Grafton flood

Grafton flood

While the rain is pouring outside, I'm snug and warm inside behind the computer writing this blog. I am not one of the thousands of people who had to leave their home and possession to leave for higher grounds. Only a few miles away and some people are in real trouble with the raising water damaging their homes.


I am grateful that I can hear the thunder outside and still have electricity as many people are doing without. The fallen trees and the debris have made chaos and lots of damage. The darkness of the night creeps in. It is scaring of not knowing if the levee bank is holding up or not. At mid night the Clarence river is expected to reach its peak. The fear of the water inundated the town is real. On the television and radio you don’t hear anything else. You need to be prepared and be ready to move. The alarm on the local radio is still giving me cold shivers as the next alert to evacuate is announced.


The next day.
The light of sunshine is a welcome change; just see the sun appearing after hiding behind the heavy clouds for days. People seem to be happier again to know that the river did not go over the bank. Lots of us are looking at the riverbank to see such an amount of water. Yes we might be isolated but we are dry and well. We have to do without the extra supplies as our supermarkets are getting very empty. The supermarkets were very busy days before the wet, as everyone was getting some supplies. It just looked like a big social party as young children and many workers did their shopping.


Our animals
Lots of cattle had to be shifted to higher ground as many paddocks went under water. On my land which was higher than my next door neighours we had some cattle visiting us. Seven fine looking steers decided to leave their wet paddocks. With the creek running and some debris damage the fence which broke down, it was easy for the cattle to escape. So we had to witness some fine farmers skills as my neighbour was trying to tempt his cattle home with some hay. They liked the hay but didn’t want to follow him. Later with the use of his Ute and dogs he managed to keep the cattle contained on our top paddock.


The flood is not over yet but at least the rain has slowed down. The people are still advise not to come home yet as the other towns are under threat now.