Flood update

I just thought I'd let you all know that we are safe and dry during these devastating and incredibly unbelievable floods here in Queensland, Australia.

I left work early on Tuesday morning and have not returned since. The main motorway, Centenary Highway, on which we travel to work is completely flooded. 

This is a 4 lane motorway - the major motorway into the city leaving thousands of people in the western suburbs stranded. 

You can see the set of street lights that shine over the four lanes of traffic... but where is the road?

We only drove over this bridge on Tuesday on the way home saying there is no way that this bridge would go under as it sits around 20 or 30 feet above the river. 

This gives you an idea as to how high the bridge sits above the river itself.

This is what the Centenary Highway and the bridge normally look like...

This is the same bridge less than 24 hours after we drove across it on the way home on Tuesday morning...

You can see the section of road that leads down to the bridge in both photos...now it's just one big river.

Now there is no sign of the bridge...

The city itself is a disaster zone so we have no reason for getting into the city other than to go to work.

My only other option of getting to work is by train. 

You can see the park I walk through daily from the train station at the bottom of the hill.
The walk from the station to my work is about 5 minutes ...thankfully the hospital I work in is at the top of another hill.

When I walked through this area on Tuesday morning the backyard of the white house on the corner had water in it which was about a foot deep. This shot was taken on Wednesday morning!

Keep in mind that it has not rained here much since Tuesday evening so most of this water has flowed in from the Brisbane River, not from a sudden down pour of rain.

 I am still finding it hard to believe that this is all happening. Even though Brisbane experienced a flood back in 1974, which I obviously did not experience, to see a city of this size flooded in this way is just ...well I can't even fathom it. 

You normally see this kind of flooding in smaller country towns where creeks or rivers have burst...not capital cities!

So far the death toll is sitting at 12 with this expected to rise as emergency services are able to access areas as the water clears.

My thoughts goes out to all those people who have lost loved ones, lost their homes or at threat of losing their home.

Thank you to all my wonderful blogging friends from around the world who have showed their concern here and who have also contacted me via Facebook.

♥