Knowing Ipswich was about to flood and anticipating a shortage of basic food, we made sure we stocked up just in case we couldn't get out. Also thinking we might lose power for a short while at some stage I boiled the jug, filled the thermos and we had the candles ready. Most of this was done by Monday evening.
Now you think your prepared but suddenly Tuesday we realized I had forgotten medication. Racing out and trying to find a chemist open which we luckily did after visiting about 4 of them. This was around 3pm.
That night at around 9 the power went out. Our neighbours still had theirs, as they are on a different grid to us. By morning they were also out. We have a small generator for times like this to get Ryan's ventilator going, so that was all good.
The next morning we got a radio going.... tip for people if you need D size batteries and don't have any, you can get 2 A size and wrap masking tape around them and they will work instead ( might have to start up a handy hints show lol ). All the men, as they do, convened out on the road to talk over the latest events. Noticably absent was our neighbours. A call to them and they had gotten trapped at their rental they are doing up. We asked if we could borrow their generator since it was bigger than ours and might run the fridge. "Yep no use to us".
We got the generator and put it on our fridge for a while, then it went to the other neighbours, then up the road to Peter's boss. The whole neighbourhood was sharing generators between 3 or 4 families. I have never seen our street so busy with foot traffic haha.
Our neighbour was worried about her cat and asked for us to go and buy some food to feed it. That wasn't happening as all shops had closed and weren't reopening any time soon. So the cat was going to get my John West tuna (yes Leanne I was going to feed it, not kill it or feed it to spanner lol ).
That morning when I had rung the electric company they said power would be on by 6am thursday. At lunch time it had gone to 3pm Friday, then 5pm Friday, then 5pm Monday. So everyone started getting desperate to save their food.
Unforunately the generator just able to keep things cold. So then it was everyone trying to share what they had before it went off.
Troy and I went and took some of the pics I put up and found a way out of our area - although we still couldn't go that far. Petrol stations had run out of petrol and ice, it wasn't until Thursday we could get some when the roads opened up a bit after the major flooding.
As soon as we could get out we went to Peter's mums and had a shower and washed hair haha. The simple things were what we wanted. We charged our mobiles - not that it was much use then as we didn't really get service until Friday due to dropping in and out and us having no home phone service.
Floods bring out good and bad in people. A lot of people were stranded at our local shops unable to get home. They were sleeping in their cars. When hubby went up early wednesday morning he offered for those there to come back to our place. They decided not to but went to the evacuation centre, which had power. But when saying to a person in the area about it, their reply was "but they would eat your food". I'm sorry but I don't get this attitude. I also don't get how some shop keepers could charge $10 for a loaf of bread or $20 for milk. This was on the radio with people complaining about the costs.
Thankfully the good override the bad though. We had lots of laughs, wine and bbq's with neighbours. Shock at friends who have lost everything as their houses went completely under in Karalee. Its as Ryan said, we have food, our home and each other. A lot more than some have. He said it was like camping at home lol.
Oh now if your wondering how we became burglers. Our neighbours still can't get home. Feeding the cat, hubby noticed the liquids coming from the fridge due to food rotting and the smell. Knowing we had to get in, we found a way to break in and clean out their fridges, freezers etc. When I rang and told them they were so grateful. It was the one thing they were dreading as a friend of theirs had gone home to find maggots everywhere. The relief in their voices was so worth break and enter lol.
For now Black Hawkes flew in a big generator for our area, which hopefully will last until they can fix the problem with the transformer. Until it is though, we won't be buying any food to stock up the fridge and freezer.
Unforunately Jade's work went right under water and until they can get it up and running again she is out of a job. The agency Troy has his appreniceship through is also flooded and not working for a while yet. Thankfully the government has set up help for them and those like them.
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