For He's A Brolly Good Fellow

Maybe He's Been Flooded With Stock

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This city shop has the perfect window display, especially at a time when most umbrellas have been destroyed after being blown inside out. We’e gone from drought to severe flooding in less than 48 hours, with the Victorian region of Gippsland hit by the worst floods in almost forty years. The entire town of Newry has been evacuated and across the state, more than 700 volunteers are working round the clock in flood zones.

Melbourne’s water catchments, at their lowest level in recent memory, received 19 billion (yes, billion) litres in a day. But here in the city, unlike the bush, we have been spared the capricious savagery of Mother Nature. There is still no indication of when the water will peak in Gippsland, with flood levels in some areas already surpassing the levels of 1998.

A few hours ago, I watched TV footage of a house being swept down the Mitchell River near Bairnsdale. But this is Australia, and we’re a hardy mob. When television crews found the home’s owner, he was laconic. A home could be rebuilt, he said. And with a touch of the wry humour that characterises the bush, he said his house had been turned into a houseboat.

The segment ended with a reporter asking the homeowner where he thought the floating home would end up. ``Tasmania, maybe,’’ he quipped.