rain coming

[Private_collector]

Should have kept my mouth shut about rain moving away.

News reports here now indicate expected rainfall of >150mm in next 24 hours.

Here we go again. Poor bastards in lower businesses near Gympies main street have only just unpacked their trailers/trucks/containers that were loaded Saturday last week, when their properties were flooded to shallow depth.

This getting monotonous.

Tomorrow, I start building an ark. Painted flat green, of course!

P.S: Robert, about that barn............Jeezus!!!!!!

[Private_collector]

I'm finally back on internet again, after draining water from my satellite transciever case.
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Since Sunday night, there has been more than 340mm of rainfall. Can't give a more accurate figure becuase the rain gauge overfolwed on two occasions before I could empty it.
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Severe flashflooding has occured here, and one man has died crossing flooded road. This was two roads across from me at Glenwood. Some news reports have stated this was at Gympie, but it is actually Glenwood, 1/2hr north on the Bruce Hwy.
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You just can't tell some people! This guy walked part way into a fast running creek crossing to see if he could drive through. What he didn't know at the time (nor did I), was that the road surface was washed away in places and buckled / lifted up in others. This was only evident once waters went down. The silly bugger could have tripped, fallen, and been swept away.

It's a beautiful day here now, but news reports are talking about small possibility that the low pressure system that caused the rainfall, may develop into a Cyclone.

Gympie expected to receive minor flooding today to several of the especially low areas. This includes the folks I wrote about earlier, who were loading their businesses onto removal trucks, containers and trailers. This will be their second pack-up in less than a fortnight.

The workshop had some leakage through the roof where the very high winds drove the water under ridge capping. Totally expected under the circumstances.

[Howard]

Tony, we all know what you mean about people who won't listen..... One elderly couple here refused to leave their house as flood became inevitable. T they were given SEVERAL hours warning by locals but stayed put. What happened when their yard flooded? You guessed it... The SES then had to mount a rescue in deep and fast flowing water. Made all the more difficult by three fact that one of the residents is not small and very limited mobility... Plus the dozen or so wet dogs that were also in their yard!

[Private_collector]

I have heard that the fellow who drowned in flood waters in Glenwood was 82 y.o. with an invalid wife who he was sole carer for. He died returning from the roadhouse, where he had bought the daily paper. A witness said the car BARELY made it through the rapidly rising waters on the way to the shop, and of course, it didn't make it through on return journey.

I feel sorry for the guy, his wife, witnesses and the local bloke that got into the flood water to try & rescue him. I'm about to cause a rumble with this next statement. At his time of life, the body has many limitations, so does the brain. Reflexes slow, alertness dulls, cognitive abilities become questionable etc.. The only one that doesn't seem to be aware is the individual themselves.

I'm not saying the man that drowned was not of sound mind or body. I didn't know him at all, BUT I did see my own Father, who had once been a TREMENDOUS driver with exceptional reflexes and intuition, slowly turn into a driver of such poor abilities (physical & decision making) that I wouldn't allow my family to drive in his car.

Some believe that as we were once, so we shall always be. Driving abilities stands out as a classic example of this. Bet you have heard a version of the old phrase "i've been driving for XX years & i've never had an accident/ticket"!

Don't think i'm dumping crap on a dead man, cause i'm not, but it was in hindsight a very bad decision.

Here's an amusing & true story:

About a year ago, we had steady rain for many days, which reactivated either a spring or raised water table beneath a major access road in/out of Glenwood. Most people used this road to go south towards Gympie. Over several days, the road surface got worse and worse, until the bitumin started to buckle badly and breakup. Council erected signs. Firstly "Rough Surface", and later this was replaced with baricades and "Road Closed". By this time the road had turned to absolute mush! Despite the closure signs, some half-wits went around them and carried on through the slop. This just accelerated the deterioration.

An elderly couple I know, who lived nearest to the closed road, would get a steady stream of drivers wandering up their driveway (all hours of day & night) asking a tow for the inevitable bogged vehicle.

For a while, the farmer (in his mid 80s) would gather ropes in his old Land Rover and go to the rescue. As I said, this happened only for a while. After several days of coming to the rescue, he had enough of these stupid idiots. About that time, so he later told me, a guy came swaggering up his driveway & said "I don't suppose you could give me a tow, could ya?" The farmer agreed with him, and said 'NO, I don't suppose I could. You got yourself into that situation by ignoring a blocked road, so get yourself out!' For that he got abused by a fool, who lets face it, would best be considered a candidate for Natural Selection. The car sat in the mush for two days. It was already down beyond the axles when it got bogged and only got deeper in the next 48hrs. Driver got a ticking off by the council and a fine was threatened but not issued. The positive thing was that with that vehicle stuck, no other cars could try going through and cause further disruption for the old farmer.

I believe the VAST majority of those ignoring the road closed signs were considered to be in their 30s to 50s! There is a special kind of stupidity reserved for middle aged men. One last thing, NO WOMEN attempted to get through. At least none that asked the farmer for asistance!

[hrpearce]

Snowing in Batlow today, the bus kids were sent home, Vicki was also sent home from work and followed a grader out of town.

[Ryan]

Some rain here but blowing a gale. Plenty of gum tree limbs about.

[hrpearce]

We have had strong gusty wind from the west all afternoon, it's no fun outside.