| Author | Message | ||
     Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2555 Registered: 03-2005 |
And now it's heading for Brisbane?!?! I remember reading somewhere that South Brisbane flooded rather badly a number of times before. I suppose the walkway along the river must be inundated. Does the Botanical Garden flood? The CBD? David? Peter Walsh? | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1037 Registered: 10-2008 |
yeah, read this earlier. http://www.musicomh.com/albums/wire_0111 .htm only had a stopover of a few days in brisbane before heading to cairns a few years ago, but its a great city. hope it passes quickly. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2556 Registered: 03-2005 |
What about the Gap? Is it low ground? Is it near a waterway? (I guess I'll have to do some online research.) I'll bet Robert won't be doing "If It Rains" for a while. This looks really hideous. Padraig, what's going on down in NSW? What about Victoria? This thing looks national. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3772 Registered: 05-2005 |
Randy, David lives in Ipswich, which currently has no electricity. A third of Ipswich is said to be likely to flood. Hopefully David and his family are OK. New Farm is one of the areas of Brisbane expected to flood. As I'm sure you remember, the Powerhouse venue is right beside the water. It's very scary stuff. Northern NSW is now facing floods too. I thought a storm was coming in to Sydney last night as the weather was pretty wild around 6pm when I was down in Manly for dinner. It calmed down later on, thankfully. | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 345 Registered: 02-2007 |
Major flooding here in Ipswich. We're fine Padraig as our house is well above flood zone fortunatley but over 3000 people have been evacuated from their homes. Most are staying with relatives etc but about 1000 are staying in evacuation shelters like the show grounds. River is expected to peak at 20.5 metres which is down from the 22m we thought fortunately which puts it equal to legendary 1975 level. Randy, The Gap is well above flood plain, but many areas around West End, St Lucia (the Uni precinct) and New Farm will prob go under in Brisbane. 70% of Qld is being flooded which is a huge area. Randy the floods are now heading for northern NSW but I'm not sure how far south they will go. Frightening scenes from Toowoomba (about 45 mins west of here) and the Lockyer Valley where many people have lost their lives it seems. The power of nature is equal parts awesome and terrifying. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 2063 Registered: 01-2005 |
Prayers go out to all my Ausie friends as they cope with some very serious and scary looking floods. I managed by one month to avoid the California central valley levees colapsing east of San Franciso when I lived in Stockton CA in the early 1970's. It was pretty strange sight when I first moved out there seeing ocean going freighters poking their upper half above the levees in the middle of flat farm land. Stockton is located 78 miles east of San Franciso, and is, along with Sacramento, one of the state's two inland sea ports. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1038 Registered: 10-2008 |
saw this on a celtic website "Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium, where 35,000 watched Celtic play a pre-season friendly 18 months ago, is now ablaze, after flood water short-circuited a generator." | ||
| Mark Leydon Member Username: Mark_leydon Post Number: 321 Registered: 05-2005 |
Here is the most dramatic footage I've seen of the Qld floods - amatuer footage of the creek in Toowoomba rising quickly and then washing away loads of cars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYUpkPTcq PY&feature=player_embedded | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2557 Registered: 03-2005 |
Padraig, David, thanks for the info. I don't why I didn't think of New Farm, considering that one of my favorite little memories is of sitting on a park bench in New Farm Park after dark and gazing at the river while waiting for one of the Powerhouse shows to start. I forgot how little elevation there was between my bench and the river surface. Glad to hear you are safe, David, not to minimize the horror for so many others. Also glad to hear that the Gap is on higher ground. At least this is one thing less for Robert to explain to Karin. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3773 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kevin, the fire was a minor one. The pitch looks like a lake though. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2559 Registered: 03-2005 |
If you haven't already run across it, here's the QLD government's disaster relief fund link: http://telethon.smartservice.qld.gov.au/ | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1081 Registered: 10-2008 |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pac ific-12342031 my god, my brother in law lives in cairns. when i was there a few years ago he showed me the remains of the wreckage caused by a typhoon from the early part of the decade. its a beautiful part of the world, but they sometimes have to pay for it. padraig, any more you can add to the bbc report? | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2582 Registered: 03-2005 |
Kevin, I've come to the conclusion that this year is a bit of a re-run of 1974. In 1974 Brisbane was flooded even worse than this year because they had only one dam to control water flow whereas now they have two. Darwin--up in the Northern Territory--was largely wiped out. Oz definitely has to deal with Mother Nature in a big way and this is a . . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXNsx3NP Hc&feature=related | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2583 Registered: 03-2005 |
I've been wondering whether David Gagen has been busy helping friends and neighbors dig out in the Ipswich environs. I read a BBC article yesterday about the aftermath in the tiny town of Grantham. There's a LOT of work for volunteers to be doing now. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2584 Registered: 03-2005 |
Wow. I'm reading that Cyclone Tracy, which took out Darwin, was a Cat 4 storm. This is a Cat 5. The 30 foot (sorry, 9 meter) tidal surge is pretty hard to wrap my mind around. If you lived on the coast you wouldn't be able to hide from the massive winds in your basement or storm cellar. You'd drown. You really need to have evacuated. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1082 Registered: 10-2008 |
great news. my wifes brother is actually in perth just now, he has a house there because he spends a lot of time there due to work commitments, thats great timing for him!! but for the other poor souls in the north east this is dreadful. however, his house in cairns is obviously unattended and at the mercy of the elements. he stays in an area called holloways beach, which you can probably guess by the title is right next to the ocean and is therefore probably going to be an easy target for this storm. its a beautiful area, i used to walk the few hundred yards to the beach each morning and it was really peaceful, hard to imagine the carnage its going though just now. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1083 Registered: 10-2008 |
the town of cardwell just down the coast from cairns seems to be right in the eye of the storm. my family, my brother in law, and his girlfriend spent 4 great days down there at friends of my brother in law.these people are real diamonds and made us really welcome so i hope they are safe. the visit to cardwell coincided with my wifes 40th birthday so has strong memories. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2585 Registered: 03-2005 |
Wow, Cairns & Perth. What great alternatives. Cairns has got to be a real sweatbox at times so Perth would be a good antidote. Your brother-in-law is lucky. Holloways Beach is to the north of Cairns so might not fare quite so badly. Aside from running out of potable water I don't know if Perth ever has big weather problems. Do we have any posters in Perth? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3790 Registered: 05-2005 |
I've done a new story for tomorrow's paper, but here is what is in today's http://m.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/ 2011/0202/1224288772943.html?via=world | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3791 Registered: 05-2005 |
Here's the latest. http://m.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/ 2011/0203/1224288893571.html?via=world | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 346 Registered: 02-2007 |
Yeh Randy, we all pitched in a little bit to help the coupla thousand whose houses were inundated here in Ipswich. I know it sounds like a cliche but there was a real spirit about the place with all the volunteers helping. This cyclone up north was a huge one by all reports and it is a miracle that we had no loss of life. Tully seems to have taken the full brunt with hundreds of houses damaged. Mustve been a frightening experience. Experts rated it almost as big as Katrina in destructive winds. Amazing that damage hasnt been more widespread. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 621 Registered: 04-2005 |
The last photo in this series is incredible : a satellite view of the enormous cyclone. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/ 2011/feb/03/cyclone-yasi-in-pictures-que ensland?picture=371412280#/?picture=3713 73920&index=15 Not knowing anything about the 'normal' climate patterns of Queensland I have to ask "how exceptional are cyclones/hurricanes in this area?" The photos seem to show a fair proportion of all timber-frame houses, which look pretty flimsy. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 2084 Registered: 01-2005 |
It might not be the "Perfect Storm" of multiple weather fronts that hit the New England shores in 1991 and did so much damage (as well as claiming the Andrea Gail swordfish boat), but Tracy has to go down as one of the most largest and most distructive cyclones that I can remember. |