Before (and after) the floods

Brisbane has a reputation for being uneventful? Can't say it has been recently.

I assume the majority would have seen the repeated clips and images that would go some way towards painting a picture of what has happened. But it's one of those things. It's impossible to fully understand or interpret unless you've been close enough to witness and experience the reality. We are blessed to be relatively unaffected directly on personal level, family, house and belongings all o.k. But many close friends were right in the firing line and lost everything. In Brisbane at least no lives were lost.

There was a gradual build up to this. It didn't just happen. We were pretty much p*ssed on for the 6 weeks before Christmas, and from our own perspective, this was frustrating more than anything else as it delayed progress on the house build (more of that later). I know it rains in Ireland. But this was just incessant and really started dragging people down. Australia means beaches and bbq's - especially in summertime. Then Christmas arrived and a cyclone (Tasha) smashed the northern part of Queensland, then weakened to boring old torrential rain, and then moseyed on down the coast, flooding everything in it's path. Rockhampton of course made the headlines. On New Years eve, the discussion centered around Rocky and how severe things were and the airport being closed etc. While relatively close, it was still almost 1,000km away and then Tasha's impacts diluted further to just plain old rain. Brisbane itself didn't cop much out of it, but the inland area got soaked once again. Then came the run up to January 11th. We were told there was a lot more rain coming, and the obsession with the radar loop started growing again (my obsession, and now that the iPad has a quick application - Geoff too). Alissa's Mum said (for the 2nd time this summer) that this is just how the 1974 floods were preceded.

But with Wivenhoe dam, we were lulled into a false sense of security. A dam that just over 2 years ago was under 17% full and in danger of running dry after the 8 year drought.

For the few days before Jan 11th, it rained and rained - and we were just over it. Everything was damp and mildewed. But again, Brisbane itself escaped the worst and even the final stages of waterproofing the retaining walls on the land were finished. The Brisbane river catchment didn't escape and the dam levels hit 154% by then. It was when the Toowoomba & Lockyer valley disaster hit that people in Brisbane really sat up and started saying 'Ohhhh f&ck'. Thats 126km away, and all river paths go through Brisbane to get to the sea.

I remember sitting at work that day and the odd time looking at the radar (just to be sure Alissa wasn't driving into a thunderstorm, or at least to warn her) but I do remember thinking at one point, thank Christ that storm cell has avoided Brisbane - looks nasty and slow moving. That was the one that caused the inland tsunami - initially when we heard it being called that we thought impossible, or even no need for exaggeration, Toowoomba is basically on a tabletop? Anyone can look up the Internet to get an explanation for the geographical reasons - but basically, the amount of rain that fell in the space of 2 hours was simply overwhelming. How do you confront an 8m wall of water? That's as tall as the average house in Malahide. And that's where the most tragic damage came from, the stories too difficult to listen to with parts of families being lost as others were rescued.

Back in Brisbane, the news updates became more and more frequent, intense and attention grabbing. I drove into work that Tuesday morning as the rain pummeled down thinking, 'I won't be doing a full day of work today'. Listening to the radio they were starting to estimate river levels - basically telling us the river will flood in some shape or form. The rain again that morning was painfully constant and hit where it hurt most - the river catchments. The dam hit 174% and was rising quickly to 200% - massive danger zone so the floodgates were literally completely open. We begged the rain to stop so they could at least tighten the taps at the dam to relieve the pain in 2 days time (36 hours to get from dam to city). The evacuation alarms sounded in our 37 floor building and the others beside us. That's quite a scary moment, and right then and there, all you want is to be in your house with all of your family. Survival instinct. I got my car out of the soon to be inundated basement car park, checked Alissa was on her way - she got Emma, I got Aibhe and we were home by midday, watching and waiting. Being on a hill was such a comforting factor. Less than 1 km down the road, the river was seeping into familiar homes, businesses and retail outlets. We were still being told the worst was a day and a half away - the king tides made the estimates very precise.

Brisbane was closed.

The rain stopped and the sun came out. Stories started coming in of the friends whose houses were simply 'under'. I spent half my Wednesday checking on staff, making sure they were all ok, and then trying to figure out how we would run Payroll for the entire Pacific business (1,500 people) by the Friday. We went to Coronation Drive to see the river in all it's might, smash its way through the city. This street would be like the quays leading in Dublin, only 6 lanes only very picturesque and always very busy. It had been cordoned off and people were walking through the middle of the 6 lines lanes with kids to get a peek at history unfolding. The silent hiss as we stood at the police tape, the river covering the road less than 50 metres away is something I won't forget too easily. The visible destruction across the other side at West End was surreal, the random debris floating down the river and it's sheer velocity was frightening. Nobody was talking. Panic buying was emptying some supermarkets and then our power was cut.

Discussions with the office 'disaster group' went from 'if we get back in on Thursday' to me saying we're not getting back in this week. Absolute minimum. I don't think I'm blessed with clairvoyance or practice pessimism, to me it was obvious and founded in pure common sense. Others continued to indulge in wishful thinking, but I managed to get the over ride. Fortunately, a little luck with servers and quick thinking on the Tuesday meant we had a feasible option for the pay run (people around the country still need to pay mortgages, sympathy runs thin very quickly when it comes to these issues) and we managed to access another of our suburban offices on Thursday to get it all done. Just driving there that Thursday was another of the more surreal experiences I've had. This office was about 18km south of the city, but I had difficulty negotiating my way around the city to get there. But once there it seemed like life as normal. Supermarket nearby was fully stocked with anything you needed.

The peak came and went, short of the 1974 record, but destroying thousands of homes and billions in infrastructure. The weekend following the flood, as the river receded, was one of the more inspiring and humbling periods I've been through. I would estimate 80% of Brisbane and around, got involved in some shape or form. Probably 5% of the population was directly effected, but they happen to be near us. A weekend of back breaking, filthy but incredible work was what everyone will remember. For our part, we took care of 2 boys for a couple of days while their Mum and Dad started the process of insurance, cleaning, claiming and then looking for alternative accommodation for the next 6 months. Alissa couldn't go near the toxic sludge, being pregnant.

The next week things got back to semi-normal for most people as the city opened up again, but the remnants of the river stayed behind in almost every basement in the CBD, limiting what could and could not open. Our office stayed fully closed for the week. I spent my time organising a team of 30 Finance Staff into locations where they could work with the right computers and software and accesses they needed. Absolutely exhausting, despite the fact you feel like you're getting nothing done. In the midst of all this, we finished off year-end and successfully completed an audit. It became more and more obvious as time moved on that tolerance and the general understanding levels re what went on had vanished rapidly. Times like these, you feel like letting the emotions do the talking for you, but of course, not good for long term career prospects so you bite the tongue and suck it up as they would say here. Move on.

There's now talk of a flood levy and the country is up in arms. Let's see how this pans out.

I had a surprise 40th dinner (had to be re-arranged very quickly by Alissa thanks to the floods), I've just been to Hong Kong for practically a week, Aibhe has started school, as I said above, another baby is on the way touch wood, the house build has made a decent bit of progress since the rain stopped pouring down. But more of those more cheery events and some pictures in the next instalment.