Natural disasters test the mettle of any leader, but the flooding in Brisbane has had a personal impact on Anna Bligh.
So her tears on Thursday were understandable.
Earlier in the week the Queensland premier's mum Frances had her West End home inundated by the rising, murky floodwaters of the Brisbane River.
Bligh's brother and one of her sons rescued Frances and brought her to her daughter's house.
It came amid news of bodies being found in the wreckage of homes, cars and bridges of the Lockyer Valley west of Brisbane, in the worst flooding in a century.
The premier has been working around the clock to see that all that can be done is being done to protect lives in sodden southern Queensland and 70 other towns and cities around the state affected by weeks of heavy rain.
Facing a media conference in Brisbane, she painted a picture of the devastation affecting her beloved state and assured all residents that they would not be forgotten.
But it became all too much.
"As we weep for what we have lost, and as we grieve for family and friends and we confront the challenge that is before us, I want us to remember who we are," she said, choking back tears.
Regathering her composure she drew on the spirit of former leaders Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen and Peter Beattie, who spent decades portraying Queensland as "different" to the rest of Australia.
You also got the feeling she was drawing on the same spirit State of Origin rugby league teams have mustered over the years.
"We are Queenslanders," she said.
"We're the people that they breed tough, north of the border.
"We're the ones that they knock down, and we get up again."
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