Under The Weather

It had been raining for days, and the earth was soaked through. We went to bed on a Thursday night as the rain intensity increased and maintained the high level throughout the night. My sleep was restless as I listened to the roar of the water and the sound of millions of raindrops crashing into our metal roof. Water seeped in through the front lounge where gutters failed to cope with the downpour, sending water back under the eaves and inside the wall. Buckets had to be hastily assembled under leaks in the ceiling as the old roofing iron let in water. I stumbled out the back patio in the early morning, and gasped as I saw water half-way up the backyard. The nearby ponds had long gone over, and water was now entering into neighbours' yards and houses. I had never seen it flood like this before. I drove around the corner to find part of the street underwater, and houses surrounded and inundated in a brown swirling mass. A whole shipping container had crashed into a bridge a few streets away, while various flotsum -- natural and artificial -- had been pushed down the creek. We had worked to clear the gutters, and when the rain finally stopped, counted ourselves lucky that our home had escaped inundation. Emergency response crews worked feverously to evacuate people in nearby units and houses. The owner of what had been a former nursing home transformed into a residence, offered people free accommodation.

February 15, 2008 had been a day of disaster for the city of Mackay on the central Queensland coast. Much of the city had been flooded, both from creek and waterway overflow, and simply the intensity of the rain not allowing water to get away quick enough. A neighbour rescued an elderly couple in his canoe, providing them with a relatively dry transfer from their home, while another neighbour offered them a room where they could stay for as long as it needed for their home to be repaired, and soaked furnishings and appliances replaced. People spoke of losing personal belongings that no money could replace. It brought out the best in people who reached out to help those affected, and stories of those acts of kindness and generosity were everywhere.