h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"the locals say the fishing is pretty good"
journalist to crying woman "You'll be right"
mayor says looters will be "used as flood markers"

Pub open with one metre of water throughout, locals standing in water drinking beer

Crocodiles in parks & backyards further north




- Beka, Ferny Grove, Brisbane

Stay dry and keep reporting!

Wow. You guys do flooding high style - we had them in Pittsburgh, and they were downright dull. No crocodiles.

Stay safe, let us know!

Good to hear, that you're ok.

Someone suggested a drinking game - have a drink every time a reporter says the word 'inundated'. Not a great idea, I've counted at least a hundred in the last 24 hours, up to 4 in a few sentences. One while I was writing this paragraph.

A brass statue was given floaties and a snorkel outside Suncorp Stadium.

Spiders, snakes and cockroaches are trying to escape the floodwater. There was one picture of a frog sitting on a snake while they both floated along. I've only seen one kangaroo, a joey being carried out, Hopefully the rest were able to get out of the way. There have been a few sharks seen in the streets, but just river sharks obviously, nothing dangerous. And the crocs are a lot further north, none near Brisbane.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

Kyra, do be sure to have some tall tales ready if you get accosted by a journalist. (They'd expect nothing less...) Judging by the number of vox pops I've seen it'll be your turn soon.

Are you yourself sufficiently dry and elevated?

I really hope someone makes a picture of that statue... (Without getting within reach of the sharks and crocs, of course.)

Take care!

Here's the statue demonstrating aquatic safety equipment: http://twitpic.com/3pbkz3

Here's a pic for you Otus: http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2011/01/13/1225986/716238-australia-flooding.jpg

Ivan, I'm fine, up in the hills, ironically in a part of Brisbane that often has minor floods from the creeks coming off the mountains. I won't have any cool anecdotes, I've tried to stay out of the way, hard as that is. I *really* want to go see it for myself, and help, but politicians and police are practically begging people not to rubberneck, and they're being overwhelmed with volunteers.

I think it's worse in Toowoomba and places like Grantham, which looks like a tornado hit, there are houses that are completely demolished or moved hundreds of metres. That's also where the majority of deaths have occured. In Brisbane only one person has died, and he deliberately went into the flood water.

Thanks Ivan, that's a better pic.

I saw vids from Toowoomba yesterday. Cars being dragged out of car parks and into a raging stream.

Now, flooding is one thing - but flooding with sharks in is...well, only in Australia.

Thanks, Ivan and Kyra - found the same pic on the BBC site itself yesterday after logging out here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12169311

Even worse floods in Brazil now...

Under the heading "Only in the Netherlands":

This afternoon, the news bulletin on national public TV. The first item was about systematic failures in child protection agencies (indeed an important subject), the second about a flooded camping site somewhere in the countryside...

An yes, they did mention the floods in Brazil and Queensland, several minutes later...

Shows you what priorities we have over here.

Well, here the radio station was blaming the Little People for their CD not working, and the fellows in the pub observed a minute's silence for a pint that fell off the bar... Only in Ireland!


Hope you're still ok, Kyra - are you taking in any pets yourself?

That's journalism for you, Brazil's flooding is worse, but the news here is still 99% about Brisbane. It's just proximity and the number of viewers personally affected.

I've got one dog whose owner lives in Newstead, literally on the river. I'm going to take the train and see how his place fared today - he's in Scotland at the moment, and I haven't heard from him at all. I've volunteered to take more, much to my flatmate's displeasure, but no one's needed it yet.

No matter what the newsies say, it's what's out your front door you need to worry about personally.

to you, your neighbours, and all the dogs and cats.

News journalist about some guy helping out with a bobcat: "he's got the exterity of a chicken sexer"

*dexterity