Troy? Noones? other Aussies?

On 2011-01-14 01:51:12 -0800, Troy Piggins said:

* Alan Browne wrote :
You guys have your heads and gear above water?

What's going on?

G'day Alan and everyone else! Thanks for your kind thoughts.
We've been without power for a couple of days. Just came on
again last night and only just got enough time to get my news
server up and running again.

As you've probably seen on the news, we've had a bit of water
here. I can't describe in words what it's been like. Bit
surreal and I'm sure you've seen image on the news.

We were extremely lucky here. The suburb I live in was one of
the worst hit - Auchenflower. The water stopped just 1.4 metres
from our home. That's a bit close for comfort. They were
predicting the water levels would get a bit higher, but
thankfully it was downgraded. Houses at each end of my street
were inundated though. So sad. Been out helping where we can.

My work's office was also extremely, I can't express, lucky.
Most of the TV coverage here has focused on Rosalie shops as they
went fully under. My work office is on the same street. Also
just on the other side of the train lines businesses went under.
I don't know how we managed to keep dry there too.

Also extremely lucky were my in-laws. They live right near the
river and water stopped pretty much at their property boundary.

Of course we have many friends that are out of house and home.
The emergency services and government response, and volunteers
etc have been awesome. So efficient and informative. THe media
has been helping transport some people separated from loved ones.
Everyone is just pulling together. We'll get through.

Not sure where Mark Thomas lived, so not sure how he is. Doug
lived out Wynnum way somewhere and I think that wasn't too bad.

That is some good news in the face of what the rest of your community
is going through. One can only hope the best for all suffering through
this.
I can only hope that you and your family continue with your good
fortune, and get by unscathed.


--
Regards,

Savageduck

On 2011-01-14 02:33:03 -0800, Troy Piggins said:

* Wilba wrote :
Troy Piggins wrote:
Alan Browne wrote :

You guys have your heads and gear above water?

What's going on?

G'day Alan and everyone else! Thanks for your kind thoughts.
...

Good to hear. Sounds like you and yours were very lucky.

Best wishes for the clean-up.

I'm fine thanks. :- ) (In WA, nowhere near the floods in the Gascoyne.)

Bizarre weather/nature at the moment, hey. Flash flooding
predicted down Victoria, also saw some in Brazil? Cyclones off
the east and west coasts.

Yup!
Almost 500 dead in Brazil. I have an old friend who works at a school,
and work center for kids from the favelas in the Teresopolis area, one
of the worst hit areas, up in the mountains near Rio. Their big problem
is the mud slides. The favelas are built on thos slopes with the town
center below, right in the path of the mud flow.

--
Regards,

Savageduck

On 2011-01-14 01:18:01 -0800, Bruce said:

Rich wrote:
Robert Coe wrote in
:
But all of us have seen serious flooding - or have relatives or
friends who have. So even if the flooded area is a relatively tiny
part of your country, we empathize with those who are suffering, and
hope that that suffering will end soon.

Ah, seems like only yesterday when the radical left envirokooks, global
warmers had declared that all of Australia was turning into a desert
because of droughts. Much like when a few years back they declared winters
a thing of the past for England...


Single extreme weather events give absolutely no indication of long
term climate trends ...

Correct, but Rich wouldn't know, or care about that as long as his
neighborhood stays dry, and the oil is there to heat his home in
Winter, and the AC works in the Summer.

--
Regards,

Savageduck

On 2011.01.13 4:07 , N wrote:
On 13/01/2011, Alan Browne wrote:
On 2011.01.12 14:55 , N wrote:
On 13/01/2011, Alan Browne wrote:
On 2011.01.12 9:12 , David J. Littleboy wrote:
"Alan Browne" wrote:

You guys have your heads and gear above water?

Not if they're in Queensland.

Duh.

Let them reply.

I'm in Sydney, so in Noones. Take a look at this and don't underestimate
the size of Australia.
http://www.google.com/crisisresponse...loods.html#map

What makes you think I underestimated it?

It wasn't aimed at you in particular, but I know a lot of people in
other countries have no perception of how large this country is.

We're fond of our Commonwealth cousins down under and not ignorant of
its geography.

--
gmail originated posts filtered due to spam.

On 2011.01.14 4:51 , Troy Piggins wrote:
* Alan Browne wrote :
You guys have your heads and gear above water?

What's going on?

G'day Alan and everyone else! Thanks for your kind thoughts.
We've been without power for a couple of days. Just came on
again last night and only just got enough time to get my news
server up and running again.

As you've probably seen on the news, we've had a bit of water
here. I can't describe in words what it's been like. Bit
surreal and I'm sure you've seen image on the news.

We were extremely lucky here. The suburb I live in was one of
the worst hit - Auchenflower. The water stopped just 1.4 metres
from our home. That's a bit close for comfort. They were
predicting the water levels would get a bit higher, but
thankfully it was downgraded. Houses at each end of my street
were inundated though. So sad. Been out helping where we can.

My work's office was also extremely, I can't express, lucky.
Most of the TV coverage here has focused on Rosalie shops as they
went fully under. My work office is on the same street. Also
just on the other side of the train lines businesses went under.
I don't know how we managed to keep dry there too.

Also extremely lucky were my in-laws. They live right near the
river and water stopped pretty much at their property boundary.

Of course we have many friends that are out of house and home.
The emergency services and government response, and volunteers
etc have been awesome. So efficient and informative. THe media
has been helping transport some people separated from loved ones.
Everyone is just pulling together. We'll get through.

Not sure where Mark Thomas lived, so not sure how he is. Doug
lived out Wynnum way somewhere and I think that wasn't too bad.

Great to hear from you Troy - and of your good luck. I read recently
that the rainfall in Aussie land is due to a sudden change from El Niño
to La Niña at a rate faster than usual. I'm sure knowing that makes it
easier to bear!

Your travails remind me of our ice storm 13 years ago that wiped out
major transmission lines for many here for days (while the temperature
plunged to -20°C in the heat of day and colder at night). Some towns
had no power for 6 weeks. I was lucky (4 hours). (One enterprising
town derailed a diesel locomotive with the help of CN and brought it
into town, hooked it up to a couple transformers and managed to get the
middle of the town on power).

Hang in there - and do snap a photo or two if you can!

Cheers,
Alan



--
gmail originated posts filtered due to spam.

On Thu, 13 Jan 2011 19:03:17 -0800, Savageduck
wrote:

On 2011-01-13 18:20:30 -0800, Robert Coe said:

On Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:07:36 +1100, N wrote:
: On 13/01/2011, Alan Browne wrote:
: On 2011.01.12 14:55 , N wrote:
: On 13/01/2011, Alan Browne wrote:
: On 2011.01.12 9:12 , David J. Littleboy wrote:
: "Alan Browne" wrote:
:
: You guys have your heads and gear above water?
:
: Not if they're in Queensland.
:
: Duh.
:
: Let them reply.
:
: I'm in Sydney, so in Noones. Take a look at this and don't underestimate
: the size of Australia.
: http://www.google.com/crisisresponse...loods.html#map
:
: What makes you think I underestimated it?
:
: It wasn't aimed at you in particular, but I know a lot of people in
: other countries have no perception of how large this country is. A
: friend had a visitor from somewhere else who wanted to see Melbourne,
: Sydney and the Barrier Reef in a week - BY CAR!

It's a hard perception to maintain. Every American school child who pays
attention in geography class knows that the U.S. could comfortably fit within
the borders of Australia, with a good bit of Europe left over. But since a lot
of Australia is portrayed (to us, at least) as empty space, we tend not to
grasp the implications. Few of us will ever actually tour Australia by car
(damn good thing too, since sooner or later we'd forget to drive on the left),
so the vastness of your country is largely hypothetical. Frankly, I thought
Brisbane was much farther around to the north than it is. And only in the last
day or two did it dawn on me that the Great Barrier Reef probably makes it
impractical to have large cities on your north coast. But all of us have seen
serious flooding - or have relatives or friends who have. So even if the
flooded area is a relatively tiny part of your country, we empathize with
those who are suffering, and hope that that suffering will end soon.

Bob

Here is a little perspective.
The area affected by the floods is described as "large as Germany and
France combined". That is some 347,875 square miles. Texas is 268,581
Sq.Miles.
That is a massive flooded area even if it has been exaggerated.


A lot of flooding. It's been horrifying to watch from the U.S. I can
only imagine how bad it is in person.

: On 13/01/2011, Alan Browne wrote:
: On 2011.01.12 14:55 , N wrote:
: On 13/01/2011, Alan Browne wrote:
: On 2011.01.12 9:12 , David J. Littleboy wrote:
: "Alan Browne" wrote:
:
: You guys have your heads and gear above water?
:
: Not if they're in Queensland.
:
: Duh.
:
: Let them reply.
:
: I'm in Sydney, so in Noones. Take a look at this and don't underestimate
: the size of Australia.
: http://www.google.com/crisisresponse...loods.html#map
:
: What makes you think I underestimated it?
:
: It wasn't aimed at you in particular, but I know a lot of people in
: other countries have no perception of how large this country is. A
: friend had a visitor from somewhere else who wanted to see Melbourne,
: Sydney and the Barrier Reef in a week - BY CAR!

It's a hard perception to maintain. Every American school child who pays
attention in geography class knows that the U.S. could comfortably fit within
the borders of Australia, with a good bit of Europe left over. But since a lot
of Australia is portrayed (to us, at least) as empty space, we tend not to
grasp the implications. Few of us will ever actually tour Australia by car
(damn good thing too, since sooner or later we'd forget to drive on the left),
so the vastness of your country is largely hypothetical. Frankly, I thought
Brisbane was much farther around to the north than it is. And only in the last
day or two did it dawn on me that the Great Barrier Reef probably makes it
impractical to have large cities on your north coast. But all of us have seen
serious flooding - or have relatives or friends who have. So even if the
flooded area is a relatively tiny part of your country, we empathize with
those who are suffering, and hope that that suffering will end soon.


That must be the U.S. exclusive of Alaska. According to Wikipedia
(yes, I know), the U.S. is the fourth largest nation in the world
(9,629,091 sq. km.), and Australia is 6th (7,692,024 sq. km.)

On Fri, 14 Jan 2011 14:08:07 -0500, rwalker wrote:
: : On 13/01/2011, Alan Browne wrote:
: : On 2011.01.12 14:55 , N wrote:
: : On 13/01/2011, Alan Browne wrote:
: : On 2011.01.12 9:12 , David J. Littleboy wrote:
: : "Alan Browne" wrote:
: :
: : You guys have your heads and gear above water?
: :
: : Not if they're in Queensland.
: :
: : Duh.
: :
: : Let them reply.
: :
: : I'm in Sydney, so in Noones. Take a look at this and don't underestimate
: : the size of Australia.
: : http://www.google.com/crisisresponse...loods.html#map
: :
: : What makes you think I underestimated it?
: :
: : It wasn't aimed at you in particular, but I know a lot of people in
: : other countries have no perception of how large this country is. A
: : friend had a visitor from somewhere else who wanted to see Melbourne,
: : Sydney and the Barrier Reef in a week - BY CAR!
:
: It's a hard perception to maintain. Every American school child who pays
: attention in geography class knows that the U.S. could comfortably fit within
: the borders of Australia, with a good bit of Europe left over. But since a lot
: of Australia is portrayed (to us, at least) as empty space, we tend not to
: grasp the implications. Few of us will ever actually tour Australia by car
: (damn good thing too, since sooner or later we'd forget to drive on the left),
: so the vastness of your country is largely hypothetical. Frankly, I thought
: Brisbane was much farther around to the north than it is. And only in the last
: day or two did it dawn on me that the Great Barrier Reef probably makes it
: impractical to have large cities on your north coast. But all of us have seen
: serious flooding - or have relatives or friends who have. So even if the
: flooded area is a relatively tiny part of your country, we empathize with
: those who are suffering, and hope that that suffering will end soon.
:
:
: That must be the U.S. exclusive of Alaska. According to Wikipedia
: (yes, I know), the U.S. is the fourth largest nation in the world
: (9,629,091 sq. km.), and Australia is 6th (7,692,024 sq. km.)

I'm sure you're right. When I was in school, Alaska and Hawai`i hadn't yet
been elevated to the rank of states. And we weren't (indeed, still aren't)
encouraged to think of our territories and possessions as being part of the
"United States".

Bob

On Fri, 14 Jan 2011 20:33:03 +1000, Troy Piggins
wrote:
: * Wilba wrote :
: Troy Piggins wrote:
: Alan Browne wrote :
:
: You guys have your heads and gear above water?
:
: What's going on?
:
: G'day Alan and everyone else! Thanks for your kind thoughts.
: ...
:
: Good to hear. Sounds like you and yours were very lucky.
:
: Best wishes for the clean-up.
:
: I'm fine thanks. :- ) (In WA, nowhere near the floods in the Gascoyne.)
:
: Bizarre weather/nature at the moment, hey. Flash flooding
: predicted down Victoria, also saw some in Brazil?

Horrible flooding in Brazil, with shantytowns being washed off of hillsides
and buried in a sea of mud. Also in Bangla Desh, with nearly half the country
underwater by some accounts.

Bob

Troy Piggins wrote:
Wilba wrote :
Troy Piggins wrote:
Alan Browne wrote :

You guys have your heads and gear above water?

What's going on?

G'day Alan and everyone else! Thanks for your kind thoughts.
...

Good to hear. Sounds like you and yours were very lucky.

Best wishes for the clean-up.

I'm fine thanks. :- ) (In WA, nowhere near the floods in the Gascoyne.)

Bizarre weather/nature at the moment, hey. Flash flooding
predicted down Victoria, also saw some in Brazil? Cyclones off
the east and west coasts.

Yeah, we've had a funny overcast windy summer so far (on the South coast).