continue to rise in the Brisbane CBD even as I write. The towns of Oxley and Milton have disappeared beneath the flood. The Wivenhoe Dam that was holding back the flooded river is now way past its capacity. With more rains predicted there is a mass exodus leading to ghost towns and an eerily empty capital city.
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