the house looks as good as new
the newly clean front door
just like new
we can see the floor again
the kitchen takes shape
the bathroom
the clean steps
The house will survive. The kitchen and bathroom will need to be rebuilt and all the appliances replaced, but we were lucky. The water didn’t get to the top floor and the ground floor is tiled rather than carpeted, so in a little while the house will be back to normal.
The most amazing thing that happened yesterday was that so many people turned up to help. We had offers all day. We were handling the clean up with family and friends so we sent most of the willing strangers on to others. The intire area was swarming with people who were there to clean up.
A wonderful family member brought a very welcome lunch.
lunch
lunch break
A neighbour was walking about with a fruit platter. Their house was not affected, but they wanted to do something to help. As well as this somebody had set up a sausage sizzle up the road and kind souls were delivering sausages in bread to the workers.
the sausage deliverers
Because we were in so early, our house was one of the first cleaned up, but out in the streets the massive clean up will continue for days.
boys from the army borrowed our hose to start getting rid of the mud from the street
pushing the mud back to the river or into drains
using road signs to shift the mud
the road signs proved to be very effective
By the end of the day on Friday there were hundreds of people in the streets around us helping in the clean up. On Saturday more that 12,000 volunteers had registered in Brisbane and were sent out in shifts using council buses. This doesn’t include friends and family and people who just turned up to help. People turned up with buckets and brooms ready to get stuck in. Others were standing by with food and cold drinks for the workers. Most volunteers had not been personally affected by the flood, but wanted to hop in and help clean up their city.
the postman arrives
In the middle of all of this the postie turned up to deliver the mail. The mail must go out and life goes on.
On Saturday the streets were filled with workers again to tackle the mud. The council moved in quickly with equipment and trucks to moved the muddy rubbish away. The organisation was excellent.
the clean up continues
lots of willing hands
buckets and brooms everywhere
By Sunday morning a remarkable amount of work had been done. Many streets were reasonably clean and almost back to normal.
the street looks pretty good
still lots of workers about
this is the street cleaned of mud with the road signs
a Sunday morning sausage sizzle for the workers and those in homes without power
donated items available for those who have lost everything
This will be the last post on the flood. I am going back to Italy soon. Before I leave I will get some photos of some of the areas that were covered by water, so we can see the recovery. Thank you to all those who have expressed concern over the last few days. Imagine how awful it would be if you had to face this alone.
December 2011 update – Most of our cleaning was of little use. The walls buckled and oozed mud a week later, all the fittings fell off the walls and everything on the ground floor had to be replaced. The renovation was completed last week, more than 11 months after the flood. We were lucky, we had insurance.