The water is rising

Mary: "I always thought our first evacuation would be for a bush fire."

This is a flood map of our suburb. The light-blue shading indicates where the flood water will flow over land and which streets are likely to be under water during a flood event.


I believe the map is based on a 50 year flood event but I can't be bothered to verify that. It doesn't matter because the flood event we are currently living through is predicted to exceed the recorded maps which were based on the 1974 flood.

As you can see, our house is not in a light-blue shaded area. That is a good thing. However, it will take only a few metres of flood level to exceed this and put our house knee deep in water. I am confident (or living in denial) that it will not happen and we will go home to a nice dry house which has not been picked over by looters.

The more important thing the map shows is that it is difficult to get out of our suburb if the waters rise to this level.

Last night, I told Mary that if the water rose over Burrendah Road we would get out of the house. That happened last night after 8:00 and at 8:30 the police went around knocking on doors telling people to prepare to evacuate.

We are fortunate to have many options available to us, and we chose the most fun. We are staying with our friends Tim and Bindi, who graciously are hosting us for the few days it takes for this to pass.

In the mean time, my paternity leave has been extended for a few days and I get to stay home and wear comfortable clothing.

On a lighter note, Cole and Cora and I spent some time hiking and swimming at the ocean during the holiday. Cole attempted to body surf and is learning to handle big waves. Cora was reluctant to get on the boogie board we got her for Christmas, but after I threw her on a wave she was hooked. By the end of the day she was catching her own rides and ignoring my pleas to stay near the surf life savers.