Australian Finns watch Brisbane waters rise in bright sunshine

Finns living in Australia's third city were expecting the flood to peak on the first sunny day for many weeks

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Tuesday would have been an exciting enough day for Jaana Viskari even without a flood: it was the first day in daycare for her two-year-old son.
      The day turned out to be a short one. Viskari was at a shopping mall when she heard an announcement saying that it would be better to leave. She had to pick up her son urgently.
      ”I ran with the boy to the car through the downpour. The floodwaters were only a hundred metres away [from the day care place]”, she noted.
      Jaana Viskari and her son managed to get home safely. Their home is located on top of a hill and is not at risk of evacuation.
     
On Wednesday, the sun was shining in Brisbane for the first time after many weeks of persistent rain.
      ”Helicopters were whirring overhead, but otherwise it was just an ordinary day”, Jaana Viskari said.
      However, the level of the water kept getting higher. The flood was about to reach some houses only 600 metres away from Viskari’s home.
      ”My friend sent me photos, in which the water was already reaching the steps of their house”, Jaana Viskari continues.
      Johanna Heikkinen, who lives in the district of Brookfield, described the situation as dramatic.
     
”There is so much water on the closest road that it will take several days before we can get to the centre”, Heikkinen noted on Wednesday.
      On Tuesday morning, Heikkinen’s husband had been advised to leave the workplace.
      A couple of hours later, he could not have got home any longer.
      Heikkinen has enough food to suffice for at least four or five days. ”After that we will have to begin to ration our food”, Heikkinen said.
     
Finlandia Village, the Finnish rest home for elderly people in the Redlands area, had not yet been organised as an evacuation place on Wednesday evening local time, even though it was regarded as possible. All residents were feeling well.
      ”Finlandia village can accommodate up to thirty extra residents in this short-term emergency situation and provide meals for several hundred people at a time if necessary. Additional volunteers will be assisting us to meet these extraordinary demands”, a media release quoted Tony Rolfe, the CEO of the Australian Finnish Rest Home Association Inc, as saying.


Links:
  The Australian Finnish Rest Home Association
  Media release 13.1.2011: Finlandia Village unaffected by Brisbane Floods

Helsingin Sanomat