So, the Skipper rings me this afternoon. He sounds a bit low.
Turns out, today he was able to get into one of the sub-levels of one of the buildings along riverside, where he had our company install air conditioning and filtration units for the multi story building just a few short months ago.
Today they could get into sub level three. There are still two sub levels below this. Workers were able to cut through a fire door to enter and after a day of pumping out the mud, they allowed contractors in to survey damage and officially condemn equipment.
He said the damage, the mud, the smell – inexplicable.
Remember this is the underbelly of a modern, multi-level building on the banks of the Brisbane river – one that operates some of the State’s most expensive offices, legal practices and more.
The sub level he had to tour had not been seen by anyone until he and the team arrived. He described to me how the car park entrance on the side furthest from the river still housed cars, relinquished when people had to evacuate. Perhaps they thought their vehicles safe, locked up underground? They had all been pushed up against the flood doors, and most remain filled with mud. He described iPads, laptops, phones and other equipment bundled together by the staircase base, where the river water gathered them up as it burst windows or sunroofs and plucked objects from Audis, BMWs and Porsches.
Those that choose the healthy route to work that day utilised the allocated bike rack. There, chained to the bike rack, remain a tangle of spokes and chains and wheels dripping with slime and detritus.
To enter the power rooms and air conditioning unit rooms, he had to pass through the archive chambers. Archive chambers of Law offices, with walls lined with rows and rows and rows of shelves, timber trays labelled ‘DO NOT DESTROY’, ‘DO NOT REMOVE’, ‘DO NOT SHRED’. The message, meant for dryer times, means nothing now as the contents have begun to grow mould, long green spores and strands of flossy fungus that would make Gregory House proud.
Traverse to these chambers have to be done by descending or ascending fire escape stairs. Sub level lifts are still not working as the chambers and shafts are still filled with mud and sludge. The fluid seems to ooze from the walls, it seems impossible to remove, it seems to reproduce on it’s own. He described it as a moulding fester that resembles lumpy melted rancid chocolate. He reports the droning sound of pumps and high pressure cleaners combined with the smell is overwhelming.
There is no power, still, in the sub levels of these buildings. Generators run to allow white collar workers upstairs resume their duties, other gennies run below to provide dim lights. Contractors accompanying the Skipper wear headlights over their safety harnesses in order to see where they are going, what they are doing.
It took him, he says, 3 hours to tour sub floor 3 today. He drove back home for a shower before he goes back in tonight to try and compete one more floor. It’s day one, and he’s toured one level of one facility. We estimate we have 40 or so more to tour and condemn.
Oh my word, it sounds impossible — such a mess on such a massive scale. The loss of work, records, documents, and so on must be near incalculable.
Such details tell much more of the huge impact of the floods and the devastation wrought by the floods. Unimaginable until you read the detailed descriptions. What difficult and heartbreaking work. REcovery will take such a long time and such hard work. Our whole country is so greatly affected by natural disasters and the rebuilding will take such a long time. It makes my own trouble seems quite insignificant.
This was so well written Rhu, I almost had the smell in my own nostrils.
This sounds so disgusting, the dankness alone would be unbearable. It seems impossible to me that these buildings will ever be back to a normal state again.
I wish the Skipper well, and to remain safe as he carries out this work.
Very well written, Rhu. A couple years ago, we had some flooding, and that smell. You simply do not ever forget it.
That must have been quite hard for him… I feel for you Rhu, for both of you.
oh my god, that sounds like a complete horror story, a nightmare. What a revolting and tragic mess.
I wonder what it must be like at GOMA? I know they moved all the art upstairs, but reading this makes me wonder of there too was a barrage of slime and mud and mould?
Sounds horrible. Just horrible.
Oh I do hope he is well protected from all this hideous mould and perhaps disease-ridden detritus and air. Here in the south, we know that the mess and destruction will take many many months to be cleared and ‘righted’.
We feel so lucky to be ‘high and dry’ and wish there was more we could do to help.
I thought you may have had photos of this underground horror story. But perhaps we don’t really need one – you have described it so well I feel like I was there with him. Yuk!! And Good Work Skipper… important (if demoralising) work.
Hugs
BB
Rhu what a great post. Thank you.
While we all try to gain a sense of normality, this is an effective reminder that for many, normality is many months to years away. Perspective is so important in these times.
What an absolute mess. Gosh.
Horrific. I can’t imagine how overwhelming it must have been to come face to face with such destruction, all in one blow. So sorry for everyone who has to deal with this.
xx
I remember that smell, we had floods here in 2004, nothing as big as yours but the worst hit areas took out many homes. I worked on a wrecking crew for a little while, the smell is unbelievable. Please make him wear a mask I spent months coughing afterwards.
“Oh I do hope he is well protected from all this hideous mould and perhaps disease-ridden detritus and air.”
+ 1.
Not good at all.
Good lord what a nightmare. Your detailed description made me feel like I was there, touring that sub floor too. This is what we don’t see now the media has abandoned the ‘hype’ around the floods. What massive destruction that water caused and want a mammoth clean-up operation. You just don’t think about these things…gee, all that archived stuff hey, what a disaster!
Wow, I never even considered this aspect of the floods. Thanks for sharing.