A resident caught up in the Queensland floods has described the flash flood that hit Toowoomba as "biblical".It was at 500m wide torrent and travelling at least 80 or 90 miles an hour, tossing cars and other man-made objects about like matchsticks.
Some of these cars still had people in them which shows the frailty of human life and how powerless we really are against the fundamental forces of nature.
Flooding is a common occurrence in Queensland and its more benign for is known as "The Big Wet" . It is looked forward to by farmers as a welcome respite from the drought conditions that blight much of inland Australia.
This week's event though is something else and makes the seasonal flooding of Singapore looks like a child's paddling pool compared to the ocean. The flooding of the basement levels of Lucky Plaza in Orchard Road is nothing compared to whole suburbs of Australias third largest city being submerged.
The flood has just peaked in Brisbane; a city which is well known to Kiwis as many of us either live in Queensland, visit regularly, or retire there.
Flooding is not uncommon in New Zealand but never on this scale. We regard the Aussies as kin (even though we may say otherwise on the sporting field) so we are all deeply concerned about the fate of the thousands of Queenslanders affected by these floods.
Watch live streaming video from brisbanefloods at livestream.com
The other thing to remember is that once the floods dissipate, the state then faces a massive task of cleaning up. I do not know the situation with the state museum and also the library on the South Bank of the Brisbane river but their plight must be dire.
Parks, roads and suburbs which are currently one big lake will become firstly a mud bath and then a dust bowl once the Queensland sun starts to dry things out.
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