Wol

I doubt it.

Quite apart from the damage and the mess, electricity will be out for many for some time. Without it, you can't do many clean-up jobs anyway.

Kim67

Driving through my suburb and the adjoining ones this morning and last night, there are suburbs that have partial electricity. One set of lights will be out and then the next will be on and then the next off.

As I said, I lot of the city offices and flooded business will just move their offices elsewhere (like the ones setting up new ones today). Rocklea's industrial area will probably be the major business rebuild. But for most of us with homes and work unaffected by the flood, and people coming into the state, things should be back to normal in a week or so.

Steve2009

Have you examples of this? I'm due back in the CBD at 8:30am on Monday all things going well. I've no doubt some buildings will be completely out of action though.

Trevski

Rents will go up as the availability of rentals goes down as now the floods have made so many homes un livable and the amount of trades people that are coming into the area it will make rents very scarce,that will make prices go up.We have been told by some friends that their house has been water logged and their insurance has told them to go find a rental and secure it and the insurance will pay for upto six months so if you say 2500 families have lost their homes and they all need a place to live that will soon take all the available rentals around affected areas.I was also talking to a car trader at the car auctions on tuesday and he has told me that second hand cars will go up in price as the amount on the market goes down,he has been told by councils / police etc that any spare cars that these departments can lay their hands on are to be shipped up to rockhampton and surrounding areas as they are to be loaned etc to people/ companies until they can get new ones sorted.Brisbane and QLD are in for a few tough months and lets all watch the cost of living go UP,as the price of foods goes upwards.

DeadVim

Not just a case of flicking a switch either, it'll all have to be inspected ... not the time for "She'll be right" ...

Steve2009

Let's not get ahead of ourselves on the unbridled rent rises. Many in Brisbane, myself included, are not insured for flood events. Yes, there will be some increased pressure on the rental stock but nobody knows how strong that effect will be. There are other outlets for the new demand such as staying with family and friends. The effects on the previously flagging real estate sector will be interesting but there are no guarantees. People were struggling before this and this is not going to be a magic bullet for the QLD economy, quite the opposite..

ABCDiamond

Energex are talking about moving their big portable generators into the CBD as soon as they are able to. They also said that it is highly unlikely that power will be back for most of the CBD before the weekend.

It will take time to check and repair the fixed systems, hence the need to bring in the portable ones.

DownUnderPaddy

Ya reckon the mayor is just out there talking bollox then ?
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news...113-19pgi.html

fish.01

When low lying parts of the suburbs near the river were flooding yesterday I drove a few suburbs away from the river to get some sandbags and life was carrying on almost as normal. It was a sunny day (I got sunburnt). Apart from everyone's obvious worry a lot were driving around like normal going to the shops or whatever. All these suburbs were totally untouched.

As others have said it ranges from the devastation of some people who live in traditional low lying flood areas near the Brisbane river whose house is flooded to the roof line to just a sense of sadness for the rest of the city. Some near the river did not get their irreplaceable valuables out in time through being away, miscalculation, age or whatever. I was in houses stripping family photos off the walls and inside desk drawers yesterday as the water was already flooding them so unfortunately I imagine quite a few would have lost a lot.

In 1974 a big percentage of Brisbane was affected because most suburbs were not that far from a riverside suburb that was flooded - but now that brisbane stretches so far outside the brisbane city council area many feel totally dislocated from the flooding in a physical sense - even though everyone is concerned about those affected. I think when people eventually get to travel to the centre/inner brisbane and see their favourite places smashed it will hit home more.

I think the worst affected might be those in the suburbs that traditionally flood very badly like Rocklea, Inala, parts of Ipswich, Yeronga etc

I think most Brisbanites feel the horror of what happened in the Lockyer Valley overshadows everything.

Kim67

My mate couldn't go out with his wife to Dalby this morning as he's head of IT for a large organisation and he's setting up offices for them in the suburbs today.

fish.01

Browns Plains by any chance?

Kim67

No I think Stones Corner.

Steve2009

Yeah, I suppose a lot of organisations will be putting their DR processes into action. IBM et al will be tested. Brisbane Square effected?

ABCDiamond

On that basis, they actually hadn't even 100% finished the clear up after the 1974 floods, but it was virtually done.

fish.01

I'd say you will find it fairly normal by then...you might just wonder why the city has so many broken tourist attractions

Of course if you go into the affected riverside suburbs the damage would still be obvious. But even today you could work and live in the suburbs and see no evidence of the disaster at all day to day.

I was just chatting to my parents and they said there was lots of work for tradies after the 74 floods and that the CBD seemed fairly normal not that long after - though of course you would find evidence of damage if you looked.

My father said many just moved back into their homes after a clean out and lived in them while waiting to get them painted again.

He also made the point that a lot of the homes back in 74 had fibro walls that were just repainted even sometimes when the whole house went under. And the Queenslander houses with wooden internal walls could just be hosed out. But now many infill newer homes (and some queenslander extensions) have gyprock which will makes things a lot messier.