In January, it got wetter ...

I saw a couple more patients and shut up shop. I was preparing to leave when a journalist called. I explained I was rushed and asked why he had rung. He wanted flood news.

Unfortunately for his story, I wasn’t carrying a patient through flood water. I similarly disappointed another journalist a day later.

On the way home, I stopped at a supermarket. The checkout chick congratulated me on the day’s best panic buy.

As Brisbane flooded, I sat safely at home feeling vaguely fraudulent. I had to keep telling friends that my house’s flood risk was zero. I’m too poor to live on the waterfront and too rich to live in a gully.

The internet was alive with images of flood victims I could not assist. Most lived in Brazil but many were just kilometres away. I could not even get to my hostel patients.

I view most politicians dimly but several shone during the floods. In recent decades, Western leaders have encouraged the strong to help themselves. This disaster has made our leaders encourage the strong to help the weak. Building human communities, instead of destroying them for a dollar, is a lovely change. Let us hope it lasts.