5 January 2011
Everyone in the country and many overseas would be aware of the huge floods in Queensland. An area the size of New South Wales has been flooded with a number of towns isolated, underwater or both. Nearly one hundred ANDRA racers live in the worst affected areas and the thoughts of their fellow competitors across the land are with them.
Well known Supercharged Outlaws team owner Peter Pierano is based in Rockhampton, and in thanking fellow racers for their concerns he also provided a bit of first hand background. A link to the photos is provided here.
“To my many good friends including drag racing colleagues and insurance associates, the attached link is the latest update of the flood situation at present. It is pretty incredible especially when you look at the very first photo, which is the welcome to Rockhampton Bull. The whole roundabout is under water.
The next photo is of Callaghan Park Race Course – believe it or not. All you can see is just the tops of the buildings. The majority of the photos are mainly the lower end of Quay and East Streets and Depot Hill, or the “Swampies” as they are affectionately known. Hastings Deering has suffered an absolute thrashing out there and was unable to move the heavy equipment to higher ground. The 7th photo – house & shed above water – we have insured with flood cover. We believe the underground pool is gone. Owner boated out yesterday, shot a couple of snakes on veranda and decided to come back to town.
What happens in Rockhampton is once the river breaks the high banks, which are above the barrage, the water travels behind the airport and comes back in at the entrance of Rockhampton. Then, because the barrage is higher than the river downstream it equalizes, which slows the rise of the water immensely. It’s nothing but a lot of heartache for a lot of people. Presently we are inundated with flood claims and we do have flood cover on a lot of buildings in Emerald which have sustained damage. It will be interesting to see the outcome from this flood because it is my understanding that they will not be eligible for flood cover for another five years.
We are still hopeful of making it to Willowbank for January 14th &15th but as you can see by the photos a lot of water has to disperse by then. We expect the road to Mackay to stay open. Police are supervising who comes into town as it is a new bridge over Alligator Creek where it usually goes over. I am happy to say that the homes of all our staff here are high and dry. The only casualty is Mick who lives at Gracemere and is now having some time off as he is cut off due to road closures.
As a result of Zach not being able to get out to the mines where he works as a driller, he is now spending some time in the office helping out. We are safe in office unless it rains. Then we will have a problem as rainwater can’t get away due to the river backing up stormwater drains.
So, here’s hoping the water subsides in time for us to get to Willowbank and have some fun next Thursday, but we are unsure at this stage. I would just like to say thank-you to everyone who has emailed and phoned us, we appreciate all your well wishes and you certainly know who is thinking of you when things aren’t looking too good – thanks again.”
Peter A. “The Legend – The Cheque Book” Peirano.
Piranha Insurance Brokers P/L
“LEXUS PIRANHA SUPERCHARGED OUTLAWS HOT ROD”