Tuesday, February 1, 2011

all kinds of bad

Looks like my mum and my sister & BIL, my other sister and BIL, my dad and my two brothers will all cop a direct hit from TC Yasi, in that order.
Mum and Baby Sister live right on the coast, so we don't know if they'll be evacuated yet. We hope so.
Middle Sister lives up on the Tablelands, and Dad and brothers live higher again. They all survived Larry without a scratch, but MS says it was the most terrifying thing she'd ever experienced. And Yasi is expected to be worse. They're calling it a life-threatening event.

For those of you who only saw photos of suburban damage, Larry left the countryside looking like a giant whipper-snipper had been through. Trees were taken out in gigantic swathes. They weren't merely knocked over; they looked as if they'd exploded.
There were no leaves to be seen on them, they'd been completely stripped. And the leaves themselves were shredded. Like confetti. Can you imagine the power of winds like that?

However, surviving the cyclone is not the end of it.
TC Tasha hit on Christmas Day, and they were all without fresh food supplies till after the Brisbane floods started to subside.
When I say "fresh food supplies" I don't mean they couldn't get lettuce. I mean, the supermarkets were not re-stocked because the roads were closed. From Christmas Day on.
There was no milk (even though it's a dairying region. Because the Qld Gvt decided years ago that it would be illegal to sell milk that hasn't been processed. Which is all done Down South. So dairy farmers were pouring their milk down the drain, while the shops had none.)
There was no bread. No meat. Some fruit and veg, whatever had survived the water anyway. No tinned goods. No nappies. No coffee.
NO COFFEE!
No power, or phone, no internet access for days. They relied on other people to txt them and let them know what was happening, or listened out on the radio for news.

I know that the loss of life in Sth Qld was beyond bad. No-one in NQ died in Tasha. There was no devastating flash flooding. But it was still bad, and largely ignored by the media. They aren't getting any money from the mud tax. Many of them will still be required to pay the tax.
It drives me mad that our politicians are so city-centric. They forget, a state doesn't end when you drive out of the city limits.

Anyway, I've spoken to one sister this morning, and have to ring my mum. Going to try and talk her into heading inland. I'd rather they lost their house than their lives.

10 comments:

  1. Yeah, I'm still waiting to see our julia standing head to head with Bailleau and promising the world like she did with Anna. I'm still waiting to hear how the tax is going to be spent in Victoria. I'm still waiting to hear if anyone gives a shit about the Gascoyne WA (sp?) floods before Xmas and how they will be compensated or even assisted. And I can't help noting the amazing coincidence that capital works now on hold will all be from non-Labor seats!

    The fallout from these disasters has become political - too bad about the actual problems faced by those unlucky enough to be on the wrong side of the boundaries, or not in high vote generating areas.

    Where's the national tri-partisan strategy we so desperately need?

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  2. Exactly.

    The WA farmers have been told they won't be getting any funding but they're exempt from the mud tax if they were flooded.

    Generous.

    But I guess that's what happens in a Liberal State.

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  3. When facing property loss/ruin it brings to memory what are the more important things in life. May the things of true value in life be protected during the storms to come.

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  4. yes. very irksome to have to pay because some millionaire on the Brisbane river had no power for a day or so. NOT HAPPY JULIA

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  5. Our thoughts are with your family's safety Toni!!! xxxx

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  6. This post; you're right, a house can be rebuilt, your mum's life is so much more precious.
    Previous post; those photos are adorable. I love the bunny suit one.
    The post before that; what a wonderful nana! I never knew my grandparents, but I've heard about them and it seems I didn't miss a thing.

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  7. That's it! Citycentric...sums it up perfectly. I spent today touring farmlands where crops have been destroyed in the Tasmanian floods last week and it boils my blood that the big supermarkets now want to screw the dairy farmers again with their little price war on milk and make no mistake it will be screwing the farmers and all the other little guys it effects.

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  8. Getting windy now. I love you. xox

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  9. It is frightening just how bad this cyclone is going to be. Makes me shiver just looking at the BOM site. I hope your family is safe and stay out of harms way.

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