It is with great horror that I watched on the news the destruction of my home town, Toowoomba. A flash flood like nothing seen before in the Town's history claimed the lives of a number of people in an instant. Tales of courage and heroism, of destruction and despair have rocked the community, and it was just the beginning. The torrent which shattered Toowoomba, then poured off the mountain, which is 2700 feet above sea level. The speed that it built up, and the amount of water hit the Lockyer Valley, it was an inland tsunami with a wall of death 7 meters high. It wiped the town of Grantham off the map, and destroyed farm houses and families in an instant. One of the bodies found was 80km away from where they drowned.
Those flood waters added to the rising levels of the Brisbane River resulting in the city being inundated. But the flooding has been going on for weeks, in Rockhampton, Chinchilla, Dalby, Gympie and numerous others.
My family, and my wifes family all live in these towns, and we have been lucky, they are all safe. But many others were not, and the destructive floods have affected hundreds of thousands, and they're now hitting New South Wales, Victoria and even Tasmania.
I'm not writing about my filmic efforts for a bit, but I urge anyone who reads this to donate to the Premier's Flood Appeal
www.qld.gov.au/floods
Australia needs help in this time of need.
The Brisbane River has lowered and thousands of volunteers have turned out to help clean up, and it is still going on and will continue for months if not years right across Queensland. If you can donate or volunteer, do so, because that's what Australia is about. Helping your mates and neighbours in a time of need.
It's the Aussie way.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
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