ireland

Just a quick message hoping that all the S.E. Queenslanders are safe, thinking of you all.xx

DadAgain

This whole lack of power thing is getting old.

Lost power at 2:15pm on Sunday so I headed out to party at a friends house (weather didnt seem too bad - a bit of rain but nothing unmanageable). Turns out the friend also had no power, and being on a acreage had no water either - Still a good time was had by all. By middle of sunday evening my phone battery had died so I was totally isolated.

Yesterday we got up - again all powerless and with everyone at the part with dead mobile phones. Headed home (and had to take several attempts due to road closures) - to find still no power. We at least had water - but none of it hot... so cold showers were the go. At home I took the opportunity to charge phones from a laptop (and soon ran out of laptop battery).

Awoke today with still no power - so it looks like a big BBQ tonight. (There's 2kg of eye fillet steaks in the freezer). Nice to get in to work with air con and enough power to recharge computers, phones etc and get a glimpse of the outside world via the magic of the internet.

Seems Energex is reporting there are still 155,000 homes without power in SEQ. No idea when power might be restored in our area, it could be today, or it could be tomorrow... or could be later.....

Pollyana

Not particularly defending Energex, but having been privy to some high level disaster management discussions this week I have to say that they have every available crew working flat out. A lot of powerlines which came down in the wind are still under fast flowing water - its unsafe to even start dealing with those till the waters drop. Other lines run through currently inaccessible areas - trees down, landslides, collapsed roads - a lot of the damage to roads etc hasn't even been viewed yet, never mind having a clear-up started, so crews are finding access hard or impossible. Huge areas of the State are submerged, with impassable roads- which means crews can't travel easily from place to place.

Like I said, not making excuses or defending them, but just trying to explain a bit - even those of us who work in disasters are finding it hard to comprehend the huge scale of the damage.

jothefw

Chinchilla is currently in flood, river levels rising, buildings under water, road closed through to Miles from Brisbane.

Madness but we're all safe, better than many others in Queensland currently so for that we're thankful!

On Saturday (before we knew it was going to be a flood!!) My darling husband surprised me with two nights away, in a rainforest retreat, so off we headed and then we didn't think we were going to be able to leave yesterday but I waded through the creek crossings in front of the car, it wasn't too deep but couldn't see what was under the water in way of potholes etc

Anyway - OH is now out helping evacuate more businesses with us all hoping it's not as bad as 2011!

lesleys

Ah the joys of generator power! It's just like 1987 in Kent, only warmer.

Still no mains power, land line is back, so we have ADSL.

We had over 600mm over 3 days, then a bit. Few trees and lots of branches down, we had to chainsaw our way up our road. Creeks turned into raging torrents, a chunky landslip, temporary ornamental lake - and that's just the back garden.

Pollyana

Thought of you today, we were trying to sort out a way out for some families stuck up on Tamborine - landslide one side of the houses, road collapsed on the other

Alfresco

lesleys

We're back with power today. We were lucky to get off so lightly.

Pollyana

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING - SOUTHEAST QUEENSLAND
for DAMAGING WIND and LARGE HAILSTONES

For people in the LOCKYER VALLEY, LOGAN CITY, IPSWICH CITY, SCENIC RIM and parts of the BRISBANE CITY, MORETON BAY, SOUTHERN DOWNS, SOMERSET and TOOWOOMBA Council Areas.

Issued at 9:13 pm Friday, 1 February 2013.

The Bureau of Meteorology warns that, at 9:10 pm, severe thunderstorms were detected on weather radar near Toowoomba, the area south of Toowoomba, Moogerah Dam, Aratula, Rosevale, Helidon and Moogerah. These thunderstorms are moving towards the east to southeast. They are forecast to affect Boonah, Laidley, Gatton, Maroon Dam, Mulgowie and Grandchester by 9:40 pm and Ipswich, the area between Boonah and Beaudesert, the area south of Esk, Lowood, Fernvale and southern Lake Wivenhoe by 10:10 pm.

Damaging winds and large hailstones are likely.