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Australia/Queensland coast Floods, please spare a thought

2K views 14 replies 3 participants last post by  veggiegirl 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey there,

Some of you may have heard about the floods in Australia, well in our area the floods are way worse than any previous floods on record!!!!!

We went to town on Friday and it was already pouring down, we had to go to get supplies but we also had to hurry in case the roads got cut off and we couldn't get home. The water in our tank that I usually use for the bettas was for some reason making them sick so I had to get some water from town for the week. I was standing there in the pelting rain while I filled up the two containers and heaved them back to the car. That't what I call dedication!lol

I had been waiting all week to go to town because I knew the petshop was due for a new shipment of fancy bettas..... mum said we could spare 10 minutes. When I got there I was like a kid in a candy shop!!!! SO many gorgeous new fish......if only I had more tanks and money!!!!! I ended up buying three.

1. Green and yellow mustard gas rosetail (Masked)
2. Purple gas super delta big ears
3. pink/gold bodied dragon with yellow fins (Doubletail Halfmoon)

We got home in plenty of time the roads did not shut until the next day. When I got home however on the news it said that the weather was to get a lot worse and temperatures were going to drop. I did the only thing I could and put the new fish in the barracks tank with my others..... big mistake! the Gold dragon DT HM was breathing very fast and within 24hrs his caudal was starting to break away, obviously parasites and now all 7 fish were probably infected. I couldn't even remove him from the tank as I didn't have another heater for him. I did a 50% water change and added some multicure which is supposed to treat parasites though I don't know how effective it will be but it was all I had and I didn't want to do nothing.

To make matters worse we lost power and was without it for 48 hours.... I had to clean my bettas tank before I could medicate and the water I had to add was cold.... I had no way to heat it because the power was off. Thankfully 24 hours on they look okay. The power is now on and their heaters are working. I really hope that the medication works.... the last thing I want is for my beautiful new bettas to get fin damage beyond repair :( I will post pictures of them as soon as possible but it may be a while..... My camera batteries died and so did the charger so I have to wait until I can buy a new one and that may be quite a while with the terrible floods.

Yesterday morning was terrible I woke at 1 am to the sound of rain pelting down on the roof..... I began to get really anxious and stressed...... the water was already rising over our property and it had been pouring all night making things so much worse. I was worried about the horses incase the flood water reached the stables and about my 200 budgies in the aviary outside. I just could not get back to sleep and at 3 am the winds started to get really strong..... a short distance from us the town had had 7 tornadoes and I was stressing we were next. At 20 to 4 am I got up out of bed.... the winds became really destructive, the house was shaking and the tree above my bed room was making loud cracking noises.

By that stage everyone was up and we rushed around gathering some clothes in case we had to leave, it was really dark and we didn't all have a torch. I felt strangely numb I wasn't worried about my possessions most of the could be replaced but I did not want to lose my photos and the memories that they bring but most of all I was worried about my pets. I have so so many 200+ birds (all pets) a horse, a cat, pet mice and a pet rat, of course my 7 bettas.... I couldn't leave them and yet again it would be totally impossible to carry them all. It was the worst feeling in the world I felt so numb like everything was happening in slow motion and I didn't know what to do. All I can say is the the relief when the winds gradually died down was incredible.

Our road is flooded and I mean worse than it has ever been, the water is so deep I cannot even contemplate it. We are on 15 acres and over 10 of those acres are completely flooded..... must be 10 metres deep in places and yet the water continues to rise. We have lived here for 23 years and seen nothing like this. Australia had severe floods in 2010 and they were nothing to this.... the levels are higher than any on record.

Our place is in a gully (not so good for floods) however we are on a sort of hill within the gully and the water would have to rise quite a few metres before it would affect the house. Right now my main concern is the stables and aviarys but again the water would need to rise a few metres yet. I am desperately hopeing that the water reaches it's peak really soon but the water is supposed to continue to rise for days yet and I am getting really nervous we have no where else to put the horses and where would I put 200+ birds? Right now all I can do is hope for the best..... our place is unrecognizable..... the roads are flooded and our property is a river and still the water continues to rise, we are so lucky that we got to town on Friday and stocked u on supplies for us and the animals so we will be fine as far as that goes.....

It sounds bad when you read all that and believe me it is however we are some of the lucky ones...... people have died and others have lost everything that they own the water is rising more and more and people in town have been warned that their houses will be swept away in the rapid like waters...... helicopters have been sent in to rescue people but there are those that are not in a situation to be rescued..... it is becoming a terrible nightmare.... I feel so much sorrow for those who are worse off than us and then there are the animals that lay forgotten about waiting for the worst it just makes me want to cry........ this sort of thing just doesn't happen, it seems so unreal.

I guess I just wanted everyone to know what terrible things are happening here, things beyond our control. The area is officially a disaster zone and now the river has just burst it's banks.

Please send your thoughts to those who so desperately need them...........
 
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#2 ·
I'm down in Melbourne and I can't believe that the top half of our country is in flood and the bottom half is facing out of control bushfires.

Fingers crossed that the peak is reached before it gets to your birds and horses. Can't imagine how devastating it is to have something like that happen. It hasn't even been that long since the last lot of floods crippled QLD.

Hope you and your menagerie manage to stay safe.
 
#3 ·
Thankyou:) I know it is just so hard to believe that while we are facing such terrible floods there are those faced by the terrible bush fires, I love living in Australia but gees talk about harsh conditions. I have lived here 23 years and up until the black saturday fires I had never heard of such devistation...... now it seems to be a regular thing..... be it fires, floods or whatever. It's scary cause you never know what is coming next.
 
#4 ·
Wow, veggiegirl! I'm so sorry you have to go through this! You will definitely be in my prayers.

I have horses too, but we board them 12 miles away, during bad weather I am always stressing out that they will be swept away by a tornado, and there would be no way to save them. So I understand how you feel. I hope the water level doesn't rise much more!
 
#5 ·
Hey aemaki09, thankyou for your thoughts, it is such a horrible feeling knowing there is not a lot you can do for the horses..... luckily they are safe at the moment but the water continues to rise and the stables are the first building they will reach if it goes that high. My welsh mare is my baby I have had her for about 14 years and have grown up with her, then there are mums horses too. I pray they are safe, the budgie aviary is just behind the stables and I am worried about my birds... some of them have babies too but it is hard to find alternative accommodation for 200 budgies. If I am desperate I would catch them all and put them in the breeding cages and bring them up to the house but they would be so crowded and fight and then there are the ones with babies. If the water reaches the stables I guess we will have to bring the horses up to the house and try to find somewhere to tie them..... trouble is my mare is a lunatic and will not stand quietly but rear and go crazy... she is already really freaked out from the water below the stables.......

I really feel for you having your horses so far away and not knowing........ I am lucky in that respect and can keep them on our property but we have no float and the roads are flooded so apart from move them to as high a ground as possible and tie them to a tree there is not much else we can do because we have no other paddocks and my mare goes through fences barbed wire and all. All I can do is hope that the water stops soon but doesn't seem like it will for days yet, I still can't believe this is happening.

That is the worst thing about having so many pets.....especially large ones like horses..... you can't always take them with you if you need to evacuate but how can we possibly leave them. Now if I just had a cat I could carry it and take it with us...... still I couldn't live without them all and hopefully it won't come to being evacuated.

Thankyou again for your thoughts, it is much appreciated:)
 
#6 ·
Do you guys use picket lines in austrailia? Basically one long line that you tie between two trees, then tie the horses to that line. It gives them a bit more movement as they can move between the trees, and still be near each other. Just a thought in case you do need to move them. Also if all else fails you can let them loose. 90% of horses know where home is and will return, or won't stray far from their home.
As for the budgies, I have no recommendations for them sadly. Other than putting them in the cages as you suggested. Hopefully they won't fight too much. Or you could move them into your garage if you have one and use that as a temporary aviary.

Hoping things don't get any worse.
 
#7 ·
Hey there,

I haven't heard of the picket lines before but they sound like a good idea, still don't know how my mare would go tied to it though, I would be worried that she might snap the line or get caught up in it because of her highly strung nature it is likely she would panic.....

Anyhow great news.... the river peaked at 9.53 metres yesterday and it is rapidly falling so we are safe this time at least. I can't help but worry about future floods though...... 2011 the flood came up to 7.5 metres and this year had a significant increase. We had thought the 2011 floods was a one off but less than two years later we have had to deal with even worse conditions. Another couple of metres and it would have reached the stables, I can only hope that we have no worse floods in the future......
 
#8 ·
I'm so glad that you and all your pets are safe!!!

Picket lines are safer for tying high strung horses than just tying them straight to trees because it gives them the entire length between the 2 trees to panic and move inline tying to a tree would give them maybe like 4" total.

Here is a decent link about them. I think this guy ground ties, but I thin tying to trees is safer just because its less likely for them to get their feet caught and one of my mares is terrified of ropes around her feet.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zuxDLioO1GA&desktop_uri=/watch?v=zuxDLioO1GA
 
#9 ·
Actually. Disregaurd that video, we tie between two trees above the horses heads, and put a rope on that line that can slide from one tree to another that is hooked to the halter, not their foot.
I should have watched the entire video before posting
 
#11 ·
I understand, but doing this in an emergency would be safer than tying up on a short lead, or just letting them loose IMO. I wouldn't do it on a horse that was spooky unless. I had little to no other options.
 
#13 ·
Oh yes in an emergency situation I agree far better option than setting them free etc and if possible I would stand there with her to calm her.

Thanks LittleBettaFish :), the river actually broke all previous records and rose much higher than expected but I am so thankful that we and the pets were safe. We were the lucky ones..... I feel so terrible for those who lost everything (some even lost their life) and also for all the poor animals that died as a result of the floods:-( Helicopters are still going back and forwards day and night over our place evacuating people, bringing supplies and helping with the clean up.
 
#14 ·
Yeah it looks nasty on the news. I don't know what is worse flood or fire. At least with a flood things are still green and alive, but the smell of the water, and the damage it does to buildings afterwards is just as bad.

Got to love Australia. Sometimes I wonder why anyone even bothered to settle it at all!
 
#15 ·
lol yes a very harsh country, I think fire and flood are equally devistating. Fire desroys everything in its path and in floods when the current is strong people and animals get washed away and drown or caught up in fences/hit by debris or whatever....houses are usually swept away. Both as bad but in different ways I think........
 
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