On Saturday morning I went into Toowoomba and was surprised to see how cleaned up and sorted it seemed on the surface. There were only a couple of traffic delays due to bollards in the roads where road surfaces were damaged and a great deal of gingery colour around the curbs and lamp-posts left from the flood residue. It was good to see how quickly the place was trying to get back to normal. Though I saw a number of collapsed walls and flattened grass banks.
A Quaker Friend of ours is a counsellor and today she was with a others who were supporting the people of the little town of Grantham which has had some great tragedies occur. They were letting the people return to see their homes and the damage at first hand; hoping to keep the media at bay! Personally I can't see how they could return to live there with out the haunting of what has happened and also I feel they would be always looking across the fields in fear every time there is a heavy downpour.
There is now a great searching to find any problems which helped to worsen these affects. It seems that the original water-ways in Toowoomba (in Aboriginal language Toowoomba meant 'the marshland')have been partially cemented over into paths and road ways, bottle-necking from run-off creeks into concrete pipes. These of course where much too small to take the amount of rainfall which came down a week last Monday. Modern town planning is now being accused of wanting to create industry and housing without looking at historical events.
I think this is happening all over the world as mining, farming, buildings and cities fill in the spaces. Commerce and globalisation.
No comments:
Post a Comment