I have never been part of a natural disaster. I've always seen them on TV and thought "wow, that would be terrible" and move on with life.
This week, I have experienced a flood that has destroyed thousands of homes and businesses just down the street from me in Brisbane, Queensland. Officials have said that this is the biggest clean up since WWII. Our house was fortunate to not be affected directly with flood water but we have been affected by decreased resources, such as water, food, and the means to go to work. I was able to go to the Brisbane River to see some of the damage to the riverside...here are some pictures.
This is along the Brisbane river, I work on the other side near those tall buildings. I was unable to go to work for 2 days because they turned the power off to everything.
The lines you see sticking out of the water are hand rails for side walks that go along the river. I would go running here twice a week with a group of girls. This picture is after the peak of the flood and the water is still 4-5 feet tall.
Here are the steps that go down to the sidewalk.
Here is a dock for ferries that travel across the river. The blue sign used to be standing up. This river must of been flowing pretty viciously to knock that sign over!
This is a traffic light near our house. Heath's football club is just down the street...under water.
And in the midst of all the chaos, we welcomed a new baby niece to the world, Lacey! She was born 1/11/11. A drive that would normally take us 20 minutes took us almost an hour to get to the hospital. There were so many flooded streets there. My sister-in-law just barely made it to the hospital before they closed the roads for flooding.
I am so grateful for this gospel and living prophets that teaching us about being prepared. Over the last couple weeks, I have researched food storage and 72 hours kits and how to get started, but I was not prepared for this to happen. We experienced power outages in our neighborhood, risk of water contamination, and stores running out of food! Can you imagine going to the grocery store and seeing no food on the shelves?
As for the title of this post...the clean up for this disaster has been AMAZING! They are turning away volunteers because there is so many! I cannot believe how Australians from all over the state have gone to devastated towns to help clean up. A lot of people have provided free BBQs, shelter, and a shoulder to lean on in these hard times. It is so incredible to see these people put their hands up and help one another out. The "Australian spirit" is very much like the common saying here "no worries, mate"; they put a helping hand out to everyone. It has been so touching to see this in action.
The biggest lesson I have learned is this: Listen to a prophet. They constantly preach to us about being prepared in the last days, and this is one of those things that I wasn't prepared for. I don't think anyone expects something like this to happen to them.
Please keeps the Queenslanders in your prayers!
In the last two years, I moved to Australia, married my lovely husband, had my best friend visit, hook her up with Heath's best friend, and then they get married!! Its pretty crazy how it all happened but I am sooo happy that Courtney lives in Australia with me! Whenever we're together, we can remember the good ol' days, make fun of Australians, make mexican food together, and listen to rap music! I don't know what I would do without her here! Its also convenient that our husbands are best friends so we are able to spend a lot of time together.
