I'm in Sydney now, on my way to Melbourne tomorrow. The news has been covering the disaster extensively, some pretty heartwrenching stories. Sounds like some rivers are starting to recede, but the water is flooding others. One of our contacts here indicated that spring rains had helped ease ongoing drought and helped with bumper crops, but the recent flooding wiped out big portions of the great crop yield before they could be harvested.
The Australians are pretty amazing people. Last night news stories were about huge lines of people traveling to Queensland to offer their help and services, on their own! They were just arriving unasked with supplies and offering to help with everything from rebuilding infrastructure to just arriving at someones doorstep and offering to help clean out the mud. Whole familes with little kids and small business owners just showing up to help, pretty amazing. The ferries in Sydney are collecting thousands of dollars a day from commuters, you can watch the collection buckets get heavier as each ferry disembarks.
I've read there is now flooding in Melbourne, but hopefully its not too bad. I'll try and update when I get there, but the real disaster is still in Queensland.
Dave
