CATH. ARCHDIOCESE REPORT: The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell has given a generous donation to the Society of St Vincent de Paul's Flood Appeal, joining Pope Benedict XVI who has already instructed the Vatican to allocate $50,000 as a sign of his solidarity and concern for the victims of Queensland's devastating floods.
As always, everyday Australians have rallied to help those in need and early this afternoon the Queensland Government announced that more than $32 million has been donated to the Premier's Flood Appeal.
However the amount donated to Vinnies' national appeal will not be known for several days as the Society's head office in Brisbane, where the appeal is being administered and online donations received, is currently underwater.
"All staff were told to stay home today as our office is right in the centre of Brisbane's CBD," says Naomi Lindeberg from Vinnies Queensland. "Our office will very likely go under and none of us expect to be able to return to work until at least Friday."
Damaged cars after the flash flood moved on
But if floodwaters are slow to recede after reaching their peak early tomorrow, staff at Vinnies may not be able to enter their offices and assess the damage as well as the online donations received over the past few days until Monday, at the earliest.
"This truly makes the logistics of our work extremely difficult, as we have had to shut down our servers and have therefore lost the ability to access emails. Unfortunately we also have no access to any donations and cannot process these," she says.
Yesterday, in a 12 hour period, it is conservatively estimated the Vinnies Flood Appeal in Queensland received more than 200 online donations from the public as well as from several Catholic parishes.
"But at this point we have no way to actually even begin to calculate how much money has been raised," Naomi says.
Australians are well known for their generosity in times of trouble and two years ago with the combined help of large corporations and industries, more than $300 million was raised to help the victims of Victoria's terrible bushfires. Now less than 23 months later, individuals as well as different charities, corporations and sporting bodies are once again digging deep to help out towns which have been completely wiped out by surging flood waters and what the Mayor of Toowoomba described as "an inland tsunami."
Woman waits for emergency rescuers
One of the worst hit areas is the Lockyer Valley to the west of Brisbane where nearly 70 people remain missing.
In the Valley towns of Dalby and Chinchilla yesterday's flash floods marked the second time their homes and businesses had been swamped by flood waters in the past two weeks. The township of Condamine has also been evacuated twice. At Grantham where some of the missing are feared to have lost their lives, the receding waters reveal a town that looks more like it has been hit by a cyclone than by rising waters. Homes were literally swept off their foundations as the small creek that runs alongside the town became a roaring torrent, sweeping everything in its path.
Today, Queensland Premier, Anna Blight said there are fears rising flood waters at Goondiwindi, near the NSW border, would breach levee banks, flooding the town of 5000, while in the nearby town of Texas, 600 residents have had to be evacuated.
At the Brisbane Valley town of Ferndale, a water-filled quarry has collapsed, flooding homes and leaving hundreds of people stranded in the Brisbane Valley.
Raging waters totally unforgiving
Currently, the Queensland State Coroner and a team of grief counsellors are heading for the Lockyer Valley where flash floods may have caused more than 20 deaths as well as widespread destruction.
All but one of the 10 deaths confirmed so far occurred in the valley and nearby Toowoomba when an inland tsunami swept through on Monday.
Donations can be made to the Premier's Flood Relief Appeal online or by calling 1800 219 028. Cash donations can also be made to this appeal in person at the Commonwealth Bank, NAB, Westpac, ANZ, Bank of Queensland, Suncorp, St George Bank and Bank of South Australia, and at Coles supermarkets.
Donations to St Vincent de Paul's Appeal can be made by logging on to Vinnies.org.au or by calling 13 18 12; or to PO Box 3351 South Brisbane, QLD 4101.
http://sydney.catholic.org.au/news/latest_news/2011/2011112_1346.shtml
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