Flood Monday

 

Hard Rain Toowoomba Monday 10 Jan 2010.

Rain Sunday and Monday peaking with lightning & downpours at around 2pm Monday, as i dropped 2 people at the bus station. The creek was rising quickly. 2 other friends were on this bus to Brisbane airport. It left but was stopped by landslides on the range. We picked the 4 up some hours later. They would be delayed another 3 nights.

Shin height fast flowing water had come from somewhere uphill from us and had taken out the landscaping in my yard. A film of water came into the bathroom via the back door but the roof didn’t leak.

We needed to find a very long way back from the bus station so we didn’t experience the flood through our yard first hand; we saw amazing flood sights on that trip home. Our neighbour showed us his photos of the water coming through our yard, a small torrent !

Back at home I listened to a phone message left at about 3pm from a friend down Murphy Creek. It was unclear but S’s voice had noticeable distress speaking about a flood through her parents home. I returned her call and was told her parents were missing and probably taken by flood waters which collided into their home. S and I had a prayer for peace over the phone.

S’s brother S had saved his sister V by getting her into the roof through a manhole but he was unable to locate his mum and dad.

Late in the afternoon their parents were found deceased, 1 to 2 kilometres down the creek.

No happy ending here, in this life, it seems, except that they went to the next life together. All agree, it would have been too sad for one to have survived and lived on without the other.

I noticed later my email “scripture for the day” was … Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram…

Early Tuesday morning heavy rain and thunder woke me.
There seemed to be a foreboding.
I moved into worship, then commanded no flooding rain. There was wonderful assurance i received in my Spirit.
The heavy rain stopped; but everywhere i went that morning people were prophesying big rain.
"There is going to be at least 100mm today". "No way" i countered each time, "i'm not goin with that".
This happened several times with the only difference being an increasing rainfall total !
The BOM radar had heavy rain clouds pushin towards the city.

Later i wrote these entries on Facebook :

... "The dismal prediction of 200mm of rain for Toowoomba yesterday did not even near eventuate ... intercessors rejoice ..."

... "Actually : 27mm @ airport ; rainfall for the 24 Hours to 9am Wednesday, 12 January 2011 (there had been ~350mm recorded for the previous few days)"

... a christian friend posted : "come on gundy levee hold strong"

my response : "good intercession J, levee held with 15 cm to spare ... yeh yeh"

..."Brisbane River did not reach 1974 flood levels and is now receding ... yeh ya ... lots of silt left on the highway tho"

... "please ignore the controlling/religious souls who say this flood is the judgment of god - it might be the result of a whole range of poor decisions - but overwhelmingly the judgment of Jesus is : I Love you, I think you are beautiful ....."

... "Creation did not volunteer to fall prey to the effect of the fall. Yet within this stark setting, hope prevails. All creation knows that the glorious liberty of the sons of God sets the stage for their own release from decay. Ro.8:21"

So that was my introduction to the Queensland Floods part 2.

Many stories of disaster, rescue and escape occurred.

Here are two I rejoice in.

Reported on secular news : “a man listened to a voice that told him to take his young son and climb up on the roof before a wall of water came down.”

Reported at a church meeting we went to the following Sunday. “The Holy Ghost gave me feet as sure as a mountain goat’s as I waded through flowing waist deep water & silt to save my pregnant wife and my daughter.”

I anticipate more such stories.