Rain In Queensland

[oakmoorehill]

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Its so sad that so many lives have been lost to these floods

A big well done to the tug boat operator and his engineer for getting the walkway safely through the bridge without causing any damage

 

[anniewhippet]

I don't know if it's making your news over there but the flash flood that hit the western city of Toowoomba yesterday was something we've never seen before in Queensland. Some people have described it as an inland Tsunami. An absolute freak of nature that no-one could have predicted. So fast and no warning. 10 people are dead and 78 are missing. Watching it on tv is just like what we saw in Phuket on Boxing Day 2004.A wall of water tore through the city taking everything in its way with it. People, cars, water tanks, sheds ....

There are a LOT of dog show people who live in the Lockyer Valley - I've not yet heard of how anyone out there has fared with their dogs. People who are being rescued from rooftops etc are not allowed to take their pets with them.

I cannot contemplate being rescued and having to be winched away from my dogs.

That water is now headed through the Lockyer Valley and is being joined by water from Wivenhoe Dam - which must be released at regular intervals because the dam is at 174% capacity. Whilst the water will pan out and not be as concentrated and have such force as what tore through Toowoomba, Brisbane (our capital city) and Ipswich (the city of the highest population growth in recent times) are about to be flooded at levels which will exceed the devastation of the 1974 floods. 1974 info here

Over 6000 homes are expected to be affected.

Some places in south-east and south-west Qld were yesterday receiving 150mm of rain EVERY HOUR. On top of the already saturated ground and the creeks and rivers at their peaks - the south east corner of our state is now headed for devastation. As if the rest of our state has not already suffered enough.

75% of Queensland is now declared flood affected.

Hi

Pleased to hear that you are OK Lana, even if it is driving you crazy as it would any of us, but have been thinking of the others in the area, and their dogs of course. So I am sure that I speak for everyone when I say please keep us updated on the situation out there and if you hear any news on the other dog folk please let us know.

When you see pictures of devastation on this scale it makes you realise how small, or petty, some of our worries are.

Stay safe.

 

[Julie D]

hope it can stop getting worse soon and somehow start to die down so that people can get sorted, such devastation is hard to take in, hope you re still ok, thinking of you all xxx

 

[aslan]

I think the final figure in Brisbane was 18,000 homes and businesses - flood affected.

I think it was 8,500 with water above the floorboards.

The Rocklea Markets which is the collection and distribution point for almost all Qld's fruit and veg was up to it's rooftops - millions of dollars of fruit and veg washed away and rotting.

K9'er Gajo (Gary and Jo Austen) who live on the outskirts of Brissie are ok - they were away when the floods hit but the water only came up to their letterbox.

Goondoowindi on the Qld/NSW border narrowly avoided catastrophe - the river rose to 10.6 metres - the levee bank which protects the town was built to 11m.

The town of Boggabilla - not so lucky.

Now there are towns in Victoria being evacuated/flooded - so far Rochester and Charlton are the worst affected. Some of these places got 5 times their annual summer rainfall in 5 days.

Echuca is on high alert.

 

[JAX]

Im constanly watching the news for updates Lana, I think I saw the Brisbane walkway on the news too

 

[wilfred]

I'm thinking of everyone over there, too ... heartbreaking situation.

 

[anniewhippet]

Is there any more news on the situation out there including news on dog folk and their animals? It has gone quiet on our television screens now so we do not really know what is going on out there now.

 

[aslan]

the water in Brisbane had gone down, and the massive clean-up is underway - but now they are getting more heavy rain and the already swollen creeks are going over again - so some of the areas that have already started clean up are being hit again, won't be up to their rooftops like it was but still who needs more water running through the bottom of your house when you're trying to clean up?

I have heard that one German Shepherd family lost their house but all dogs were saved. I don't know the people so don't know where they lived - whether it was in Toowoomba or the Lockyer Valley which were the places hit by the big Flash Flood.

I've not heard of any loss of show/obedience/agility dogs other than the litter mentioned in the beginning. But there have been some horror stories of people in the Lockyer Valley who were trying to save their pet/working dogs - trying to get them out of kennels etc and the water came so fast that they just couldn't do it and were almost washed away themselves. One man in particular just broke down when telling how he tried to rescue his dogs but failed. That just tears me up.

Other good news stories - one family and their neighbour managed to get themselves and their dogs to the rooftop - four adults, I think five kids and three dogs. And whoever rescued them from the roof brought the dogs as well.

Northern Victoria is now in the grip of floods - as mentioned (if you want to look on your maps) places such as Rochester, Charlton, Echuca, Kerang (where a local business man used his machinery and rallied other locals to build a levee around the town in the matter of days - this pretty much held and saved the town - but they are now isolated)

Here's an article on the Victorian floods with some other links & footage

Victorian Floods

 

[Seraphina]

Interesting link to pics of before and flooded areas of Brisbane. Run your curser over each photos from right to left

Link

 

[JAX]

many thanks for the link

lets hope that the end of the wet for you

 

[aslan]

Well all the finger-crossing and hoping and praying didn't work -- Tropical Cyclone Yasi (a Category 5)- the biggest and most dangerous Cyclone in Australia's history is about to bear down on North Qld around midnight tonight. Wind speeds at the centre of the system are around 300kms per hour.

It is supposed to be making landfall between Innisfail and Cardwell - these towns are approximately 300 kms north of Cristina in Townsville and about 700 kms north of me in Mackay - BUT the cyclone is 500kms in DIAMETER so we are both going to feel the effects.

We (hubby Rob and I) think we will still get about 100km winds in Mackay even though we are not in the immediate firing line. Added to the cyclone will be the storm surge it creates ahead of itself - up to 7metres of water will inundate some low lying coastal regions near the centre of the storm. The picturesque seaside town of Cardwell has been completely evacuated.

It is 8.14 pm here and we are already feeling the effects of lashings of wind gusts and severe driving rain. It comes in waves.... just a slight wind and normal rain and then about every half hour or so it gets wild then settles again. And we are quite a way in time from the worst of it. And Cristina will have to bear much worse than I will.

We have taken all the necessary precautions (I was just going to leave town and drive south on Tuesday - but when it tracked further north I decided to stay) and now must just sit it out.

I am very worried about the people of Innisfail and surrounding areas who bore the devastating brunt of Cyclone Larry (a category 4) only 5 years ago.

 

[Nicola]

How frightening for you all. I sincerely hope you'll all be OK...please do let us know if you can.

 

[~Sarah~]

Thinking of everyone there at the awful time. I do hope you will all be OK. :luck: :luck: :luck: :luck:

 

[wilfred]

Thinking of everyone involved ... it sounds horrendous. Fingers crossed that you'll all be OK

 

[Seraphina]

Lana & Cris, hope you and your dogs have got through the night OK :luck:

 

[aslan]

Cristina and I and all our dogs are fine.

It was not as bad here as we expected - very hard for me to guess the speed of the wind - but as described earlier, it came in short bursts and then a lull. This continued til about 10pm when everything settled. We have continued to have rain and blustery winds today but nothing damaging. We have had no power for most of the day. Power stayed on all through the storm itself but went off at around 6am today.

Cristina spent the night huddled with all her dogs in her hallway and when I spoke to her very early this morning was quite shaken by the experience. She had not been outside to assess damage if she had any, but could see some trees down in her and the neighbours yards. I have not rung her back yet - I figured she would need the day to clean up foliage etc and settle herself.

Mission Beach and Tully bore the full force of it and are apparently in a very bad way. Apparently the state forest around there is stripped bare and houses have been unroofed.

It seems the two major northern centres of Townsville and Cairns have escaped devastation. Some flooding and some awnings and signs blown off but no large scale flattening of buildings.

Cardwell apparently got the predicted storm surge and the water lifted boats up and dumped them five streets back from the shoreline.

Will tell you more after I've listened to the news tongiht.

 

[Seraphina]

I have seen lot of footage and still photos on TV, awful damage in some towns, but amazingly, as far as anybody knows nobody died or was seriously injured. Houses built more recently stood up well, but old houses had not much chance. There are many homeless people.

 

[Wayward_Angel]

Glad to hear yourself & Cristina are fine

Would of been a long scary night for alot of people!!

I was glued to skynews last night till 1:30am (NZT) watching the live coverage of the storm.. that seem bad enough and Yasi was still around 3hrs away

fingers cross mother nature has nothing else planned for queensland!!

 

[gajo]

Was thinking of you both, and especially you Cris, so glad you are all safe. Bet it was a pretty scary experience.

 

[aslan]

The first death has been confirmed this morning. A 23 year old man at Ingham that's all they've said so far.

Cardwell-by-the-sea as it is affectionately called now look more like Cardwell IN the sea. Lots of structural damage and the storm surge has just lifted up tons of sand from the beach and dumped in on the main street. The main business centre of Cardwell sits in a singular straight stretch right on the main highway - so on one side you have businesses and on the other you have immediately a park then the beach. The park and the road are no longer visible - it is just sand and debris right up to the doors of the businesses.

Mission Beach, Tully Heads and a number of other small beachside communities have been just devastaed. Tully itself has suffered extreme structural damage.

The Banana industry has been hit again - the cyclone has decimated 75% of the crops in Australia's main banana growing region. The sugar industry has also suffered significant losses. Crops are flattened, mills are torn apart.

Cristina still has no power (and could be without for quite some time) and the internet on her laptop is very intermittent. She lost the solar hot water system on her roof - it has just been smashed and there is glass everywhere in her yard.