Misery Down Under

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Its surreal that we haven't had any rain for 6 days yet the flood waters will peak today.
Our town is expecting some inundation so its been a busy couple of days. We are safe here but many near the creek aren't.
Hubby went down to the local council yard last night to help fill sandbags for those that need them. It was amazing that a small town of 2,500 could have so many helping. There were about 400 people at the yard filling the bags, others had trays of sandwiches, biscuits and water for the workers. Everywhere else there were neighbours helping each other sandbag their properties.
They have dug through one of the main roads across the creek to allow the water to get away faster. They figured it was easier to repair a road than have dozens of homes affected.

[Ausimax]

Pleased to hear you are OK Tess, Warracknabeal made the news this morning and I was just going to post to see if you were OK. It is good to see the communities kicking in to help out as well as they are, every bit of help will be needed.

My cleanup has been set back a little, yet another tree fell into the garden Sunday arvo, requiring several hours work with the chain saw to clear the mess, then when I saw getting dried after a shower a blood vessel in my leg ruptured, and the bathroom ended up lookin like a slaughter house.

End result is that I'm going to be on my back with my feet up for some time to come, and those many piles of debris will have to wait a little longer to be dealt with.

Max

[Tori803]

Max, that sounds terrible! Try to rest up and not worry about the clean-up (it's not going anywhere). Hope you recover quickly!

Tori

[Tess (Tassie D)]

So sorry to hear that Max. You rest up and like Tori said, its not going anywhere. How are you for medical help if you need it?

[Mhayes]

Max, that is terrible! Are you cut off from getting any medical assistance if you need it? Take care of yourself and the tree will still be there. Hope you get some help with the cleanup.

Rest and keep us posted.


Margie

[G3User]

Crikey Max, you really are in the wars. Having to put your feet up for a while sounds like good treatment though I suspect Margie will have suggestions about how to do something productive during your convalescence. ^-^

Hope to hear better news from you and Tess soon, is the weather having an impact in your home town Tess?

Athol

[Tess (Tassie D)]

The water is on its way Athol. Our house is fine but we are cut off except to head west. All other roads are closed for now but should subside over the next couple of days. Had the channel 7 helicopter fly over town so we will be on the news tonight.

[Candice]

Mother nature is the great equalizer. 


This may be what California is in store for:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110117/us_yblog_thelookout/scientists-warn-california-could-be-struck-by-winter-superstorm

[Tess (Tassie D)]

So far our levee bank which has been built over the last 36 hours is holding. They are topping it up as necessary where the water is getting too high so we are all hopefull the only mess to clean up when this is all over is all the levee bank dirt and sandbags.

[Hannie]

Tess, I hope the river will go down soon, this must be be unnerving!
Max, hope you are doing better and enjoying your rest!

Hannie

[Tess (Tassie D)]

We are hanging in there by the skin of our teeth but the levee banks are holding. Several breaches were quickly repaired and so far no homes have gone under. This is one amazing little town and I hope the water starts to drop soon so we can stop holding our breath.
The national tv stations are still here but on the other side of the creek which is only passable for emergency personnel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_LOXv40N4g&feature=player_embedded#!

[Hannie]

Great report on your beautiful little town Tess. 
What a fine place you picked to live in!
Hoping with everyone that the water levels will go down very soon and you'll be able to breath again.

Thinking of you,

Hannie

[Charlene5]

Tess thanks for the lovely report.  The worst things bring out the best in people.  Hope you are staying dry and things are improving.

MJxx

[kevinashworth]

Like the lady says in the video report from Tess  - "We're all here to help each other, and band together." What a wonderful phrase, and SO appropriate for OPR, too. The resilience of the human spirit can, and WILL make things better.

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Good news from our little town, the levee held, despite what the experts said and the town is safe.
The creek is still well up and the levee on the lower side is still holding the water back but it was a resounding success. Thanks go out to all the volunteers that worked through the nights and to the town's biggest employer who took it upon himself to build the levee. He supplied the trucks & equipment, the dirt and half his workforce at no cost. He deserves an award.

I feel truly privileged to live in this town and see that even today there are women handing out food and sweets to the workers starting to clean up.

A special thanks to you all for your well wishes. People around the town were amazed to hear we had people from around the world hoping for us.