I’ve been getting emails from a few people inquiring as to my general well-being in the current “extreme weather”, as the radio calls it, in South-East Queensland.
If you’re not familiar with the geography, or the scale, of Queensland, and all you’ve seen are the pictures from the flash flood in Toowoomba yesterday, rest assured that Toowoomba is two hours drive from where I live in Brisbane. Also know that the floods in Toowoomba were tragic beyond imagining.
The last time Brisbane, and the surrounding region, was in a similar situation was in 1974. People are still paranoid about the ‘74 flood. There are large areas of Brisbane’s suburbs where the water was so high in ‘74 that houses were underwater for days. It’s still something to ask about if you’re buying a house: how far under was this house in ‘74? The ‘74 flood is why there are minimal pictures of my dad as a kid — his parents’ house had water to the ceiling.
After ‘74, Wivenhoe Dam was built upstream of Brisbane as a buffer for the river. It was said, and most people believed, that Wivenhoe meant that a repeat of ‘74 wasn’t possible.
Today, Wivenhoe is 173% full. According to the water utility:
Releases through five gates [at Wivenhoe] have been increased to 344,000 megalitres as at 1.00pm and may need to be increased to around 516,000 megalitres a day by Wednesday 12 January due to rainfall in the Stanley and Upper Brisbane.
Around midday Brisbane time, the river broke its banks, causing minor flooding in the CBD. If you search the #qldfloods tag on twitter you’ll be able to find pictures. With the larger release tomorrow, and the co-inciding high-tide, the flooding will increase. The State Premier has said, going by information from the Bureau of Meterology, that the flooding is predicted to exceed the ‘74 levels tomorrow.
The Lord Mayor has said that 6,500 homes will be affected by the flooding, which is apparently a conservative number. There are around 400,000 homes in Brisbane.
On the radio, ABC 612 Brisbane is providing amazing live and continuing coverage. The @612Brisbane twitter account is sterling also.
From my point-of-view, here at home in a northern suburb of Brisbane, I’m largely insulated from the flooding. The City Council’s flood maps show that my street shouldn’t be affected. Lots of other people aren’t so fortunate. Brisbane is criss-crossed with creeks which are all beginning to break their banks.
So, there’s a lot going on here. I’m OK. But a lot of people aren’t and it’s going to get more scary before it gets better.
Here’s some info for those who are curious about the flooding situation in south east Queensland!
I live in a suburb that has been listed as at risk of flooding however we are pretty high. We could be cut off, but we’ve got supplies. Nick has suggested driving down the coast to his Mum’s place tomorrow so we don’t have to worry about possible infrastructure cut offs.