I was four or five years old when Brisbane encountered its last major flood disaster in 1974. I have vague memories — so vague I don’t know for sure if they are real or imagined — of looking out the front window of the house we lived in at the time and seeing the water pooled in our front yard.
Obviously the memories this time around will be clearer. In case you’re wondering, my family and I are out of reach of the flood waters but, like many, we know folks who are directly affected. On the work front, one of our customers has lost access to both their Production *and* DR data centers, and I’m involved in getting them back in action.
I was in the CBD yesterday as the water started to rise. Shops were closed, and normally traffic-choked streets were almost empty, adding to the nervous tension that was building even then, some 24 hours ago. On the bus crossing the Brisbane River via the Victoria Bridge (in fact, if bridges were named so it would be Victoria Bridge the Third, because at least one but I’m pretty sure two previous bridges also called Victoria and in the same spot have been washed away in previous floods) I could see the river having broken its banks at the Queensland Museum and Southbank precincts. Today, as the first of the tidal peaks hits, streets in the CBD are starting to go under — and there’s another metre of water coming with the next peak, due tomorrow morning.
The heavy rain of the last month-or-so that has exacerbated this drama has eased today, but as I type this a sun shower has just started to fall. I guess Mother Nature wants to remind us that she’s still in charge…
Crossed Wires 