Gladly I can say my family are ok. We are up the side of a valley upstream from Ipswich.

Yesterday we awoke to flooding across the valley and impassable roads. Looking out the window we saw the Bremer valley was up to 2 miles wide with with water. It was quite a shock.

From our vantage point we watched rescue choppers flying through the valley all day searching for people in trouble and lifted families out of their properties, flying them into the emergency response center at the local school.

Those pilots were absolutely incredible. The wind was very strong and the rain was pounding and they held their aircraft as still as a concrete post as they plucked people to safety.

Just North and West of us is where the freak flash flooding and sudden loss of life occurred in the Lockyer Valley, quite literally on the other side of the hill.

Incredibly this morning we awoke to a green valley floor, but we knew it had flowed down to join the water from the Lockyer Valley and the outflow from the Wivenhoe Dam. Turning on the television revealed the dreaded but anticipated news of the huge flood levels pouring through homes and businesses downstream.

Routes in to Brisbane by road and rail are completely cut off at the moment. The roads and railways, and even some of the stations, are submerged at several points.

We have checked that all of our other family are ok. Although a few of them have been displaced by the rising waters, everyone is accounted for. The river has apparently peaked at Ipswich, so we will check on one of their houses tomorrow which we are hoping will not have been affected and then we will be off to help out somewhere until I can get into the city and help out at work.

Thanks for your kind thoughts.

Best wishes to anyone else in QLD affected by the floods. I hope you are all ok.