Unstoppable tide hits Brisbane

reply to post by spookfish


I saw a glimpse of the footage you are refering to, it acctually on a CNN report but i havent been able to find the raw footage. It was amazing though and it moved so fast!!

Sorry all i am reposting the below recent headlines to make sure it's not lost in the thread:

Very important updates all!! I try to keep it as live as possible, sorry i have been off-line today..


***News Update***
Thursday, January 13, 2011 » 07:30pm

Brisbane River to fall by 1.2m by Friday


Brisbane residents can expect to see a significant drop in the flood level when they wake on Friday morning.

Manager of the Bureau of Meteorology's Flood Warning Service, Peter Baddiley, said the Brisbane River had been slowly falling since reaching a peak of 4.46 metres early Thursday morning.

The peak was around one metre less than the levels in the 1974 floods.

Forecasters said it is expected to fall to 3.2 metres by Friday morning.

'For residents affected by the flood, they will notice a significant fall when they see the river in daylight,' Mr Baddiley said.

Full Story: bigpondnews.com...

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Update:

Thursday, January 13, 2011 » 10:06pm

Two men in a tinnie have pulled off a dramatic rescue on the swollen Brisbane River after a yacht capsized, plunging its two occupants into the water.

Queensland Police said the pair were lucky to escape serious injury after the yacht broke its moorings just after 5.30pm (AEST) on Thursday and began floating at speed down the river.

It then hit a submerged object, tearing a hole in the bottom and eventually tipping, throwing the men into the water.

Full Story: bigpondnews.com...

More Information:

qldfloods.org...

Updates Courtesy: 24/7 Flood Centre News.com.au


10.20pm: Up to 80 trucks are stranded on the side of road at Halfway Creek, north of Coffs Harbour, a reader reports.

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9.51pm: Army all-terrain vehicles will be deployed tonight to assist thousands of families stranded in Brisbane's west who are running out of food.

9.14pm: The latest update on the Brisbane River rescue is that two people have been rescued in front of the historic Customs House building, after their stricken yacht capsized while floating out of control down the Brisbane River, The Courier-Mail reports.

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8.33pm: Water use warning. From The Chronicle:

DALBY'S water treatment plant is again at risk of failing as an already swollen Condamine River has started to rise again.

Western Downs Regional Council has asked residents to limit all water use to drinking, showering and emergency only. No food clean-up or outside use is allowed.



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(Ipswich Coles Before)

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(Ipswich Coles After)

Nine News
By Megan Neil, Tracey Ferrier and AAP reporters

Bligh sheds tears for shattered state



Queensland faces a reconstruction task of post-war proportions and it may be many months before some of the thousands of evacuees can go home, an emotional premier has warned.

After Brisbane was crippled by flooding and a third of Ipswich went under water, authorities were increasingly concerned that the border town of Goondiwindi would be the next to be hit by raging floodwaters.

The town's 6000 residents were on standby to evacuate on Thursday night

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Full Story: news.ninemsn.com.au...

Further Media:







***News Alert Urgent***


Residents in the town of Goondawindi are bracing for rising flood waters tonight, be alert and stay safe.

FLOOD WARNING SYSTEM for the MACINTYRE AND WEIR RIVERS

Flood Risk
The Macintyre and Weir Rivers drain an area of about 44,000 square kilometres, most of which lies in the southern border parts of Queensland, with a small part of the basin extending into New South Wales. The Macintyre River has three main tributaries - the Macintyre River in New South Wales, the Dumaresq River along the border, and the Macintyre Brook. Major flooding can occur along each of these river systems causing isolation of towns and rural lands, and severe flooding at times in the Goondiwindi area.

Major flooding is also experienced along the Weir River which joins the Macintyre about 200 kilometres downstream from Goondiwindi, near Talwood.

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Further Information: www.bom.gov.au...

Nail-biting wait as flood heads for Goondiwindi

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The small Queensland town of Goondiwindi is bracing itself for floodwaters with fears the Macintyre River could breach a levee.

The Macintyre is expected to reach a peak of 10.85 metres late tonight or early tomorrow morning, which will come close to the 11m levee bank.

A hospital and nursing home have been evacuated in the town as a precautionary measure against the floods.

"We already know it will be a record flood water level in Goondiwindi, the question is whether that level will go over the edge of the levee bank," Premier Anna Bligh said

Full Story: news.ninemsn.com.au...

Further Updates Live:

It's great to see that money or class is not stopping people helping other's in need

Live Updates Courtesy: News.com.au


*** Update ***


11.08pm: Queensland's richest man Clive Palmer says he used his private helicopter to save 60 stranded people in the flood-ravaged Lockyer Valley after emergency crews failed to show


Headline:

Mining magnate Clive Palmer's chopper rescues 60 peoplel stricken by Queensland floods


QUEENSLAND'S richest man Clive Palmer says he used his private helicopter to save 60 stranded people in the flood-ravaged Lockyer Valley after emergency crews failed to show.

Four employees at his stud farm at Lowood huddled on a rooftop for at least 12 hours, watching horses drown below them, before Mr Palmer was forced to send in his own reinforcements.

"They thought they were going to die," he told AAP today.

"They asked the SES to get there, but they didn't so we got our own chopper there at 4.30am and got them off the roof."

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Mr Palmer said the wall of water that hit the valley on Monday took everyone by surprise, and prompted panic at his Cold Mountain Stud, where the four employees struggled to round up his valuable horses.


Full Story

Further Updates:


Advice for residents to properties: www.brisbane.qld.gov.au...

Flood Evac Centres: www.brisbane.qld.gov.au...


More Images:


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( Brang a tear to my eye )

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More News Updates on Twitter:

( 7 News ) twitter.com...

( Nine News Brisbane ) twitter.com...

If I was Jullia Gillard I would do two things.

1. Put the NBN on the Back burner (lets face it, it's a rubbish idea anyway) and put the $43b Towards the aid releief of QLD

2. Conisdering some news reports state that over 20,000 Queenslanders will be rendered homeless for at least 3 months. Call it a National Emergency (which it is) and Send all the illegal immigrants that are in the Detention centres around Aust. (Villawood, Perth, Melb, and Christmas island) to UN Approved refugee centres around the World. Allowing Our Fellow Australians to occupy the detention centres (Naturally the gates would be unlocked allowing the free roaming of the repective cities).

If Jullia Gillard did these things not only will it allow her to gain a political advantage for an upcoming election but shows that she really cares about the rest of us Aussies and not only look at us when she is scraping us off her shoes. Why should People who come to this country illegally get prefernce over our own who are currently living in shanty towns.

reply to post by Namewithheld


There will be no problem at all funding the relief efforts and repairs, Australia has a 1.4 Trillion $$ economy and Brisbane and QLD play a very important part in that, Coal, Minerals and Exports etc. They will make sure this is fixed and back on track.

It may take some time as you would expect but i have full confidence is the government ( when it comes to natural disasters and releif )

Also the NBN isn't that bad. It's gonna give us a Fibre network that will last and be top of the line for many years to come. As opposed to what the opposition tried to sell, basically a bandaid option to last about 10 years more....

reply to post by Havick007


I apologize if this is a redundant post and I am so sorry about this prediction as you all certainly don't need any more grief.


Thursday, January 13,2011
Heavy rains blamed on the La Nina weather phenomenon that have brought death and destruction to Australia's northeast COULD STAY FOR MONTHS, weather forecasters warned Tuesday. After emerging from years of devastating drought and water restrictions in 2009, Queensland enjoyed its WETTEST SPRING ON RECORD last year, making catchments more likely to overflow when further heavy rains hit. The wet conditions, which began in earnest in December and have wiped out crops, flooded mining operations and claimed at least 20 lives, could continue until the end of March. "The national outlook for the January to March period favours wetter conditions in the eastern half of New South Wales, southeastern Queensland and western Western Australia," the bureau said in its latest forecast. The bureau said the rainfall was the result of cool conditions in the central equatorial Pacific Ocean associated with the current La Nina - a disruptive weather event associated with rains. "The southeast, roughly one-quarter of Queensland... has about a 60 to 75 percent likelihood of getting above the median three-month rainfall for January to March." The December to March period was traditionally the wettest of the year for Queensland, and much of the region had endured RECORD RAINFALLS in December. Experts said even if subsequent downpours were not extreme, they could cause major problems because catchments and rivers were already full to overflowing.
www.globaldisasterwatch.blogspot.com...

I know we are not supposed to use blogs as sources, but this is not an ordinary blog.

Prayers are with you all.

reply to post by Iamschist


Actually had a workmate tell me yesterday that the La Nina event would last for 6 months, and that we were only 3 months into it. Hope OzWeatherman can jump in here and give us his take on this.

Havick007.... congratulations on the marvellous effort you have put into this thread, the information you have gathered together has been staggering.

reply to post by heffo7


The OzWeatherman rocks! Also agree with you about Havick007 he has been doing an awesome job. Australians have always been impressive, but your doing yourselves proud now, in front of the whole world,

reply to post by Iamschist


Thanks for the updates, yeah i have been hearing about el nina on the news for the past couple of days. It's affecting us in Victoria as well, there are some towns NW of Melbourne under threat today. Although the news here has been focused of QLD.

It's either one extreme or another El Nino caused us bad droughts and now El Nina is doing the complete opposite...

*** News Update ***

Also keep upto date with Chan 9 News Aus - extended coverage live streaming:

news.ninemsn.com.au...

Massive clean-up begins in Brisbane



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As floodwaters subside in Brisbane, residents are returning home to begin a clean-up "of post-war proportions".

''That is how we are seeing it and that is the sort of steely determination that it will require,'' Premier Anna Bligh said yesterday.

But residents might not recognise their own neighbourhood when they return, with once-pretty suburban streetscapes stained with a brown stinky sludge.

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The Brisbane River has fallen to around 3m from a peak of 4.46m and is continuing to drop in the Queensland capital.

More than 26,000 homes and 5000 businesses in 67 suburbs have been affected, more than 150 roads remain closed and the city remains in effective lockdown, with power and public transport still shaky.

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Full Story

Montannah Creasy gets a hug from her Black Hawk rescuer Tony Young


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HE did it because it is all he knows to do, and yesterday the mother of little Montannah Creasy, saved in the floods, had the chance to say thank you.

Warrant Officer Tony Young yesterday was reunited with the little girl he helped save earlier this week, and while WO2 Young was pleased to see the family happy and alive, little Montannah was just plain overwhelmed.

The crew of Black Hawk 220 landed at Gatton Event Centre where Roslyn Perry was waiting with her little girl.

"Thank you so much," were the first words from Roslyn's mouth.

"No worries," WO2 Young said.

Hundreds were left stranded on Monday when the order to evacuate Forest Hill was given and WO2 Young saw Roslyn struggling across a field with the 13-month-old Montannah


Full Story

QLD Government Flood Updates


Further Media:

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More Images: news.ninemsn.com.au...

reply to post by Havick007


This is horrible. People have lost loved ones, they have lost houses, property, livelyhoods.... I really hope most of these folks are insured... I hope the Australians can overcome this... this is just horrible. I saw a video on youtube where a river spilled over into the streets..... atleast I think it was a river. The same case is happening in Brazil...

There has been an increase in natural disasters over the last 10 years... I really don't know where to start about the victims of these disasters..

I have been watching this on the news here in the US. The scenes are quite frightening and I hope all is going to be well. I believe in having a back up plan always for various disasters but what good is your supply of food and water if it all gets washed away? It amost makes one feel little to even compete with Mother Nature. Good luck to all living through this and I wish the best for you.

Network / Infrastructure Update:

Communications

Telstra flood update

With waters receding, our focus today is to repower, repair and restore network sites so that more customers can be connected.

As was the case yesterday, the biggest challenges for Telstra continues to be power, access to our sites, and damage by flood waters to our infrastructure. As such, some customers will still be experiencing issues with their landline, mobile, and broadband/Foxtel services.
We have a long road ahead in repairing the network, and we will see customer impacts vary over that time.

Today, we have seen a decline in the number of areas that are inaccessible. As it becomes safe, Telstra crews will move in to repower and repair network infrastructure to get customers connected as quickly as we can. There are still more than 200 areas where we cannot access network sites due to safety reasons. This figure constantly changes as the situation alters.



--------------------------------------------------------


Key restoration works:

We have seen restoration overnight of mobile services north of Brisbane and to the south and south west of Brisbane including areas such as Albion, Dinmore, Taringa, Karalee and Indooroopilly.

We have also had landline and/or mobile services restored in Lowood, Karalee, Mt Crosby, Bulimba, Red Gate, Camp Hill, Bulimba, Pinkenba and Borallon.

The Australian Defence Force provided a charter flight from Brisbane to Kingaroy last night for two Telstra technicians to assess a fibre cable link which was damaged between Kingaroy and Dalby. Repairs to this cable are ongoing.


Network:

Telstra is monitoring the network closely.

We are well resourced with an extra 130 staff on the ground to help our local teams. We have a portable exchange and Cells on Wheels, which are transportable mobile base stations, that will be used where possible to have services up and running quicker.

It is anticipated that Telstra will deploy Cells On Wheels in the Lockyer Valley area to ensure people have mobile coverage. Actual locations will be determined in consultation with emergency services.

We can advise that key interstate transmission links are holding up well.




Further Information: exchange.telstra.com.au...

reply to post by Havick007

Mate you're doing a damn good job of keeping everyone informed and up-to-date on the situation

Good on Ruddie. How many countries see their ex-prime minister/president personally lending a hand in these sort of situations

Once again I wish my neighbors all the best in the clean up

Originally posted by Southern Guardian

This is horrible. People have lost loved ones, they have lost houses, property, livelyhoods.... I really hope most of these folks are insured... I hope the Australians can overcome this... this is just horrible.

Thanks for the kind words for everyone

I have heard more than once that insurance companies aren't even beginning to help... apparently it is an act of god so most people will be uninsured for this tragedy unfortunately.

You would think the insurance companies would do it out of the bottom of their cold, cracked heart. It's probably not a realistic scenario but when this is all over I would love to see everyone boycott the insurance companies.

***News Update***


Grantham:

Search goes on for Grantham's flood dead


A line of police is searching for bodies in the fields leading into Grantham in the Lockyer Valley, after an extreme flash flood roared down the range.
A man's body was found in fields on Thursday, and another was found in a Grantham home on Wednesday.

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Twelve more locals are missing, Inspector Mark Kelly said.
Many didn't have time to run.

The wall of water that hit the town on Monday ripped the town apart.
It picked up one house and threw it into a melon field. Another home slid two metres off its foundations.
Smashed cars were wedged up against trees, and fridges and freezers were strewn about.

Full Story: bigpondnews.com...


Updates:


Shoppers donate $4m to flood affected --- Friday, January 14, 2011 » 03:20pm


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Coles and Woolworths say they've collected more than $4 million in donations from shoppers so far, while big business has also rushed to help flood-affected Queensland.

The latest running tally puts Coles donations at $2.3 million, while Woolworths is fast approaching $2 million.

The fresh food people have also pledged to match shopper donations dollar for dollar, which is likely to make it the biggest corporate donor so far, ahead of the Commonwealth Bank with its offering of $1.35 million.

Read More: bigpondnews.com...

reply to post by GobbledokTChipeater


Yeah it was good to see Ruddy out there helping out and doing all he could. Even watching him on the today show, he seemed so affected by all this.

Yeah the insurance situation is kinda 50/50 so far as ive been hearing. Suncorp advised all their customers are covered, but then some other companies dont cover flood in this scenario. The QLD treasurer and Govt has been putting pressure on others to pay out for their customers but time will tell.

This is crazy lets just hope we dont get too bad in vic has been raining all week

***News Update***

Infrastructure - Roads

Nine News Aus

Major Brisbane road at risk: mayor

Part of one of Brisbane's major arterial roads may be at risk of slipping into the Brisbane River following this week's flood.

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Coronation Drive, which runs parallel to the river in Toowong, in the city's inner-west, remained closed on Friday after the inundation, which deposited between 150mm and 200mm of silt.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said there was a major landslip around The Regatta Hotel after the 1974 flood, and there were fears history would repeating itself.

"As the river drops, that is when you can have landslip on the banks of the Brisbane River," he told reporters on Friday.

Read More

RACQ Traffic & Road Conditions: www.racq.com.au...

QLD Govt Road Warnings and ''No Go Zones" - highload.131940.qld.gov.au...

Useful Information - Personal Continuity Plan in times of Crisis: media.news.com.au...



Further Updates:

Massive defence deployment for Qld


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The biggest defence deployment for a natural disaster since Cyclone Tracy has been sent into Queensland, as authorities warned the bodies of some victims of the floods disaster may never be found.

The crisis, which has affected three-quarters of the state including the capital Brisbane over the past three weeks, is far from over, with the residents of the border town of Goondiwindi now anxiously watching the Macintyre River as it heads for a record flood.

Some towns and even Brisbane suburbs remain totally cut off and it may be early next week before the CBD returns to normal.

Full Story

Related Video:




Amazing Footage!



Also please keep informed and upto date with floods affecting Vic and Tasmania.

5 towns evacuated in the state of Victoria and i just heard on the news one of Tasmania's dam's has burst.

Some area's of Victoria have received more than all it's summer avg rainfall in the past couple of days alone.

reply to post by q_ball


I know, this weather is crazy...great start to 2011

Iv'e been watching news updates on Vic and it's getting worse although no confirmed major flooding as yet ( as far as i know )

I am Sth Est of Melbourne and it was raining hard all morning and into the afternoon. It's been raining hard all week!! ( And stinking humid!! ) I havent seen rain like this for a long time, and considering this time last year we were in year 10 of the draught. Now with this El Nina, i dont know what is going to happen??

double post