Mister Brisbane: Flood heroes

As the River City deals with another deluge, kindness abounds

Comparisons are inevitable, but they are not always instructive. Saying that the current floods are worse than/ not as bad as/ on a par with 2011/ 1999/ 1974/ 1908 is essentially unhelpful. That’ll be for historians to determine.

Right now, the floods are a crisis for those who are facing them square on, and a considerable challenge for the rest of us.

If this is a test, then many Brisbane people have already passed with flying colours. We’ve seen people help out total strangers. Just one example that brought a tear to my eye: some blokes with a truck rocking up to move the belongings of an elderly couple before their house was claimed by rising waters.

As bad as the thought of losing everything you own — as many people have — may be, it doesn’t compare (that word again) with the loss of life. At the time of writing, the flood toll stands at seven. I hope it remains there, but I fear that it won’t.

I spent the past weekend working, which is what I normally do as a radio producer. Except this weekend was different, and at times it was frantic and fraying.

I spoke to experts, to local politicians and community leaders, and to ordinary people who needed help — or were offering help to others.

My colleagues worked above and beyond the call of duty, keeping our Brisbane audience informed. We will continue to broadcast that information will the need exists. It’s important stuff, but not heroic.

The real heroes are the likes of State Emergency Service volunteer Merryl Dray, who drowned on the way to help somebody else.

Thousands of others — SES workers, fire and ambulance officers, police and just good neighbours — have performed acts of bravery that will go unrecognised except, perhaps, by the people who directly benefitted.

Business operators have risen to the occasion, offering free food to people in shelters or tired emergency workers, and individuals did what they could. One woman I spoke to volunteered to take in the dogs of people who suddenly found themselves displaced. Not a big thing in itself, but potentially a godsend to somebody in need

All of them are small but important gestures — gifts of kindness that may never be acknowledged.

Others have “given” by doing nothing at all: by staying where they are, and not taking unnecessary trips in their cars, potentially endangering their own and others’ lives and getting in the way of those who are doing the real work.

Bad times can bring out the worst in us — I’ve been there — but it can also bring out the very best.

The sun is shining outside my window as I write this, but the crisis is far from over. People across south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales will be dealing with this for days, weeks, months and years to come.

We can all do something to help.