This post has been put together more with my international audience in mind that those here in Australia, who are very much aware of the ongoing situation here.

Queensland, Australia is currently struggling to recover from a natural disaster of epic proportions that saw up to 80% of the state underwater at some stage over the past two weeks. To put that into perspective, 80% of Queensland equates to an area twice the size of Texas (largest state in the US), an area larger than France & Germany combined, or an area 6 times the size of the UK!

Through the crisis, 16 people are confirmed to have lost their lives, with over 20 people still missing. On top of this, tens of thousands of people have had their homes & businesses completely destroyed.

The flooding has affected regional Queensland as well as major urban centers such as my home city, Brisbane, with a population of over 2 million people. However, now that the water has started to recede, the mammoth task of cleaning up the state has begun. This has been an amazing experience that has brought out the best in everyone. The affected streets are literally packed full of people helping out those that were affected, cleaning, scrubbing and trying to repair. On top of that, other crazy cool initiatives have kicked off, such as #bakedrelief on Twitter, which has seen people get together to cook & bake for volunteers assisting with the cleanup efforts. It’s truly amazing and inspiring to see so much good happening around the place.

Every little bit that can be done to assist the recovery effort is most appreciated. If you are able to dig deep and donate to the Queensland Premier’s Disaster Relief Fund if would be very much appreciated by so many.

Finally, thankfully, I managed to escape any flood damage which puts me in a category of very lucky people (a relatively small group!). Yes, we may have gone without power for a few days and business around the city may be shut down and disrupted for several weeks, but in the overall scheme of things, it’s minor.

Below, I have included some further photos which I have taken over the past few days. There is a larger collection in this flickr set