Queensland, Australia is experiencing one of its darkest hours. Gripped by the worst floods in the country’s recorded history, Australia is fighting for survival. Major search and rescue operations are underway searching for dozens of missing people, mainly young children. The flooding began Christmas Eve, 2010.  After weeks of pounding rain, many towns are reduced to sodden ruins. Late on 10 January 2011, the city of Towoomba was unexpectedly hit with an eight meter inland instant tsunami that went straight down the Lockyer Valley. The tsunami caused catastrophic damage and loss of life.

People on Rooftops, Fish on Highways and Snakes in Homes

Once beautiful and tranquil, the Lockyer Valley now resembles a war zone. Live fish were photographed on highways, more than 60 kilometers from lakes and streams. Areas underneath bridges have been photographed jammed tight with cars, dead horses, cattle, furniture, tractors and so on. Houses literally lifted off their foundations and floated away. Cars and trucks were picked up and rolled like dice. Snakes began filling people’s houses, searching out any dry area at all. People that had survived the raging floods were now being driven into raging water to escape poisonous snakes who were claiming their houses. (Australia is home to five of the world’s most poisonous snakes.)

The raging muddy waters continued down through the state of Queensland, submerging the big city of Ipswich, then culminating in the capital city Brisbane. When it seemed impossible for things to get worse, the television stations reported bull sharks were swimming in the main street of Goodna, just outside Ipswich.  Bull sharks are the most aggressive of all sharks and are common in some areas of the Brisbane River, but never in the main street of a city! Currently 16 people are dead, over 60 people are still missing and presumed dead, tens of thousands of homes are ruined, 120,000 homes are without power. Bodies are being found over 80 kilometers from where they were taken by the water.

Graphic footage of families clinging to rooftops with their pets under their arms is painful to view. Parents have been filmed tying “floaties” to their small children and floating them up to the rooftops, where they then tie their children to the crest of the roof line. Babies are filmed strapped into pump-up wading pools where they are also then tied onto roof crests. These are desperate actions by frantic parents to keep their children alive. Then they wait. Rescue helicopters are working day and night in horrendous conditions. Rescue pilots tell harrowing stories of women they have plucked from rooftops, after having had their babies ripped from their hands, with the force of surging torrents of water.

Animal Losses Are Catastrophic

Animal rescue services are also working day and night. When interviewed, they break down and weep. They are doing everything in their power to rescue every type of animal and relocate them to higher ground.

Australia prides itself on having prolific amounts of wildlife but unfortunately the number of animals in life-threatening circumstances far exceeds the number of emergency animal rescue people available. Animal losses are catastrophic in number. Hundreds of thousands of wildlife creatures have drowned and surviving ones have had their habitat destroyed. It will be decades before wildlife recover to their former numbers. Some species, like the Hairy Nose Wombat may even have become extinct due to these floods.

On Wednesday 12th January,  the flood situation took another turn for the worse.  The State’s capital city, Brisbane and its CBD sounded emergency beacons for all its residents to evacuate immediately.  Within 12 hours the Brisbane River burst its banks and began swallowing street after street of residential housing and businesses alike. Thousands of people and their pets were thrown into chaos. Evacuations began Tuesday evening at an alarming rate; people fled to evacuation centers with just their pets. Brisbane is the third biggest capital city in Australia and was now facing being erased by a 22 meter surge of debris-filled raging flood waters!

The Brisbane RSPCA began flooding and sent out an urgent call for help needing foster housing for all their animals. At the same time Goodna Dog Shelter began flooding and needed urgent rescue of 70 dogs. Horse Rescue facilities were receiving panicked calls from distressed horse owners needing help. @AWLQ (The Animal Welfare League, Qld) drove to Brisbane and loaded up four trucks of cats and dogs and birds from the RSPCA and brought them back to their AWLQ facilities. They then assisted the Goodna Shelter evacuation as well. Horses and cattle were filmed swimming for their lives, trying desperately to cling to house rooftops, frantic to find a way to stand on submerged terracotta roofs.  These same horse were rescued, treated by vets and are expected to make a good recovery.

What Will Each New Morning Bring for Australia?

Trepidation loomed as we moved into Wednesday night, knowing the morning light would once again reveal more heartbreak. The flood already covered an area twice the size of the U.S. state of Texas. Rescue operations were hampered by rain continuing to fall, resulting in rapid changes to emergency plans and models as flood levels rose above expected levels. The last several days have been harrowing and there will more dark days ahead. The fighting spirit of the “Boxing Kangaroo” nation is being tested.

I look forward to following this article up with uplifting stories of heroic feats! Australia is a nation forged out of adversity. We have a strong fighting spirit and we will use every bit of it to overcome what Mother Nature has dished our way. Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Keep fighting and do not give up!

“Queensland Floods” original photographs published with permission of PetrosK (AP.WP. Photographer who was in Queensland supporting children’s cancer charity “Camp Quality.”)
“Kangaroo Rescue” original photographs by a local Ipswich photographer.
#RSPCA” original photographs published with permission of  M.Beatty, RSPCA

Tagged as: animals, Australia flooding, Queensland