Monday, January 10, 2011

Queensland tragedy

French TV and the Internet enable me to follow closely the terrible tragedy that is unfolding in Queensland. Everything seems to be happening on a vastly greater and more violent scale than anything I recall from my childhood experience of floods on the Clarence River at Grafton. The case of Toowoomba is terrifying.

On the French TV news this evening, we saw a video of a half-naked half-frozen guy being dragged to safety after hanging onto a tree.

One of the most frightening aspects of this whole tragedy is the fact that the waters are likely to hang around for quite some time. That would appear to be a completely new aspect of flooding in Australia.

I can't help wondering whether the state and federal authorities are capable of handling this disaster in an optimal manner...

1 comment:

  1. The magnitude is quite incredible and each day it rains more and adds to the problem. Some people have, apprently, been flooded three times since Christmas.

    I've heard people say the damage is worse than Cyclone Tracey and fom what I've seen and read I can well believe it.

    There are also flood warnings for northern NSW and Victoria.

    It's bad enough having the highways between Sydney and Brisbane cut but now parts of latter are being inundated.

    The financial effects of all this are mind-boggling. And all the while the death cound rises.

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