Welcome Back Suzy

[astroron (Ron)]

Suzy and Back I hope you get the place sorted out real soon
We have missed you

Cheers

[supernova1965 (Warren)]

Hope you don't have too many problems from the flood I have been there so know exactly what it can be like

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

We've miss you Suzy and have been very worried about your situation.
Hope to catch up with you in chat soon.

[Suzy]

Hi All,

I see there were a couple of threads put up by Ron and Warren; many thanks for your concerns and to those that posted on those threads.

We are currently borrowing power from next door who were lucky enough to get their power on last night- up until then, our cousin dropped us a generator, which we have been using at limited times as it is so noisy. On Tuesday, I had to leave in a hurry as the water was getting too close, the roads were getting closed off and then the final straw was when the power went out. Tuesday night up until Friday night saw me staying at two different places with my daughter and two cats. We are in a flood prone area which got hit in '74. It has been a horribly stressful time, with very little sleep. We completely took apart our house downstairs and took as much as we could up to the third level, with many sacrificial items left (incl. my beloved large fish tank which I did not stop worrying over my fish) for lack of room on the third level, as we may have needed to empty second level into it too. Russ stayed back (he has a boat) along with our next door neighbour who has a boat too. He waited to see if we needed to dismantle second level as well (to third level -we have split level home).

Upon the second peak, saw the flood waters travel to the bottom of our street, to the left of us (one street away) and in front of us. The one to the left was even more of a worry as that was coming through faster. If it had kept raining the day of the last peak (Thurs), my house would have gone under – one more metre of water is all that it was going to take to flood my house. The houses three streets away from me got flooded to their roofs. The traffic light about 200 metres away flooded up to the black section where lights are- (seriously deep! Piccy of it in attached link). Russ sent me a photo of that scene on my phone and I naturally freaked out! We were very blessed, I prayed some mighty prayers for Russ’s safety and our house- the flood stopped 8 houses short! Turns out that we were one of the worst places hit.

Making the trek over from the Southside to the Northside (Wed- before the big peak) the night when I had to leave was strange! Passing through the heart of the city, it was weird to see the city being flooded! Lots of people carrying luggage, obviously fleeing to safer ground. And then, you see people casually drinking coffee in the restaurants that line the street as if nothing was going on (but I'm sure they held concerns), was just weird seeing the different scenarios.

I Didn't come back home till very late friday night from the northside of Brisbane (tired from lack of sleep and stress), once a road was open and the water receded. I spent Saturday making sense of the mess in my house - it looked like we'd just moved in. It was hard being so far away from home, with Russ left behind, and the constant worry of how he and everything is. He is classic caveman and very resourceful, but still some worry there never the less. But we are the fortunate ones. We only have the inconvenience of a mess, not a flooded, muddied house. And even worse, those poor families that lost loved ones - (24 killed so far). Around here, It smells, the air is filled with irritating dust (I’ve had a sore irritated throat for days), debris like you wouldn't believe, people working hard at cleaning up, police everywhere, and the choppers constantly going over all day/night (not so much night any more). A lot of acivity, kind of feels like a war zone. I felt deep sadness when I took a look around my neighbourhood and with a heavy heart, I thanked God that our small area was spared.

It has been eight days now and we still have no power! Apparently the power station in our area is currently being moved elsewhere as it was so badly damanged. The house is still in turmoil as we decided to renovate downstairs whilst it was all empty, adding to that no power still, has left me in what seems a permanent mad mood.

I’d also just like to add, the fantastic service that Centrelink is providing for flood victims (for people that have lost power for over 48hrs). Our generator blew up and we had to pay $1000 to buy another one, so we hoped Centrelink would cover this with their flood relief payments. When I rang (I expected a lengthy wait) I was surprised to have only been on hold for a few minutes. I lodged a claim and within two hours, someone rang me and told me we were approved and the money would be in our account overnight. What surprised me is that I’m not registered for Centrelink benefits, only in the past when my daughter was under 16.

This is a pic about 200m from my house.


This is a pic from the bottom of my street (my house is a lucky 8 houses away from the flood).


Kind regards,
Suzy.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Thanks for sharing with us Suzy. It's been a rough time for you.

[astroron (Ron)]

Suzy my heartfelt wishes go out to you and your family I hope you are back to your normally happy self soon
It is good to see the flood spared you
Please keep your spirits up
Cheers

[erick (Eric)]

Thanks for the update Suzy. Difficult times.

[M54 (Molly)]

Hope things get back on track real soon Suzy. It's been unbelievable what has happened.
My sister lives in Sunnybank, and thankfully has been spared.

Hope your renovations make you feel better too.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Thanks Suzy for letting us know you are ok.
Go get some proper sleep now

[gary]

Hi Suzy,

Thanks for taking the time to post and I know everyone here on IceInSpace was
relieved to hear that you and your family were safe.

Nevertheless, I appreciate the stress and anxiety you would have been experiencing
and there will unfortunately be a bit more of that to go through as you get your
lives back in order. It will take some time. However, I hope that some comfort may
be provided with the thought that not only is the whole country behind you,
but based on the numerous emails I get everyday, people from all over the world
have wanted to pass on their concerns and well wishes to those who have been affected.
Such is the bond of the global community of astronomy enthusiasts to which we belong.

Good luck with it all.

Best Regards

Gary

[ngcles]

Hi Suzy,

Very glad to hear you and the family are okay and I hope you are over all the problems the flood has brought, very soon.


Best,

Les D

[marki]

Good to hear you are safe and well Suzy. Folks were getting pretty worried around here.


Mark

[cybereye (Mario)]

Suzy,

We were very, very worried about you here at IIS and I'm very glad to hear you're OK. I know the area that you live in very well as I used to live just up the road at Moorooka, now live just up the hill at Robertson, and I travel down the road of your picture every day to get to work. I also spend a good deal of time at Bunnings each weekend getting bits and pieces to do/make/fix stuff around the house!

The first time I drove down that road after the floods it amazed me just how high the water had gone up the trees in the Bunnings' car park. It looked about 6 feet and I just couldn't fathom (pardon the nautical pun, and yes I know that 1 fathom is six feet!) how the water could have gotten so high. Truly, truly amazing. I see this morning that the Bunnings' car park is full of skip after skip after skip. I can't imagine how much stuff they have to get rid off!!

Suzy, the area that you live in did get hit very hard so it's good to know that you are safe and were fortunate enough to avoid flood damage. Take care and lets hope for clear skies in Brisbane very, very soon.

Mario

[CraigS]

Suzy;

Glad to hear you escaped the worst of it.

It might be a lot of work, but at least its only moving things around.

The power situation would be frustrating - just have to sit that one out, I guess.

My thoughts are with you and I'm happy to think you survived !!

Cheers

[shelltree (Shelley)]

Oh Suzy, I am so very glad to hear that you and Russ are okay, it has been quite the rough week for you Thank goodness your house was spared, that is really great news! I hope things start to go a lot more smoothly for you from here on out

[M110 (Andrew)]

Hi Suzy,

Glad to hear that you and yours are safe.
I was just going put up new post about another crappy night of clouds. I read your post and thought I should just stop complaining about cloud when just all of the eastern seaboard have so badly been affected by the flooding. Northern Tassie copped it and we had was few days of drizzle.
So here's me shutting up and being grateful........................... ........................

[RobF (Rob)]

So glad to hear you and family are safe and sound Suzy. Power was out almost 5 days here and was driving us barmy, so can understand your frustration. We still have army and SES in our suburb with blocked streets every day. Hope yours is back to normal in weeks not months.

[Jen]

Welcome back Suzy im so glad your house is ok, scary stuff isnt it Swan Hill is just about to be hit with major floods by the weekend we are now on 24hour flood watch alert There is so much water coming this way its crazy
We going to sandbag the house tomorrow just to be on the safe side, we have a channel running across the back of our property that we will be keeping an eye on (fingers crossed)

[astroron (Ron)]

Originally Posted by Jen

Welcome back Suzy im so glad your house is ok, scary stuff isnt it Swan Hill is just about to be hit with major floods by the weekend we are now on 24hour flood watch alert There is so much water coming this way its crazy
We going to sandbag the house tomorrow just to be on the safe side, we have a channel running across the back of our property that we will be keeping an eye on (fingers crossed)

Fingers and toes crossed for you Jen
I will be thinking of you as the weekend goes by
Cheers

[Paddy (Patrick)]

Glad to have you back, Suzy and that you're OK. As well as being scary it sounds quite surreal.

All the best, Jen. I've been wondering how you're placed. We saw a lot of water go past us down the Loddon here near Newstead - I've got my fingers crossed for you. I think it's a good sign for you that things seemed to have gone OK at Kerang.