An entire suburb is submerged outside Ipswich, west of Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011. (Associated Press Photo)

Bio: Arthur Boyer was born in Thunder Bay, Ont., and studied journalism at Humber College and Ryerson University before deciding to become a paramedic. He took a working holiday at a hospital in Brisbane, Australia, where he met his wife who was training as a nurse. The couple decided to settle in the Brisbane area. Boyer currently works for an engineering firm that makes water tanks and pontoon boats. He will be contributing updates about the flood to the CBCNews.ca Community.

Submitted Jan. 21 (7 a.m. local time) - " Now comes the post-mortem."
 
It has been over a week since the flood, and Brisbane is almost back to normal.  Some vulnerable areas are still cleaning up, but the attention has moved onto the floods in Victoria. The towns of Dimboola and Kow Swamp are being evacuated. Kow Swamp at least sounds flood-prone, but to see Toowoomba, at the top of the Great Dividing Range, hit by a flash flood seems surreal.

I got my personal message of thanks from the Lord Mayor of Brisbane for volunteering, as did the thousands of other volunteers. In fact, so many volunteered that many were sent home. It was very gratifying to see friendships forged and the community strengthened through this common struggle.

Now comes the post-mortem. A broad-ranging inquiry has been formed and all issues are to be aired, including the role of ministers and political leaders in the development of estates in vulnerable areas. It has also been made clear that everything will not be rebuilt.

Some estates may not be rebuilt and bridges may be moved. The Riverwalk (a boardwalk-like promenade over the river) will certainly be rethought. This structure was washed away completely and threatened to take out crucial bridges. I am sure the flood-migration system established after 1974 will receive approval because it certainly did its job.

Another major issue is flood insurance. Few had it because of the prohibitive costs, so there is talk of either making it compulsory or subsidizing premiums. In an ironic twist from nature, some of the houses whose insurance policies did not include flooding were crushed by fallen trees in a violent thunderstorm two days ago. Now they can claim.  Unfortunately, most will have to resign themselves to the loss of many of their possessions. They survived, though, and for a city of over a million to experience such devastation and lose only one life, is just short of a miracle. For which we are all grateful.

Submitted Jan. 14 (11:30 a.m. local time) - "It looks like I can finally be of some help."

ABC local radio has advised that as of today there are 16 confirmed deaths with 53 still missing, mostly from the Grantham area. They have also advised that half of all homes without power have had it restored and we now have 25,000 remaining without electricity.

It looks like I can finally be of some help. Four large gathering points have been established. Volunteers are to collect there and will then be bused to areas in need. Potential volunteers are to flip a coin: heads show up at 7 a.m., tails at noon. I will be going to McGregor High School at noon today. I am not a regular cheerleader for either politicians or authorities but I must confess they have all done a fine job during this crisis.

Submitted Jan. 14 (6:30 a.m. local time) - "Things will return to normal soon, mate."

The cleanup starts now. Brisbane city council is calling for volunteers and has set up a hotline, so I will be off to help all day today. The effort seems well-managed. Authorities are setting up industrial bins everywhere for disposal and have distributed instructions on what to do when. Roads that are open are being kept clear, and crews are clearing debris.

So far, no bodies have been found in Brisbane. Unfortunately, three looters have been arrested. Some young guys were trying to steal booze from a flooded bottle shop (liquor store). I still have power, but there are about 80,000 without, so I am going to eat a quick breakfast and get out there. My first job is to clear the dead koala from near the house because it is starting to smell. We have a large carpet python that hangs around and gets rid of the vermin, so I don't mind his company. I haven't seen him lately and suspect he has gotten into the attic. Other pythons have been spotted around in the floods.

OK, I'd better call in and see if they need me. Things will return to normal soon, mate. Thanks for listening and wish us well.

Submitted on Jan. 13 (7:30 a.m. local time) -- "I am really impressed by the quality of the people of Brisbane."

Apparently we peaked at 4.4 metres, one metre below the 1974 level. More than 11,000 houses were totally flooded. Believe it or not, the most pressing problem is getting water supplies to flooded areas. There is a shortage of clean drinking water. I am sure this will be readily solved.

I am really impressed by the quality of the people of Brisbane. There was no verified looting. Shops opened their doors and gave away supplies to any who could get to them. When the power went off, several businesses donated all their stock and some evacuation centres had big barbeque cook ups so everyone got a good feed. They have had to ask people to stop donating goods, especially clothes. Generally people heeded warnings and either helped out or got out of the way. Neighbours helped neighbours and only one life was lost in Brisbane as of this update. I remember several snowstorms from my youth in Thunder Bay, and the atmosphere here was much like that -- general good humour and helpfulness. Thaw out a Canuck and you'll find an Aussie.

I suppose there will be shortages in the coming months, as many of the areas supplying foodstuffs have been destroyed, as has some transport infrastructure.

I am back at work and things around here are returning to normal surprisingly fast.  Brisbane will take a bit longer to clean up, as will Ipswich. Toowoomba and some of the hard-hit towns in the Lockyer Valley, like Grantham, will need a lot of rebuilding. I will advise you of anything significant. Other than that I am keeping myself available to help out. Brisbane's Lord Mayor Campbell Newman has said an announcement is pending for those willing to volunteer for cleanup.

Submitted Jan. 13 (5:30 a.m. local time) - "The level is down considerably and flowing away well."

I just got back from our dam. The level is down considerably and flowing away well.  Several water monitors plopped into the water but I didn't see any wallabies. Usually at this time of day I can catch one or two eating our flowers or trimming the lawns. Perhaps they don't like the rain. At least there will be plenty of feed around for them. There are two types of wallabies common to this area: the red-necked and the swamp wallaby.  I'd imagine the latter will be happier now than the former.

Although evacuation centres are still filling, the water has peaked and will remain high for some time [before] easing off through to the weekend. Then we can start the cleanup.

Submitted Jan. 13 (4:45 a.m. local time) - "Just a quick update on the bull shark."

Just a quick update on the bull shark: they are dangerous because they frequent fresh water and are quite aggressive. They are called bull sharks because of their nature, blunt snouts, and habit of butting prey. I am not sure that they do use iodine to tolerate fresh water. I have read that this has something to do with their ability to control urea secretion and special renal/liver functions. Their gills do alter in freshwater.

It is 4:45 a.m. and high tide has passed with the flood peak just below 1974 levels. The frogs kept me awake all last night so I'll have to keep my wits about me as I head in to work and do battle with my arch-enemy, the eastern brown snake. We do have a few of the brown snakes around our house but I haven't seen them lately. One attacked my friend Byron from Thunder Bay, Ont., when he was visiting two years back.

A cane toad sits inside a plastic bag at a billabong near Darwin, Australia. Animal experts say the recent Queensland floods could lead to a resurgence of cane toads. (David Gray/Reuters)

Submitted Jan. 13 (3:30 a.m. local time) -- "I was just boning up on snakebite first aid."

I suppose this weather will be great for future cane toad populations. We have heaps around our place. There are always two or three squashed on the driveway.

I was just boning up on snakebite first aid. A compression bandage will buy you six hours after you've been bitten by an eastern brown snake. But I would not want to try to get to medical help today. The facilities are all busy and many roads are closed. There was a small chat on local radio by a snake removalist. Apparently they are very busy now, as snakes move to higher ground.

One lady was trying to remove an eastern brown from her pantry. The trick is to stay calm, give the snake an exit and do not threaten it. I'll vouch for that, because the eastern brown has a very broad definition of threatening behaviour. The last one to attack me was irritated by me dropping my pants and sitting on the loo. He was stuck in a corner ... but once riled he had about seven strikes at me. I had to climb onto the cistern to get out of his way. They say a toy box is handy to contain snakes. I suppose you must remember to free the snake before reusing the box for toys.

It is 3:30 a.m. local time -- one hour from high tide. Tide heights have been revised and the flood is not expected to beat 1974. I think we dodged a bullet. Only one death in Ipswich so far, and about 20,000 homes flooded. A few thousand have been evacuated, but everyone seems to be coping well. We were lucky because the really big tides are not until Jan. 21.

Submitted Jan. 12 (11 p.m. local time) - "... this rain can flush out snakes."

We live on acreage near the Brisbane Koala Bushlands, about one kilometre from the factory. Since spying [a] dead koala I haven't seen any other dead wildlife. Even my arch enemy, the eastern brown snake that lives under our factory's electrical transformer, is lying low, although this rain can flush out snakes. The most lethal of these are the eastern brown and red-bellied black snakes. We do have deadly snakes on both properties, but I am treading softly and carrying a big broom. I did hear of a bull shark in the streets of Ipswich. Bull sharks are quite dangerous and responsible for many attacks because they live in estuaries and canal developments. They actually have a special organ that uses iodine to allow them to survive long periods in fresh water, so this situation can provide them with plenty of cover to work the crowds, so to speak.

Submitted Jan. 11 (5:44 p.m. local time) - "I hope it will be better for Brisbane this time around."

I am sitting in a Brisbane factory by myself, wondering what the worst of this flooding will bring. I wasn't here in 1974, the last great Brisbane flood, but I did emigrate from Canada in 1978. The first house I bought in Brisbane was inundated in 1974. A condition of purchase was flood insurance. I had to do some renovations in the attic and, when I crawled up there, found that silt was left over from the 1974 flood and covered all the wiring. So there I was, shovelling out silt, four years after the flood.

I hope it will be better for Brisbane this time around. We have better flood mitigation and drainage now but they say the water will rise higher. We are expecting a king tide at 3 p.m. [local time] so I will monitor alerts. Maybe I can help out. They were calling for some people to help shift people's gear to higher ground in Ipswich, which is just west of Brisbane, and that water is on its way here.

Brisbane will be OK, though we have good support and everyone pulls together. They are like Canadians in that regard, only warmer and a bit wet lately.

Are you contending with flood waters in Australia? Are you a Canadian living abroad there? Share your stories with the CBCNews.ca Community team. Email your news tips and photos to yournews@cbc.ca or send us a Citizen Byte blog post. You can also upload photos here and videos here.


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