QLD Floods & Queenslander Houses

Thankyou for the emails I am receiving from international bloggers with well wishes for us Queenslanders. It means a lot to know we have the support from other countries. I can't thank you enough to know people on the other side of the world care.

However I can understand your confusion as to thinking WHY?? So here's a bit of info you may find interesting/useful!!

We have been hit by absolutely tremendous amounts of rain, in my small town we have had 22inches since Saturday. 6inches fell from 9am to 12.30pm(3 1/2hrs) this morning. On top of that we have been having heavy rains for months, in fact most of last year. The ground is so wet, the dams, rivers & catchments areas are so full it really does, just have no where to go.

Here in Queensland we are used to living with flood & drought in fact in Australia there's not much in between, it's either doing one or the other. I have put up some pictures(courtesy of google) to show you the type of house that is common in our state.

It is actually called a "Queenslander" by name.

It is built to withstand the elements - Built on tall stumps to resist flooding(well usually) built on stumps it also ensures good air circulation for our hot, humid climate(especially before aircon became commonplace) Large verandas also provide an area out of the elements & again allow a cool place for the houses occupants. "Queenslanders" also often have an area called a sleep out, which is an area with beds often used on hot, humid nights for sleeping. Any way the big point is these are built on tall stumps- but it doesn't mean you will be flood proof.

Another good point for international bloggers to know is the sheer size of The State of Queensland, we could nearly fit all of Germany & France inside of the Queensland borders and as you can imagine when most of out state is in flood the sheer, size & enormity that out emergency services have to contend with is simply overwhelming. Resources are becoming stretched.

Toowoomba that was devastatingly hit by what they are referring to as an inland Tsunami was actually caused by the sheer amount of rain we are having.Toowoomba is actually approx 2000ft above sea level.

Hope you find this info useful.

Thank you to all our Emergency Services, SES (State Emergency Service) and the Australian Defense Force (My soldier Boy hasn't been called in yet) for there tireless work, away from their own families in others hours of need.

Caroline xox

PS- My internet has been going in & out all morning so I don't know how long it will last. The mobiles are playing up to, along with my Austar (Satellite Pay T.V) because of the dense cloud cover.