Today, most of eastern Australia (an area roughly the same size as Western Europe) is under water after weeks of torrential rain.

In particular, the city of Brisbane, which is home to over 2 million people and many Planeteers (and my Mum), is without power and virtually cut off after the Brisbane River and its tributaries broke their banks.

So far more than 10 people are dead and at least 80 are missing.

The experts are claiming these are the worst floods in living memory, and unfortunately, we haven't seen the worst of them yet. River levels are still rising and hundreds of communities along the east coast are being evacuated.

To all my brother modellers over in Queensland, I wish you all the best over the coming days and send you our best wishes.

Ironically, here in Western Australia, 2,500 kms from the floods, we are experiencing our driest year on record and our biggest danger is from bush fires.

Oh, and as if things aren't bad enough, we have a massive tropical cyclone forming off the coast to our north.

Welcome to 2011.

Sorry to hear that Tony - we wish you all the best and safety weathering this flood and eminent cyclone.

I've been watching this closely on the news as I have several long time friends there. Sad to say, have not heard from them in several weeks. Keep us posted on what you know and hear Tony. Much appreciated.

Thanks Gordy, Guy and Carl,

I just had an email from Alan Mackie (alamac) who lives in Brisbane. He's safe and hoping his house is far enough from the nearest river to escape the floods, but obviously its going to be a nerve racking couple of days. My Mum's OK too.

More than 20,000 residential properties in Brisbane are expected to be inundated over the coming 24 hours.

Unfortunately the number of missing people has risen to 90 overnight and the flooding is expected to get worse over the next 48 hours.

Ta Tony - from the trench -this is no fire drill - I lived thru the 1974 floods and they were bad but these are half a metre higher - does not seem much but that takes out another 1000 homes - we already have loss of life. I am working as emergency staff in the CBD the river is huge and Angry - Please be in prayers for those in Low llying areas Most of us hear Almac,Phil walden are ok will give feedback on others as I contact them
Ian (Submariner Brisbane)

I too have been following this closely!

Hope all you guys and your families and friends there are safe!

Mark

Our prayers go out to you all.
John and Maureen.

Sorry to hear about this! Hope all our PF friends and their families are safe!

All the best,
Dan

The flood waters continue to rise around Brisbane today and as night approaches the fear is that more rain is on its way. The death toll has risen to 12 and the fear is that scores more bodies will be recovered in the days to come. Still more than 50 people unaccounted for.

Brisbane is Australia's third largest city and hundreds of thousands of local residents are anxiously watching the skies and hoping for some relief.

As far as I know, all Planeteers in Brisbane are OK, but I'll keep checking in with them over the next day or two and continue to update everyone.

I just spoke to Phil Walden, who lives in Brisbane, and he tells me that all the Planeteers he knows in the flood affected areas are safe and well. Let's hope it stays that way.

Hope things improve soon Tony.

The BBC have been covering the floods regularly on the UK News & the footage has shown some of the terrible damage & hair-raising rescues. Pleased to hear that the Planeteers are all ok.

Hope things work out ok for all the planeteers and other residents of the affected area's. Been following on the news over here.

Barrie.

Hi everyone,

Thankfully it would appear that the flood waters that have inundated Brisbane in the past 48 hours have peaked,and so long as they don't get any more rain should start to subside soon. Sadly over 25,000 homes have been flooded and 15 people have died and another 50 or so remain unaccounted for.

In the scheme of things, this has been one of the worst natural disasters in Australian history, but thankfully loss of life and damage to property have been minimised through careful planning and the exceptional efforts of the emergency services and the military.

Compared to the thousands of people who died in similar floods in the Philippines last week, the folks in Queensland have been incredibly lucky.

Promising news Tony and we wish you all well -

I lived through hurricane Alica in the early '80's in Houston, Texas and we had massive flooding as well, the largest threat was not the hurricane or spinoff tornadoes but the disease/stagnant ridden water and the marine life, alligators, snakes, etc that had access to suburban areas due to flooded creeks and bayous. The aftermath was the worst sad to say.

I spent 10 weeks training in the RAAF base in Towoomba and it was a lovely town.Just hope it gets up and running again asap.Knowing you Aussies you'll survive this catastrophe and prosper with your true grit attitude.
Brian

Stay safe Tony, normal days are coming.

Just jump in. Saw it at the news a few minutes ago. Following it every day.
What i see is just horror. In your wildest dreams this doesn't happen.
Stay safe my friends.

Marc

Disasters such as the floods in Queensland are an opportunity to see the true nature and spirit of your people.

The heartening thing is to see and hear stories of people who have volunteered to take in flood refugees to their homes, donate money, food, clothing, help to care for pets, stray animals and livestock and to go out of their way to see that other people are being cared for.

Thousands of people in and around Brisbane are homeless and hundreds of thousands of people are without electricity, and yet the population is calm, resolute and working together in a great spirit of community. Those people who are OK are volunteering their time and energy to assist those people who have been affected, and countless good deeds are being performed every minute.

As Gordy rightly points out, the aftermath of such a major disaster can often be just as bad as the disaster itself. Drinking water supplies have been contaminated with sewerage and disease is a real danger for some communities that are still inundated and cut off by road.

Just as we saw when those horrific bushfires devastated large parts of Victoria in 2009, adversity reveals our true spirit and the nature of our national character.

Thanks to everyone for your kind words and good wishes.

What is the flooding status?

Incidentally, I learned, the folks that are cutting the FotY award are the same folks that fabricate the dehumidifiers being sent to Australia... http://www.formerfab.com subcontracted by http://rentdh.com