Day 40 - Big floods

We are in the grip of incredible flooding, the worst in over 80 years. I knew that we’d had a lot of rain at the Old Dairy, but I didn’t realise the extent of it until we tried to go into Wynyard and found the road closed. Driving along we could see big ponds formed in low lying areas of nearby farms and water running across the road. We turned around where the road was closed and could see that the farms close to the river were underwater and houses there in danger of going under.

We parked the Bandycoot’s ute and he got out to have a look. We could see something floating in the nearby flood pools and on closer inspection it turned out to be hundreds of apples. Only in Tassie!! The owners of the houses with water lapping at their back doors were out chatting to neighbours and didn’t seemed to concerned. We couldn’t believe the amount of water flowing there.

Tassie's floating apples

Flowerdale River burst its banks

 

Taking a different road into town we had to cross a bridge that had only just been opened to traffic again and still had massive piles of logs and timber jammed up against the railings. We decided that we should stock up on basic necessities in case the bridge went under again. We soon learned that the bridge at nearby Lapoinya had been completely washed away.

We drove down to the Wynyard foreshore and were amazed to see big waves breaking along what was left of the beaches. Surf’s up in Tassie! People lined the foreshore taking photos and gazing at the muddy swirling water. A pontoon had been overturned and large logs and debris could be seen in the breakers. People were talking about cars afloat and livestock being washed away.

A visit to Services Tasmania and I’m officially Tasmanian with driver’s licence and registration plates to prove it. Happy days! Now home to bunker down next to the fireplace with the pups and ride out the flooding.