Sobering Storms

So I have been working in the emergency services recovery centre for the storm damage in Brisbane... Its been crazy busy... and incredible to experience hands on the very personal sides of something that would otherwise be a vaguely interesting news item... Usually we can only have an intellectual sense of empathy... but sitting listening for hours to person after person describing their losses...feeling close hand the sense of frustration and powerlessness in the face of the destructive force of nature... this time the experience has been much more touching.
And today it was brought even closer to home. I have been incredibly lucky, and have been able to hold on to some of the natural sense of invincibility that most of us live with on a day to day basis....my house has been surrounded by suburbs of damage, but has remained untarnished and unaffected... I have not even lost power. But today we walked to the park at the bottom of my yard. Less than 100 meters from my house the storm had wrecked havoc.
Usually a thriving picnic area, filled with children's screams of happiness and the sizzle of bbq's... this sunday it was like a post-battle scene... too much mud even for a tumble weed in the echoing vista of uprooted trees, old couches, carpets, park benches and driftwood. All the kids toys were coated in mud, and the water had obviously risen to at least two meters above the ground, and around 4 meters above the usual creek level.
Its utterly humbling to think that it was all there on my doorstep, in its awsome and destructive power...