As eastern Australia braces for more flooding, a Beloit man is watching with extra concern. Greater Beloit Chamber of Commerce President Randall Upton lived in Australia for 24 years. “During the seven years before I returned to the United States we lived in Queensland, most of the time in the town of Toowoomba which has been in the news so frequently,” said Upton. He said it’s hard to imagine the level of catastrophe. “They’re going to be losing $5 billion of homes, of crops. Beautiful places are just being inundated with this water. Brisbane is under water.”
Upton and his family have been in contact with family and friends back in Australia. He says everyone they know is safe, but it’s been difficult for him. “To know that all of the buildings there have been damaged, to have driven the roads and the highways that have been wiped out, it’s hard to almost get through the day,” he said. “It strikes at the heart of so much that I know and so much that I loved.”
WCLO