Waters rising, not knowing we were safe

The Stanton Family

We live in Collingwood Park. We watched the water rising around us, not knowing if we were safe, or should we go, as our suburb wasn't around in 74, so we had nothing to go off. We stayed, the waters rose and cut us off.. we were and island. No Power, phones dead, mobiles out of charge, no tv, we didn't have a radio..so stressed didn't even think about the car radio.. We had just had our freezer filled with meat from our Chrisco delivery, and it was all going off. The shelves at the shops were bare. We didn't own a bbq, so we had to smash the kitchen chairs to build a fire to cook, one shop charged us $10 for two 1.25l bottles of coke but it was hot, we paid. The waters went away, but our babies still have nightmares. The Stanton Family

In memory of Steven, Sandra and Samuel

Sylvia Graham

I lost my Sister and brother in law Steven and Sandra Matthews on January 10 at Toowoomba Qld only 6 months later we lost their son Samual who saved his sister in their home only to come back to try and save his parents to find they had gone Samuel Matthew was killed on his property on July 27th 2011. This year has been the hardest I was so close to my sister and sometimes spent Christmas with them now we are going to be alone,and sad I cannot still get it through what has happened. 

Standing together on the land

The Salvation Army

“A lot of farmers that you talk to in this area, you can see that they are severely traumatised and depressed through what’s happened … and, tragically, some have even turned to suicide…
– Captain Mark Bulow, Toowoomba

The ‘inland Tsunami’ that devastated the city of Toowoomba, Queensland, in January made headlines around the world. However it’s the farming communities around the city that are finding it hardest to recover, according to Salvation Army Captain Mark Bulow. Mark says one of the greatest concerns is the fact that the large cotton farming communities in areas such as Millmerran and Cecil Plains (Queensland) had already received advance ‘forward’ payment for crops that were then destroyed by floods.

Many farmers have been overwhelmed: “They’d been very excited – this was going to be a bumper crop. They thought they were going to break out of some of the debt they were in, but it has just put them further into debt,” Mark says.

Mark and a local council representative have visited around 65 families on farms– offering a listening ear and some financial help. They drove 9000 kilometres in the first few days after the flooding, and many thousands following.“There’s a huge need out there,”... read more

Standing together for the long haul

The Salvation Army

“Cyclone Yasi not only left people without homes, but also without jobs. People are struggling to make ends meet and it’s going to take a long, long time for this area to recover,”
– Major Merv Holland, Cyclone Relief, Coordinator, Tully Nth Queensland.

Yasi struck on 3 February with devastating fury, taking everything in its path on the Cassowary coast of North Queensland. Whole houses have disappeared, roofs, walls, windows, contents, cane and banana crops, flora, fauna and roads were swept away in the 300 kilometre per hour winds. Latest damage estimates exceed $1.5 billion.

The Salvation Army reached devastated towns like Tully and Cardwell as soon as the roads opened – even feeding people stuck in roadblocks on the way there.When the initial crisis response wound down and emergency services personnel moved out, The Salvation Army stayed to help rebuild the lives of devastated locals. Janet and her two teenage children survived Yasi unscathed physically, but not so emotionally. With the banana plantations in the area decimated, the box factory where Janet worked shut down. Although she still had a part-time job at a local café, her income dropped by a whopping 60 percent and soon she was unable to... read more

Standing together in crisis

The Salvation Army

“It’s horrific out here; I just can’t put into words what we’re seeing. But the resilience of people is amazing and in the middle of the anxiety and grief, people are trying to stay positive.” Salvation Army Major Margaret Dobbie in Ipswich at the height of the flood emergency Salvation Army volunteers George and Linda Clarke knew their house was flooded, but that wasn’t going to stop them from serving meals at the emergency evacuation centre in Ipswich.

“There are so many other people who were just so much worse off than what we were,” George says. Eleven days earlier an emergency team from The Salvation Army Ipswich, including George and Linda, had responded to the call to fly to Rockhampton when severe flooding hit the central Queensland city. They spent the next ten days serving 400 meals a day, non-stop. “I don’t know what I would do if our place went under water,” Linda remembers saying to her husband George as she served meals to the people of Rockhampton who had lost everything. Soon afterwards, the team was advised to return home to Ipswich, as the city braced for the floods to come.

Once there, George and Linda became stranded... read more