Queensland Floods

lionking said:
Because Australia is pretty flat, any floods sneak up on you gradually. The only people who get in trouble in floods are those who ignore warnings and try to drive through fords and get washed away. The only Queensland forumites I know of are in Brisbane, which is safe.
Click to expand...

It's amazing how much can change in 12 days.
 
icerat said:
His comments are disturbing about the pattern hanging around until Autumn. The catchment areas, and especially dams, are going to need quite a bit of time with no rain to be able to cope with any more. This morning I heard of one Qld town that's been evacuated, and flooded, four times the past month.

Can you imagine if that type of problem set in for Ipswich/Brisbane through to Autumn? :O
Click to expand...


That's the scary thing to consider. Same thing over here... if you're getting severe flooding during the dry period, the real concern is what happens when the wet season arrives, and the ground hasn't dried out, lakes haven't drained, etc.

(Not sure if Queensland normally has a dry summer, but obviously Autumn will be expected to be wetter).
 
More info on the Toowoomba event... according to the BOM the localised nature of the rainfall was a primary reason it couldn't be predicted as current technology lacks the resolution to identify such localised weather events.
 
Blackadder said:
Poor aussies. I hope they get safe soon, saw some pretty heavy footage on the news here today. With our history against the water it gets a lot of attention here.

Build more dikes!
Click to expand...

Here in Western Australia we are looking on in disbelief, we have clear skies and <30% capacity in our dams (In the south of the state) and floods in the north. The amount of water involved is mind boggling.

I can remember reading that after 1974, there was a proposal to build a dam to complement Wivenhoe (which was under construction at the time) on one of the other catchments. Look to see the idea revived, but I don't think any dam system could have held up to what's happening up there.

At least the Murray river system is getting a good flushing out.
 
And on a lighter note, it's all Kevin Rudd's fault. At least according to one Daniel Nalliah, a pro-Israel xian nutter.
Then at once I was reminded of Kevin Rudd speaking against Israel in Israel on 14th December 2010. It is very interesting that Kevin Rudd is from QLD. Is God trying to get our attention? Yes, I believe so.
Click to expand...
He also says:
Also the Lord said to us, “ I will humble Australia and bring her down on her knees. As she has taken pride in my blessing, and man has taken the glory and not given it to Me”.
Click to expand...
which I assume is a personal communicatiop from his "god" as I can't find any mention of Australia in any of the usual "holy books".

So now all the Australians know whom to blame.:rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
Graham2001 said:
Here in Western Australia we are looking on in disbelief, we have clear skies and <30% capacity in our dams (In the south of the state) and floods in the north. The amount of water involved is mind boggling.

I can remember reading that after 1974, there was a proposal to build a dam to complement Wivenhoe (which was under construction at the time) on one of the other catchments. Look to see the idea revived, but I don't think any dam system could have held up to what's happening up there.

At least the Murray river system is getting a good flushing out.
Click to expand...

Less than 3 years ago Wivenhoe was close to empty.

What I'd like to see revived is the idea of a massive infrastructure project of building canals from the north and east in to the inland.
 
gumboot said:
I think those are unique events. You have to remember that Toowoomba is 700m up a mountain range - it's not in a low-lying flood area. A freak downpour just happened to hit in just the worst spot and sent a torrent through the town. It rose and then fell again in a matter of minutes. You just can't prepare for that.

They got 150mm in thirty minutes. That's 15% of their annual rainfall in one lunch time. This summer I was caught in some heavy rain in NZ - 150mm in 24hrs. It was a torrential downpour for hour after hour. I can't even comprehend that much rain in half an hour. That is a phenomenal amount of water.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was shocked to see the footage from Toowoomba - it's just not a place you associate with flooding. But the weather system that caused it had been tracked for some time apparently and downstream in the Lockyer Valley, where most of the deaths have likely occurred, was always going to be in the firing line. (Some discussion about it and the inadequacy of the warning system on the Weatherzone forum.)

Roger Stone has also had some things to say about the need for a better warning system.

icerat said:
His comments are disturbing about the pattern hanging around until Autumn. The catchment areas, and especially dams, are going to need quite a bit of time with no rain to be able to cope with any more. This morning I heard of one Qld town that's been evacuated, and flooded, four times the past month.

Can you imagine if that type of problem set in for Ipswich/Brisbane through to Autumn? :O
Click to expand...

Yeah, the ground is so saturated that any rain that falls is runoff. And next week we have king tides, which will affect some of my neighbours. Hopefully we won't have a heavy downpour at the same time. And we haven't really had much in the way of a cyclone yet...
 
catsmate1 said:
And on a lighter note, it's all Kevin Rudd's fault. At least according to one Daniel Nalliah, a pro-Israel xian nutter.
He also says: which I assume is a personal communicatiop from his "god" as I can't find any mention of Australia in any of the usual "holy books".

So now all the Australians know whom to blame.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...


Nalliah is scum. I don't know how he lives with himself. He blamed the Black Saturday bushfires on Victoria's abortion law reform.
 
Last edited:
Graham2001 said:
Here in Western Australia we are looking on in disbelief, we have clear skies and <30% capacity in our dams (In the south of the state) and floods in the north. The amount of water involved is mind boggling.

I can remember reading that after 1974, there was a proposal to build a dam to complement Wivenhoe (which was under construction at the time) on one of the other catchments. Look to see the idea revived, but I don't think any dam system could have held up to what's happening up there.

At least the Murray river system is getting a good flushing out.
Click to expand...


Just listening to the Premiere of Queensland now and she was just talking about how there are actually large numbers of dams throughout Queensland, and that this flooding is happening in spite of these dams (i.e. without the dams it would be even worse). Also heard some stuff earlier about a town whose levvies were about to break. Clearly the usual anti-flooding measures are in place, but they can only do so much.
 
gumboot said:
That's the scary thing to consider. Same thing over here... if you're getting severe flooding during the dry period, the real concern is what happens when the wet season arrives, and the ground hasn't dried out, lakes haven't drained, etc.

(Not sure if Queensland normally has a dry summer, but obviously Autumn will be expected to be wetter).
Click to expand...

That's the thing, south east Queensland is supposed to be sub-tropical, and, unlike Darwin, does not have a dry and wet season. But this event is just like a monsoon. It's acting like a wet season.
 
gumboot said:
Just listening to the Premiere of Queensland now and she was just talking about how there are actually large numbers of dams throughout Queensland, and that this flooding is happening in spite of these dams (i.e. without the dams it would be even worse). Also heard some stuff earlier about a town whose levvies were about to break. Clearly the usual anti-flooding measures are in place, but they can only do so much.
Click to expand...

As I said, no dam system was designed for this, you've had heavy rain to saturate the catchments and fill the dams and then more heavy rain and of course the water has to go somewhere....

It's just that I can remember the media reports from last year, as noted Queenslands dams were mostly empty, work was proceeding on a desalination plant (which was finished just in time for the heavens to open).

The Right wing in Australia (Politics/Media) is having a field day quoting predictions of 'endless drought' made by various Green groups/leaders made in preceding years and then pointing to current events.

A couple of examples (Both from Murdoch papers) can be found below:

1. Green-ALP delusions all washed out to sea, Piers Akermen, Daily Telegraph (07/01/11)

http://blogs.news.com.au/dailyteleg...ts/green_alp_delusions_all_washed_out_to_sea/


2. Now 30 believed dead, Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun (12/01/11)

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/now_30_believed_dead/
 
Graham2001 said:
As I said, no dam system was designed for this, you've had heavy rain to saturate the catchments and fill the dams and then more heavy rain and of course the water has to go somewhere....

It's just that I can remember the media reports from last year, as noted Queenslands dams were mostly empty, work was proceeding on a desalination plant (which was finished just in time for the heavens to open).

The Right wing in Australia (Politics/Media) is having a field day quoting predictions of 'endless drought' made by various Green groups/leaders made in preceding years and then pointing to current events.

A couple of examples (Both from Murdoch papers) can be found below:

1. Green-ALP delusions all washed out to sea, Piers Akermen, Daily Telegraph (07/01/11)

http://blogs.news.com.au/dailyteleg...ts/green_alp_delusions_all_washed_out_to_sea/


2. Now 30 believed dead, Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun (12/01/11)

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/now_30_believed_dead/
Click to expand...

It pains me to read Akerman or Bolt. :(

I see Akerman is of the "build more dams" school of thought:

Dams that should have been built decades ago could have captured water and mitigated the destructive effects of the floods from Queensland to the Lower Lakes at the Coorong.
Click to expand...


From someone who actually knows what he's talking about:

Calling for the building of new dams is, however, not a satisfactory response to a very wet La Nina year. Rather, Australia must look at more innovative ways to adapt to the naturally occurring floods and future increasing climatic variability.

The current deluge has highlighted the risk of flooding in many parts of Australia. Risk is the combination of occurrence (how often something occurs) and damage (how bad it is). The traditional focus in flood management has been to minimise the occurrence by building dams and river control structures.

But there are three main reasons why new dams are not an easy solution to manage future flooding in Australia.

[...]

Link
Click to expand...

lionking said:
That's the thing, south east Queensland is supposed to be sub-tropical, and, unlike Darwin, does not have a dry and wet season. But this event is just like a monsoon. It's acting like a wet season.
Click to expand...


While not as pronounced as Darwin, our winters are usually relatively dry with most of our rain falling in summer.
 
Magenta said:
It pains me to read Akerman or Bolt. :(
Click to expand...

My intention was entirely illustrative of just what is flying around at the moment. The best strategy to deal with this sort of thing in the future is probably going to be a combination of both proper re-zoning of land to encourage people to move away from flood plains (Where possible) and proper use of the water storage systems including the construction of new dams if need be.

But lets get the water out of the way first before we start looking at that sort of thing.
 
Magenta said:
While not as pronounced as Darwin, our winters are usually relatively dry with most of our rain falling in summer.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. I visit Brisbane perhaps 12 times a year, and I've never heard anyone refer to a dry and wet season.
 
Magenta said:
lionking said:
That's the thing, south east Queensland is supposed to be sub-tropical, and, unlike Darwin, does not have a dry and wet season. But this event is just like a monsoon. It's acting like a wet season.
Click to expand...


While not as pronounced as Darwin, our winters are usually relatively dry with most of our rain falling in summer.
Click to expand...


Absolutely, and in fact there are five pretty distinct seasons in Toowoomba and the Granite Belt. Autumn, Winter, Spring, First Monsoon (as it's heading South), The Tweenies, and Second Monsoon (as it heads North again).

In the rest of SEQ, Spring and Autumn aren't as pronounced, and might easily be missed, but there's nevertheless definitely a distinct 'wet' and 'dry', or more corectly, a long dry then a wet-dry-wet thingy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom