During the afternoon we also lost phone service, both landline and mobile. I have Optus for my mobile and Telstra for my internet wireless and neither would work. The loss of all services apart from battery operated wireless or radios really brought home our total dependence on technology.
As for us, we broke out the generator to keep the fridge cold and the computer charged. The point was lost with the latter however when the internet went down and it no longer provided a means of information updates. We were relying solely on ABC Radio for flood updates. Although we weren't personally affected, we obviously know many people in the areas that were being inundated.
We drove out to Gower East this morning to check on the roads and floodwater going down the Avoca there. It was just a huge inland sea, but it had dropped from the previous high water marks that were readily visible. We also travelled to Coonoer Bridge via the hill country. Again, the water was rushing through and well outside the banks of the Avoca. You can see images on the video and photos below. The muddy looking image is a yabby trying to get out of the flood waters. There were many of them just on the edge of the waters trying to crawl out.
Despite all this, Wedderburn had almost returned to normal this morning, apart from the power outages of course. The sound of lawn mowers in action echoed throughout the town as residents came to grips with the surge of lawn growth as a result of the rain all week.
UPDATE Sunday 16th January
I was not able to post this entry yesterday due to there being no internet. The sun has been shining this morning and as it was our motorcycle club monthly ride we headed down the highway to Bridgewater as most other roads were either closed or damaged making them somewhat unsafe for bikes.
There was only one lot of water across the road between Inglewood and Bridgewater, but it was shallow and easily negotiated. The service station at Bridgewater where we often have coffee was open, but had no phones and no coffee either! Cool drinks and fuel were available, but only cash transactions as the bank machines were down.
Bridgewater was a mess, but we kept to the outskirts as there were several people in town getting fresh water. The river was running extremely fast, but was almost back within its banks. The motel was cleaning out all their rooms which had obviously been waterlogged. It seems that it is pretty much all over now in this area except for the huge clean up. The damage to personal property and infrastructure has been vast and the latest reports are that this has been the 1 in a 100 year flood.
