Kindness of Strangers

When our house was flooded we did have some help from many total strangers. On the days after the flood I had some people from down the street, who had noticed that I was on my own and struggling to get any our wrecked furniture out on the street to be picked up.  The next thing I knew I had a house full of people all wanting to help, and we had a lot of the furniture out that day. (See picture on previous blog posting). 

The next day we had a team of young guys (from the Gold Coast) who went through the house and pulled up all the carpet.  That was a really big help and something that was way beyond my resources to do on my own. The following day we had the SES (State Emergency Services) come in and cleaned the house of mud and disinfect the floors.  (SES in Australia are all volunteers, and do a great job for any emergency in Australia).

Some other people just showed up and helped, we had two older couples come in and help clean up, washing lots of our effected kitchen items and packed them in boxes.  The president of the Ipswich Arts Society (Helen) came to help on another day. A total stranger from Sydney (Grant), who had come up to help was assigned to me through contact with the Ipswich Council. He was a great help in the last week, as now we are no longer the latest news. 

We do not have a family network here in Ipswich and Brisbane, so outside help was the only way we could even start to get the job done of trying to get our home and lives back to normal.  We still have a long way to go, many people have been praying for us and that has been a source of great comfort and blessing!

MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO HELPED AND ARE HELPING US COPE WITH THIS FLOOD.

There were and are many people who are in a lot worse situation than we are, and our thoughts are with them.  Many people are uninsured or are having problems getting any sort of claim accepted.  The Ipswich Council is taking any case that they can to the Insurance Council trying to make sure everyone gets a fair go!

I will post some more pictures in near future!

Sad Mess of Our Wrecked Household Belongings

When we arrived back at the house, we found that the flood water had wrecked more than you would think of most of the fittings and furniture in the house.  A lot of modern furniture is made of particle board that just soaks up the water and then grows mould.  Mould is a long term trouble, as we now have mould in the walls and that will have to be fixed before we can move back into the house. 

 I have a number of bookcases that I had not throw out, that now have totally disintegrated where the water has soaked in and I have a number of books that are now growing some bright yellow mould.  All books on the bottom row of all my bookcases are ruined.

I will recommence painting very soon, as I have a couple of good photos of the Bremer River, showing all the high flood marks which I am sure will make for some interesting paintings.

Flood at the end of our Street

This is a photo that I took of the end of our street, after the flood.  The waters are receding and the house you can see was totally covered at the height of the flood. Our house is some 7 or 8 houses up the hill of our street and we still had water through the house, and that was enough to ruin a lot of our furniture and fittings.  There is mould now in the walls and that whole inside dry wall sheets will have to be replaced. Our street is a cul de sac so we had to drive through two feet of water to exit through rising water and exit by an emergency gate.

House Flooded in Brisbane Floods

Hi Folks, You may be wondering why I have not posted any art work on my blog in the last month.  My wife and I are victims of the flooding that has affected many people in Brisbane these last 3 / 4 weeks.  I will be posting some pictures of our street to show the extent of the damage that muddy stinking water, soaking everything in your home can do!  We lost about 70% of our stuff.  I managed to save all my art works! My wife and I did lose some treasures and we are trying to get our life back together again.  We are still better off than some people who have lost loved ones, and all their possessions. We have been blessed with the help of total strangers and we still are getting help from folk who have appeared from 'nowwhere'.  Bless them all!!!  We also thank all the concern, prayers and support for us from friends and family!