Human Interest Story on the Australian flood

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) March 29, 2011 --
Back in September 2010, Australia recorded its largest monthly volume of rainfall experienced for the past 110 years. When more rain came in the succeeding months because of the continuing La Niña phenomenon, the saturated soil simply could not take in more water, which resulted to sudden series of floods that devastated the continent. Within less than a month, over seventy towns and 200,000 people have been affected by the calamity, which was described as no less than “biblical” in magnitude.

Those who were hit first did not realize the impending disaster until it was upon them. Several regions in Australia had been experiencing more rain than usual for the past months, but it was nothing that they did not expect or could not handle. At first, the latest flood seemed no different from their past experiences, but when the water crept steadily up and did not show any signs of receding even after hours since the rain had stopped, people began to worry. It was soon after that they realized that the flood would engulf their entire houses, forcing them to evacuate their homes with little more than the clothes on their backs. For others, the option of escape was no longer viable by the time they understood the gravity of what was happening. In the town of Toowoomba, the flood came suddenly and in lethal waves, with enough force to carry cars with their drivers still in them. People in the town described how the waters seemed to leap 10 feet into the air and fall down in with terrifying power, like an inland tsunami that raged after them. Some people, including at least five children were swept to their deaths by the foaming waters, their bodies found lying or buried in the muddy ground days later. One 63-year old resident of the town narrated how he abandoned his truck and climbed to higher ground just before a wave carried his truck and smashed it into a nearby railway line. He watched helplessly as another man clung for his life on a power cord, fearing that the person would suddenly get electrocuted. Fortunately, the electricity was already cut by that time, and a rescuer came to pull the man to safety. Others were not so fortunate. Yet amidst such tragedies are also stories of heroism and sacrifice, such as that of a boy named Jordan Rice who was trapped in the flood with his mother and brother when their car broke down in the middle of rising waters. People around them were in so much panic that nobody ventured to help them out of their car. The water continued to rise and was already inside their car when a rescuer arrived with a rope tied around him, offering to pull them to safety one person at a time. Communicating this to Jordan, the boy asked the rescuer to “save his brother first.” The rescuer complied with the request, but after taking Jordan’s brother, Blake to safety, the floodwaters already became too strong for another attempt. Both Jordan and his mother died in the flood.

In the succeeding days after the first wave of floods, residents from nearby towns did their best to protect their homes from the fate that fell upon towns like Toowoomba. They stacked sandbags to keep the water out of their houses and worked together to reinforce existing dams. Yet despite being allowed more time to prepare, their efforts proved futile when the floodwaters finally surged in. No matter how many sandbags they stacked up, they could not stop floods that rose to the height of entire houses. Residents were inevitably forced to flee, and watch as the waters destroyed what they spent decades to build. One man narrated how he lost his entire livelihood to the flood. He had been a farmer for 20 years. When the floods reached him, all of the animals that he kept and raised drowned, his crops were ruined, and even his house was completely destroyed. The government estimated the initial loss resulting directly from the catastrophe to amount to at least A$1 billion. This does not include the cost of repairing roads and infrastructure. However, even more devastating is the long-term impact that the floods would have to the Australian economy. With major industries such as coal mining at a standstill because of flooded mines, it would take several months to get people back to their jobs. The loss of productivity is gauged to reduce the nation’s GDP by a staggering A$30 billion.

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