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Queensland, Australia flood appeal

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Note: This, as you may imagine by the title of this post, has nothing to do with what CraftGossip posts regularly. However, we, Shellie and Vikram and our two kids, live in Brisbane, Australia, where there is a rapidly evolving flood situation which has touched us personally, so we would like to launch this appeal. Regular CraftGossip posts continue beneath.

Floods in Queensland

We have been stuck in the house for the last two days. The kids are driving us nuts, it is humid and wet and the local supermarket shelves are running dry. We have power, mobile phone access and Internet and drinking water. We are safe, and so is our house amidst the biggest natural disaster that we have ever seen happen in front of us.

Queensland is the second largest state in terms of size, in Australia. To give you some perspective, it is nearly 2.5 times the size of Texas, and roughly 7 times the size of United Kingdom.

And 75% of this state is a disaster zone due to floods. Luckily, we live in one of the remaining 25%. However, we are completely surrounded by devastation all around us.

One of the worst hit areas due to these floods have been Grantham and Toowomba, around 3 hours from the state capital, Brisbane. There is a video below that shows a wave of Inland Tsunami that flattened everything in its path. It is a terrifying watch (the video repeats itself after the 1:35 mark, so you can stop watching then).

[youtube BoV-Wjo7mZ8]

Brisbane is the capital city of Queensland, while Ipswich, where we live, is next to it. Brisbane river is expected to peak at 5.5 mts (18 feet) tomorrow. Ipswich’s Bremer river peaked at 19.7 mts (65 feet)!

Brisbane CBD, where I (Vikram) used to work, is under water at the very moment. Suncorp Stadium, home of rugby and soccer games is covered in dirty muddy water and it is rising to fill spectator seats. It is bizzare to see the stadium’s million dollar turf under water from the choppers. It is equally bizzare to see, my place of previous work, University of Queensland at St. Lucia, completely submerged. It is beyond words.

See the following video:

[youtube HUZgJ6nZwm8]

It is surreal to watch so many areas that we regularly visit to be under water. Absolutely mind boggling. Thankfully, everyone we know is safe and sound.

So far, there are 12 dead, 59 missing. For more information, you can visit these sites:

Brisbane Times and CNN’s page on the disaster.

Queensland Government has an appeal out where it is requesting donations. If you would like to help out, please visit their site directly: http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html

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Comments

  6. We have our share of annual floods in the U.S., but nothing like this in scope. The pictures and video are incredible and devastating. We wish you the best and will keep you all in our thoughts and prayer.

  7. Thank you for letting us know about this. You must be going batty!!! Post as often as you like because you are not alone. Oh wait,… maybe you’d like some “alone” time if your kids are driving you batty… we will be your refuge. xoxo Amy in No. California

  10. My dears,

    What an unbelieable horror. My thoughts and prayers are with you and all of your countrymen. Best wishes for the safety of all of you.

  12. It is hard to keep your head up in the face of such devastation, but the important thing is people.
    My prayers are for the safety of all.

  15. My heart goes out to you guys over there. It is such a tragedy.
    I’m in Perth so we are hearing all the interviews and the all day news reports and it goes to show that although tragic, people seem to show their best side in times of a crisis, there have been a lot of heroes emerge and perhaps this is the one good thing to come out of it all.
    Glad to hear that you and yours are all safe. My thoughts are with you guys. 🙂

  16. We are watching these stories unfold from Western Australia, and it is not only unfathomable, but terribly, terribly sad.
    Our thoughts and prayers are with all Aussies on the East coast.

  18. Thank you for posting this. My hubby is from Brisbane and we CANNOT believe how incredibly devastating this has been.
    You are all in our thoughts and prayers.
    I’ll show him the link when he gets home.

    advance Australia fair…

  19. Australia has to be the most insane place to live! Most of the time it is a dry desert, and then along comes a giant flood. Watching on TV from across the ditch, I can’t believe the scale of things.
    My uncle lives near you in Springfield Lakes, he is up the hill so hopefully his house is ok. He checked on it in the weekend, but who knows whats going on now! He was/is camping at the top of NSW which is also flooded!
    I can’t believe after so many years of water restrictions, the scale and amount of water now!
    Do you know if they decided to open the dam in the end? Last we heard they were discussing it. If so, was that the cause of the inland tsunami?

    Thinking of you all
    D

  20. sending all our love and support from Sydney.
    its just so unbelievable! 🙁
    good luck and stay safe queenslanders!
    Dom.
    xx

  21. Just horrid! The world is watching, and our arms are outstretched to Australia. We lift you up in our prayers. Such a blessing that more people have not died in this…what devastation! It’s like our flood of New Orleans, but on such a huge scale. Thank you so much for sharing this on your site!
    Kathy

  22. Sending support from Toronto as well…this is really the worst flood in Australia history, if I am right. Be strong!

    And watch out for snakes, I have heard there are quite a lot.

Have you read?

Viking Unit Study

I love the idea of unit studies, which can be done at school, in a homeschool environment or just for fun at home as a way to learn about something specific your kids might be into (or maybe that you are interested in and want them to know more about).

Simply Learning Together put together a homeschool unit study on the Vikings, which sounds like a lot of fun, first off, but it also walks you through the process of how she develops a unit study for her kids so you can do it, too.

It’s a pretty simple process that involves going to the library, reading and researching yourself, then developing some activities and lessons based on what you have learned.

This unit study for the Vikings, for example, shares the books she read and how she planned out the activities. In the post you’ll find a link to a printable map they used, and she talks about different activities they did including baking bread, having a super cute Viking lunch (a sandwich with banana horns to make it look like a Viking helmet!), working with runes, having a snack in “Viking horns” (waffle cones) as well as music, language arts and notebook activities they did.

You could definitely build off these ideas using the books available in your local public library or through doing your own research to find more information and activities your kids might be interested in depending on their age. You could throw in some Viking mythology, for example (I love Norse Mythology for Smart People as a source). Add some STEM with this how to build a Viking ship activity from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus, or make a Viking shield out of cardboard with this idea from This Crafty Family. There are tons of great ideas out there once you start looking!

[Photo: Simply Learning Together]