THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => CHATTER => Topic started by: jwhouk on 11 Jan 2011, 21:37
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I know some of our posters are from the Land Down Under; hopefully no one's underwater as well?
EDIT: Name changed. Thread's intent was of general concern for those posters in the midst of the flooding.
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Can we please not use "Down Under" anymore?
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Good thread everyone, lock please.
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What's wrong with Down Under? Is this a thing people don't like? What about Oz?
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Down under might also refer to someones crotch maybe?
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Down Under and Oz are both awful terms. Use 'Australia,' it's lovely.
None of us are under water, Jodie has had a few scares but so far we know she is okay. The floods will continue for months though.
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Basically you guys, a lot of Australians are uncomfortable with things like "Oz" or "Down Under" not because those terms themselves are inherently bad but because it tends to come wrapped up in a package with the whole range of incredibly annoying stuff that people associate with Australia, much to pretty much every Australian ever's chagrin e.g; Steve Irwin, Crocodile Dundee, the complete inability of anyone ever to credibly impersonate the Australian accent, and such and such.
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Australian's are deeply concerned with trying to appear respectable. The only thing we are ever drowning in are post-penal neuroses and aspirations of upper middle class respectability.
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And currently rising flood waters.
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A very large and fairly heavily populated part of Australia is flooding, however it's by no means the entirety or even the majority of the country. Here's a handy map:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/infographics/qld-floods/default.htm (http://www.abc.net.au/news/infographics/qld-floods/default.htm)
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Hey apparently there is a bullshark hanging out in Ipswich so I really hope I don't see stuff on the news about people in Ipswich being eaten by a shark on their main street.
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Thanks for the expression of concern. I at least live in Sydney, a long way from the affected area, and I'm not affected directly.
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I'll repost these photos for this thread.
This was my city on Monday!
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/ebony_willow/image003.jpg)
(The store next door to coffee club you can half see I frequent a lot and we know the guys quite well and they just refurbished it goddammit!)
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/ebony_willow/34802_10150114311914254_503779253_7511423_7960674_n.jpg)
Our derby annoucer lives here. Thankfully he wasn't home
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/ebony_willow/164846_10150120450686131_726351130_8175118_2967441_n.jpg)
This is looking out of McDonalds
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/ebony_willow/163094_1780059909112_1467856968_31988003_3455755_n.jpg)
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/ebony_willow/35608_10150353679975154_697790153_16998404_3031732_n.jpg)
Toowoomba has drained of water now - we are on a mountain after all. Unfortunately the people who have really been hit the worst are the ones between Ipswich and Toowoomba as far as I am concerned. they had the height of water (a wall of water that reached 19m at one point) and the force that we had. And they had NO warning. The river in Ipswich has peaked and will start receding. Brisbane is expecting to hit it's peak at 4am. It is bad there, and really bad in Ipswich, and really bad everywhere in Queensland really. There are 2 girls who run a derby shop in brisbane whose entire house (yes, the whole thing) is underwater and they lost EVERYTHING.
It is awful and makes me really sad :( Watching the news makes me cry and that NEVER happens. 75% of the state has been declared a disaster zone. that is a large amount of land and people.
This cheers me up a bit
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/ebony_willow/164723_10150369998635268_829995267_16426133_7854222_n.jpg)
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/ebony_willow/frog-rides-back-of-snake-queensland-floods-rspca-photo.jpg)
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Also this was Ipswich today!
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/ebony_willow/r700809_5369316.jpg)
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Also this was Ipswich today!
Absolutely devasted by this news. I thought a shithole on the east cost of England has finally got it's comeuppance and then discovered it was only some place in Australia.
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Basically you guys, a lot of Australians are uncomfortable with things like "Oz" or "Down Under" not because those terms themselves are inherently bad but because it tends to come wrapped up in a package with the whole range of incredibly annoying stuff that people associate with Australia, much to pretty much every Australian ever's chagrin e.g; Steve Irwin, Crocodile Dundee, the complete inability of anyone ever to credibly impersonate the Australian accent, and such and such.
Better than what the french get!
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crikey
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at least you guys don't have to wait for FEMA :mrgreen:
glad y'all are okay!
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As Jodie said, 75% of QLD is a declared disaster zone. I found this on twitter the other day that gives you a better idea of HOW BIG A SPACE that is.
"75% of Queensland is now a national disaster area. That is, for international folks, about 2x size of Texas and 5x that of the UK."
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I blame Ricky Ponting.
No, this is definitely Hilditch's fault.
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How do you know that Warnie isn't responsable? :-D
Take care guys and gals.
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Australians are deeply concerned with trying to appear respectable. The only thing we are ever drowning in are post-penal neuroses and aspirations of upper middle class respectability.
And then you guys go off and name your towns silly things like Gympie and Blackbutt. Nice try, pull the other one.
Non-jokingly, I really hope everybody in the affected areas is okay. I've got family friends in Brisbane who have been rendered homeless by the floods, and the most recent update was that they are alive and okay. But as a dude who has lived in flood-prone areas should know, things can change in the blink of an eye. You guys are certainly prominent in my thoughts and I truly, truly hope everybody comes out of this unharmed.
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Yeah I'm here in Brisbane at the moment, luckily my suburb was saved from the flood, we are pretty high though: if we flooded the whole state would have been buggered.
Just a lot of cleaning up to do. I work at a pharmacy and a lady commented to me about the short staffing and how a lot of shops were closed and I said "Well, that's probably to do with all the flooding", and she literally looked at me like I was talking rubbish - doesn't anyone watch the news anymore or even go outside?? There's millions of dollars worth of damage out there =.=
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Those pictures are making me feel awful! I can barely even comprehend flooding of that magnitude...an area 5 times the size of the entire country I live in. Shit.
This is one of those times where I would normally post something jokey to help myself through the absolute horror I feel at the situation, but I can't bring myself to do it.
I hope everyone there is going to be okay.
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How do you know that Warnie isn't responsable? :-D
Take care guys and gals.
Nah see Warnie would clearly be the saviour, why else would newspapers keep trying to get him back on the Australian cricket team?
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That is, for international folks, about 2x size of Texas "
But everything's bigger in Texas.. :psyduck:
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Getting flooded is so 2005 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4175944.stm).
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Poor old NSW and Victoria are copping it now. Not on the same scale as up here, but still people getting evacuated etc.
:( Stupid rain and water and we only just got out of a 10 year drought for christs sake!
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Jodie, even floodings like this might not solve the drought crisis. For that to happen, quite a lot of water has to be absorbed into the ground and/or marshy area's. All the water thats flooding through streets aint really doing that :(
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Floods. They're dicks. At very least they could make an attempt to be useful, but they're really not. It's one of the reasons floods are so tragic. Nothing can be really gained from them.
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Most of the flood plains are flooded, as is the farmlands and people's properties that raise cattle and sheep etc. From what I understand, the dams are all 150% fullish and they are having to empty them otherwise it will cause even more problems if they don't. There are dams down this way that are having the same problem. So even if we aren't completely out of drought, the situation is improving because the dams are now back at excessively high levels and that is much better them being empty (kind of).
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They say the thing that's causing the flash flooding is that the ground is so sodden no more can soak in. It has been raining for a few months as far as I know.
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Yeah, here at least it has rained almost every day since like November. You can count the days it hasn't at least showered since then on two hands.
The drought is well and truly broken in Queensland, unfortunately it has broken so much the water has nowhere else to go!
Both what Jamie and Lunchy said are true!
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Storage king has just put out an offer for those who live in Brisbane affected by floods for free storage, they have trucks and trailers available to help evacuate just call 1800storage.
- Things I see on Facebook.
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Hey apparently there is a bullshark hanging out in Ipswich
are you fucking serious
cripes
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Ah, ok, that does help then. *hasnt read up on all the information* :)
Good luck with the cleanup though :/
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I love how the Wikipedia article for bull sharks has been updated for this already:
There are more than 500 bull sharks in the Brisbane River; one was reportedly seen swimming the flooded streets of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia during the tragic Queensland floods of late 2010/early 2011.
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Yeah the bullshark thing was totally true as well. Just chillin in the streets. It didn't nom anyone though!
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Good bullshark, that's a good boy.
Anyway guys, Brazil is getting flooded now and by all reports a lot of people are missing and dead. I'm not sure if their floods are technically more sever or if they are just not as well-equipped to handle them (what with all the poverty and all) but people should maybe consider sending some money their way too, if they were planning to donate to any charities for the QLD floods and haven't yet done so.
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Forgive my USA ignorance, but as this subject is somewhat close to my heart (I'll have to post MY photos of my city's downtown when it was underwater three years ago someday), what exactly is the reason why all that water is collecting? Is the area around Brisbane that much of a "bowl" that it's holding the water back from flowing to its natural outlet, or is it just that we're talking Biblical-Type flooding?
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I don't know any details but it certainly sounds like Biblical-scale flooding from what Jamie said about the scale of it. 5x the UK? That is a phenomenally huge amount of water.
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It's been raining pretty much every day since November. The natural outlets are getting so full that they are flowing into the smaller ones which are never this full and is causing flooding in areas where it ordinarily shouldn't. Due to the obscene amount of rain, the ground cannot hold anymore water and it has nowhere else to go. If it is similar to what happened in my city a few years back, the storm water drains and the natural outlets will be filled with debris which will block them, this gives the water no where else to go.
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Plus Queensland is a natural floodplain...
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Y'all want some McDonalds'? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sir-IfaGkoM&feature=player_embedded)
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Y'all want some McDonalds'?
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sir-IfaGkoM&feature=player_embedded)
Man what the fuck is up with that music?
Seriously I am a little drunk and this is the first post I read since I got in. I'm not sure if I'll sleep now.
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Fish heads, fish heads... FTW!
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That is indeed the creepiest damn music I ever heard. A villainous Alvin and the Chipmunks right there.
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><HEAD>
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It's a silly old song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTpUVAcvWfU)
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ViolentDove Nick linked to this on twitter, some before and after (http://www.abc.net.au/news/infographics/qld-floods/beforeafter.htm) photos of Brisbane and surrounding areas. It really shows how much damage this is causing for the people there.
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Jesus. Some places, shit's gone completely under. It's really scary to look at that and ask myself, "What the fuck where'd the freeway g--- OHHHHHHHH"
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So Mother Nature doesn't like Queensland very much this year.
A Katrina-esque cyclone is due to hit this evening. :(
(http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2011/02/02/1225998/565195-nwe-cyclone-comparison.jpg)
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Poor old QLD really is copping it! :( It's crazy! Lucky I am very far inland!
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Just saw this news article - I don't know if it is visible to outside viewers though.
http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/floodrelief/how-cyclone-yasi-compares-around-the-world/story-fn7ik2te-1225998762870
This is the cyclone superimposed over a map of the US.
(http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/4417/738933tcyasisuperimpose.jpg)
IF you're struggling to grasp the magnitude of Tropical Cyclone Yasi, consider this: it is so large it would almost cover the United States, most of Asia and large parts of Europe.
Most of the coverage about the scale of Yasi has tried to compare it with storms of the past - it's bigger than Larry, more powerful than Tracy.
But just as powerful is this comparison, showing this storm is continental in size. The main bloc of the cyclone is 500km wide, while its associated activity, shown above in a colour-coding to match intensity, stretches over 2000km.
The storm's scale of destruction is as shocking as it is inevitable. In the map above, the United States from Pennsylvania in the east to Nevada in the west, from Georgia in the south to Canada in the north and well into Mexico would be battered with 300km/h winds and up to one metre of rain.
The economic impact would be felt around the world.
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Actually, we have something like that going on right now. It's called a major blizzard. Most of the Midwestern US is shut down right now.
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300km/h winds
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Actually, our storm looks fairly paltry beside Australia's: US Blizzard (http://www.accuweather.com/us/radar/sir/us_/radar.asp)
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Actually, we have something like that going on right now. It's called a major blizzard. Most of the Midwestern US is shut down right now.
Pro Tip: Shut up before you make an idiot of yourself again.
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Whoa, chill.
There's a big difference between what we're going through and what AUS is going through.
We knew about this storm well in advance, and we just have to wait to dig it out.
Aussies are going to have to keep from floating away completely after they're soaked.
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I think the main difference is that everything will be relatively okay once the snow's gone.
Once the cyclone's gone, everything will be GONE. The Premier is saying that people will die. Australia has not had a storm this bad in living memory. It's all pretty terrifying, even if it is in another part of the country. I pretty much want to cry looking at these images.
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Maybe now people will understand why the levy they want to put into place is a good thing. Queensland's infrastructure is going to be so fucked on multiple levels, they will need all the help they can get.
God knows I would be happy to give money to the government to help them fund all the new roads and sewage systems and drains and important things. NSW is pretty damn close to being on fire a lot though, so who knows what is going to happen.
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By the end of the year I predict Australia will be gone all together.
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Actually, we have something like that going on right now. It's called a major blizzard. Most of the Midwestern US is shut down right now.
derp derp derp
anyway australians, don't die! that cyclone looks angry.
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Goddamn it guys, could you not have gotten all the horrible weather out of the way before I'm about to move to your godforsaken country?
Best of luck to all the Queenslanders! Hopefully my family there makes it though ok.
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Sometimes, I am truly thankful to live in New South Wales.
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Oh sure, thankful during the crazy cyclones and flooding but when State of Origin comes around.... :D
Oh giant cyclone, can't you just go away and not kill any one? Queensland is pretty tired and our emergency crews are already a bit over it! kthx
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For those of you who think I don't care about the flooding:
(http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/6153/img2234gk7.th.jpg) (http://img516.imageshack.us/i/img2234gk7.jpg/)
The main street of my little hamlet, taken in late May of 2008.
(http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/3262/img2423.th.png) (http://img199.imageshack.us/i/img2423.png/)
That same street, taken about a month later, after numerous rainstorms had raised the lake level.
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Actually, we have something like that going on right now. It's called a major blizzard. Most of the Midwestern US is shut down right now.
Oh so it's like Canada normally.
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Good news, guys. Yasi got downgraded to a Category 3 (from 5) this morning. Unfortuanetly, it crossed the coast line at midnight when it was still a category 5 causing extensive damage to anumber of coastal communities.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/weakening-yasi-continues-to-wreak-devastation-20110201-1acgp.html
tl;dr. Still fraking huge just less destructive.
EDIT: jwhouk, I don't think you quite understand the scale of the flash flooding that many Australians just experienced.
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Good news, guys. Yasi got downgraded to a Category 3 (from 5) this morning. Unfortuanetly, it crossed the coast line at midnight when it was still a category 5 causing extensive damage to a number of coastal communities.
Tropical rotating storms always weaken after they cross the coast, but poor old Queensland really didn't need another dose of this after the recent floods. Roll on the national "I've got you, mate (http://www.classichits.co.nz/content/web/images/Auckland/got%20you%20mate.jpg)" levy.
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Hey guys, just in case any of you haven't quite got a handle yet on just how fucking enormous Yasi is, I was checking the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's rain radar online to see if I might be able to go out any time tonight all the way down here in Melbourne without getting soaked, and, well:
(http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq71/HDS_Overflow/Yasi.jpg)
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Can I just mention that the Southwest of WA is the best part of the country?
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EDIT: jwhouk, I don't think you quite understand the scale of the flash flooding that many Australians just experienced.
I just know that when you've got clouds over 85% of the country, it ain't good.
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You know it's a lot of water when they start measuring it in Sydarbs an hour.
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Hey guys, just in case any of you haven't quite got a handle yet on just how fucking enormous Yasi is, I was checking the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's rain radar online to see if I might be able to go out any time tonight all the way down here in Melbourne without getting soaked, and, well:
(http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq71/HDS_Overflow/Yasi.jpg)
To be fair, I believe most of the rain down in Victoria was caused by ex-cyclone Anthony.
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:mrgreen:
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So all that rain last night in Melbourne from Yasi or Anthony or whoever the hell caused it was kind of a big deal. Not where I am fortunately, my part of town isn't called Clifton Hill for nothing, but oh hey look, this is a photo from last night of a train station I sometimes go to when I'm going to see an old film at a nifty Art Deco cinema in St. Kilda:
(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201102/r713544_5602543.jpg)
That canal there in the middle? That's the train line.
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Okay so in the last few weeks we've had Brisbane, the third-largest city in Australia, flood, and now we've had Melbourne, the second-largest, also flood . . .
Hey there, Sydney!
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That is an utterly bizarre and also awesome photo! (even though the situation is rather shitty)
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Okay so in the last few weeks we've had Brisbane, the third-largest city in Australia, flood, and now we've had Melbourne, the second-largest, also flood . . .
Hey there, Sydney!
I am on the third floor of our building, so I would be fine, but it would be crazy to be stuck in my house because everywhere had flooded. I kinda want it to happen except for all the damage that will happen to everywhere.
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Yeah if you could have the flooding without the damage they could be a lot of fun.
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Okay so in the last few weeks we've had Brisbane, the third-largest city in Australia, flood, and now we've had Melbourne, the second-largest, also flood . . .
Hey there, Sydney!
I'm on the south head, I'll be completely cut-off from the jungo.
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Further to yesterday's floods, here's a photodump.
There's a creek called Merri Creek near my house. It drains much of Melbourne's inner north and flows into the Yarra, the river which flows through Melbourne. Normally it looks like this:
(http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq71/HDS_Overflow/Merri%20Creek/MerriCreek.jpg)
(http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq71/HDS_Overflow/Merri%20Creek/MerriCreek2.jpg)
(http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq71/HDS_Overflow/Merri%20Creek/MerriCreek3.jpg)
This weekend, though, it's more like this:
(http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq71/HDS_Overflow/Merri%20Creek/MerriCreekFlood28.jpg)
(http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq71/HDS_Overflow/Merri%20Creek/MerriCreekFlood21.jpg)
(http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq71/HDS_Overflow/Merri%20Creek/MerriCreekFlood17.jpg)
(http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq71/HDS_Overflow/Merri%20Creek/MerriCreekFlood1.jpg)
(http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq71/HDS_Overflow/Merri%20Creek/MerriCreekFlood9.jpg)
(http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq71/HDS_Overflow/Merri%20Creek/MerriCreekFlood27.jpg)
(http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq71/HDS_Overflow/Merri%20Creek/MerriCreekFlood15.jpg)
(http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq71/HDS_Overflow/Merri%20Creek/MerriCreekFlood18.jpg)
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I feel like this should now be called "Australia: Under Water and on Fire?"
Did we have anyone from Perth apart from Dovey?
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(Psst, Jodie, two posts above mine)
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Oh! There are more! I hope you and your friends and families are ok Mctaggart!
And also Dovey's friends and families, he is safe in the snow. Also the first 2 times I tired to type safe there I put sage. I guess he is also sage.
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I am totally sage. And really it'd be a mistake to read the Perth bushfires as being part as the other smitings Australia's been having, Perth catches fire every year.
And my family are fine, they've been in Adelaide for most of this stuff, which as far as I know has suffered no further punishment besides having to be Adelaide.
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I'm not convinced that Adelaide requires further punishment. I mean...it's Adelaide.
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Don't let that fool you, they're drinking the best wine in the country and eating the best fresh produce over there. Oh yeah, Adelaide's living large.
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More proof that Adelaide is awesome. So far nothing bad has happened to us this year.
However some of Australia is now on fire. Great. Fires and floods and wind. :(
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My part of Perth is absolutely fine. I have a few friends who live around there and they're all ok too.
Dovey, this is closer to civilisation and much bigger than the fires we normally get. It's in and around the Kelmscott/Roleystone area and so far apparently ~60 homes have been destroyed or damaged. It's difficult to bring under control because of the winds from what remains of cyclone Yasi and the fact that there are more fires to the north and further southeast and the various fire fighting services have all had to split their focus. They also can't really get reinforcements from other areas because they're mostly on fire too.
It's not to the same scale as Queensland's disasters but it's still serious.
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Wait so it's Yasi-related again?
Fuck you, Yasi.
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What, exactly, did you guys DO to tick off God and/or Mother Nature?
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We had two AFL grand finals, I think. That pissed a lot of people off.
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We had two AFL grand finals and in the end Collingwood won.
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Wait so it's Yasi-related again?
Fuck you, Yasi.
Yasi also caused the heatwave in and around Sydney.
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More proof that Adelaide is awesome. So far nothing bad has happened to us this year.
Actually, it's proof that nothing happens in Adelaide. Ever. :-D