Video about how Australian horses and horse owners have been affected by floods

Read a piece on the internet about a stud where 80 standardbreds drowned. Photo of one standing in water up to her chest and I thought _ I just know what comes next. Our girl is a standardbred and a double for the one in the picture. Heartbreaking.
 
It is very very sad. And it will take years to recover, from many levels, loss of livestock, crops, homes. What I find really disgusting is the lack of coverage by any of the UK news channels. We have seen one brief mention since Yasi hit, and that was at the start of the cyclone hitting land. FOX & CNN news has had more than any British channel. Come on BBC, ITV, SKY...Australia is part of the commonwealth for goodness sake, it should and does matter to us.
 
I have a friend who lives 40 miles north of Brisbane who was keeping me updated all through the floods (she was flooded out but has been working in the far north of the State helping victims of Cyclone Yasi!) In the UK, we got very sanitised reports of the floods; she told me about one their news reports of the mudslides in Toowoomba showing a woman watching her 3 horses get swept away by the mudslide. They just disappeared. I can't begin to imagine what that poor woman went through.
 
This is an email I received yesterday from my friend:
Hi everyone, Apologies again for not writing to you all individually !!! Just thought I would let you know about my experience in Far North Qld where the cyclone hit last Thursday.

Thursday afternoon
Returned to the office after doing some interviews in the gold coast, a usual day for me.......... Walked in the door and was asked by my boss if I was able to go to Far north Qld to help with transferring the residents from the evacuation centre to the nursing home in Townsville. I had heard that there was flooding there but nothing too major and agreed to go. Was told to go home and pack and someone would ring me to let me know what flight I was catching as no flights were entering the airport as Townsville airport was closed as there was no electricity etc and they would have to get me on a military plane.

Friday morning
Received a phone call from one of the disaster officers who told me that Qantas had put on an extra flight for relief workers and that I needed to be at the airport at 8am. I was already on the road having left at my usual time of 5.30am so went straight to the airport. Met up with about 7 other staff members from the organisation I work for called Blue Care. We are a not for profit ( charity) organisation.
Arrived at Townsville at 10.30am and the airport looked like a war zone, military everywhere, Chinook helicopters being loaded with supplies etc. Picked up two hire cars, and drove another half an hour to the nursing home. The nursing home was right across from the beach and was swarming with military and SES. The beach was a mess, trees strewn everywhere. The building had been approved safe to enter so it was all hands on deck to get the building ready for the 120 residents that had been evacuated on Tuesday night to the local evacuation centre about 20 minutes away. It was an amazing site, military everywhere, on rooves, with big trucks, fire hoses, tree cutting equipment etc, just looked like a movie set.
The plan was that we would all stay in a hotel in Townsville that had a generator so we would have hot water, a comfy bed etc. However plan B kicked in when they found out that a nursing home about an hour and a half away was having horrendous staffing problems as the area was starting to flood and staff could not get out or get in. A handful of staff had been there for 48 hours with no rest and it was decided that we would be transported in to give the staff a break and stay until the floods had subsided. We knew that the main highway had been cut off due to the floods but we had spoken to the SES and they had advised that they would let us through providing we had a 4 wheel drive. We managed to track a community care coordinator down who had a 4 wd drive who was able to try and get us through. We were told that we would probably be able to get us in but would not know when they could get us out!!! Very reassuring as I had only packed 4 pairs of knickers!! We were also told that the floods were developing around the home and in flood times the home becomes an island and the only way to reach it is by boat. Well you all know how much I like little boats!! Not!!!! There was also no phone networks working so I was given a satellite phone so we had contact with the outside world.
Eventually we got all our things together and headed for a local distribution centre to purchase additional supplies for the home as no one had been able to access it. We must have taken most of their stock which was left which was very limited and comprised of about 60 bottles of water, baked beans, tinned vegetable some pasta and some milk. Luckily we had the head of catering with us, who is very good cook and is very inventive!!! Just outside the town of Ingham the road was closed and there were about 60 cars stuck on the highway wanting to get through but couldn’t. We were allowed through and then about 20 minutes down the road were confronted with a high street that was covered in deep water, it just looked like a lake. Now if I had been with Geoff we would never have attempted crossing it, as you are always told never to cross flood waters as they flow very quickly and can over turn a vehicle or just float away with the current. Just like the coverage on the television! As you can imagine it was very scary, not only because we could have drowned but the area was prone to crocodiles and brown snakes!!!!! The journey took us about 10 minutes and we were all very quiet, hoping that the 4 wheel drive would get us to safe ground. I have taken some photos which I will send you later, the water came up to the doors and actually created a large wave as we went through. It felt just like we were in a boat. Very much relieved and after a few prayers!!! We managed to get to the home, which had flood water all around it.
The staff made us very welcome and were just so pleased to see us, they were all very tired. We were shown our accommodation which comprised of two rooms, the chapel and the hairdressing room. The chapel did not have any power, was boiling hot, as remember we were by this time in the tropics, and had a huge puddle of water from the leaking ceiling!!!! The hairdressing room was much the same. The cook and I bunked in the hairdressing room( after tossing a coin!), with two mattresses, no sheets as they had run out of clean ones and just a pillow. As Plan A comprised of staying in a hotel I had not bought any towels and no night dress!!!! At least the home had a small generator so the hairdressing room had a ceiling fan which distributed hot air around which was better than nothing. There was no mains water so we had to wash by bucket, and flush the toilets with buckets. The shower area was full of creepy crawlies and a cold shower were shared with baby green tree frogs!! This was nothing short of camping!!! We were without water for two days and then on the 3rd day mains water was connected but not drinkable and had to be boiled. That day we all worked on the floor and didn’t finish shift until 11.30pm and only got a couple of hours sleep before getting up again at 5am for the morning and afternoon shift. I became nurse Tucker again, being the only registered nurse on duty, which was quite daunting as I have not nursed for over 30 years and equipment has changed dramatically. Luckily there were other nurses on site so I was able to assist with the dressings and general nursy tasks. I now know why I became a manager!!
Saturday
Worked from 6.30am to 6pm. One of the Fijian staff brought in a Karaoke machine for us so we managed to find a bottle of wine in the kitchen and karaoked for a couple of hours in the evening
Sunday
Worked from 6.30am to 5pm, one of the staffs husbands brought us in a couple of bottles of wine to say thank you!!
Monday
It was agreed that as the floods were subsiding we would leave on the 4.30pm flight. We were not needed for work that morning so the night staff who had brought in the karaoke machine took us for a drive in his 4 wheel drive to show us the devastation that had been caused around the surrounding neighbour hoods. What a mess!! Left at lunch time, had lunch in Townsville and then flew home and arrived at home at about 8pm. I had my first hot shower which was just wonderful!!!!

Going to Ingham was such a great experience, we heard first hand what it was actually like to live through a cyclone and believe me it was such a terrifying experience. I am just so amazed as to how resistive those people are and how they did not complain about having no electricity and water. Communities just worked together. They took it I turn to have BBQ’s and whole streets brought the little food they had to one household for a communal bbq. They never complained once about sleeping on mattresses on the floor and just treated it as all in a days work. I also cannot believe how many snakes there are around the home, as it is surrounded by paddock land, one nurse told me that she entered into a residents room one day and was confronted by a brown snake who reared up at her!! Several times a day in the summer they have to call the snake catcher, who is also part of the local firebrigde. One member of staff told us that there was a 6ft croc in her garden on Sunday when she left for work!!!! I just cannot imagine living like that, but I suppose this is true Blue Australia.
My experience has been good as it has taught me to treasure what I have and never take for granted hot water and electricity!!!!
We have now heard there are another couple of cyclones forming, Perth is having dreadful forest fires, Melbourne is under water, luckily the Aussies won the cricket. How much more can Australia take!!
Despite news coverage reporting that the damage to peoples homes was not as bad as they thought it would be, the situation is still dire as many have lost rooves, belongings, are still in floods, have no power and drinking water and may not have for several weeks. I think because only one person died the media have not reported the full extent of the devastation and I am pleased that I had the opportunity to see it first hand and be able to assist the staff to ensure that the residents were well cared for . In Townsville , which is a major city, they are still without power, so traffic lights are not working, sewerage is building up and everything is starting to smell!!
My boss has given me the rest of the week off to rest, so I am hoping that when I get back things will be back to normal!!
As they say, all in a days work!!!!
 
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