Queensland Floods

[Bowside]

Its worse than that now mate. The playing surface at lang park is well flooded.

There are some pictures on facebook of the reds boys shovelling sand into bags at the depo, few bronco's are there as well.

 

[MrTimms]

I just heard from the stadium people. they lifted most of my kit, so I will just need to reconnect.

The fire was small and easily contained, no real damage.

 

[MajorlyRagerly]

Crikey. Glad to hear the GAGR community are safe, if not a little deconstructed. Terrible thing to happen team, keep safe & don't take any risk not worth taking.

 

[Scotty]

Yeah its all getting a bit crazy now. Flood is a couple of houses away, mine should be fine. Reg's area is pretty badly flooded, i have a mate who lives on the lower bit of chelmer and his house is half flooded, but hes all good and water wont reach the second level.

The army might be sinking 'the island' which is a large party barge moored just near all the bridges. That would be a sight to behold you might all see it on the news in a couple of days.

Luckly I live in a pretty good area, everyones helping each other, and even if people are affected, most of them have pretty good insurance so it wont be much of a problem.

Looks like pretty much all of that corner of Chelmer, Graceville and Sherwood will go under. Same as in 74. It is already over the roofs of some houses in Oxley. Water is now lapping at my mother's driveway in Graceville, luckily she moved as much as possible yesterday.

Suncorp Metway is one of the only insurers that offers flood cover, so most people will be up for a lot of cost, and SM might be staring down another major loss year for them.

 

[Scotty]

Some BOM info for anyone interested.

River Levels:
http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDQ60005.html#Lower_Brisbane

Plots of some areas:
Brisbane City
http://www.bom.gov.au/fwo/IDQ65389/IDQ65389.540198.plt.shtml

Brisbane River at Moggill
http://www.bom.gov.au/fwo/IDQ65389/IDQ65389.540200.plt.shtml

Oxley Creek mouth at Brisbane River (Graceville/Tennyson)
http://www.bom.gov.au/fwo/IDQ65389/IDQ65389.540274.plt.shtml

You can see most are already well above a major flood level and we are expecting rises of a further 1-1.5m.

 

[naza]

Christ, his whole house under water ? Happy to donate to a RugbyReg fund if he's in need. I just feel fucking helpless witnessing this shit through TV & pictures.

Fingers crossed for those in danger.

 

[qwerty51]

I just saw the pictures from 9 via a chopper. All I'd seen before was country towns flooded but to see Brisbane flooded... wow just wow. Unfuckingbelievable.

 

[Bowside]

Looks like pretty much all of that corner of Chelmer, Graceville and Sherwood will go under. Same as in 74. It is already over the roofs of some houses in Oxley. Water is now lapping at my mother's driveway in Graceville, luckily she moved as much as possible yesterday.

Suncorp Metway is one of the only insurers that offers flood cover, so most people will be up for a lot of cost, and SM might be staring down another major loss year for them.

Yeah mate lower graceville's gone, I was just down there. I think all this talk of tides is a bit of a gee up, the water hasn't risen that much in the last 4 hours. Luckily for me the water near my house is all good at the moment, but the rivers moving fucking fast, it really has to be seen to be believed.

It would have to be getting close to the indro bridge now, I saw a picture a few hours ago and it was about 5 metres from the crossing. I'm more worried about moggil ferry breaking away because that would do some real damage.

 

[Scorz]

Best wishes to anyone involved in the floods, keep safe and remember the most important possession is life itself.

 

[MrTimms]

Went down to Kangaroo Point before dinner, it is quite amazing, there is a poo load of water going through there.

Took some video, doesn't quite capture it...

[video=youtube;PhmN_tRrrKw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhmN_tRrrKw[/video]

 

[Thomas]

Some decent photos here: http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/gallery-e6frer9f-1225983022068?page=144

 

[matty_k]

For those interested. The Clarence is on its way down now.
I think even Ulmarra is ok.

The only chance of bad things happening now is if the rains come again almost immediately.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

That's some good news then. Stay dry fella.

 

[Scotty]

Yeah mate lower graceville's gone, I was just down there. I think all this talk of tides is a bit of a gee up, the water hasn't risen that much in the last 4 hours. Luckily for me the water near my house is all good at the moment, but the rivers moving fucking fast, it really has to be seen to be believed.

It would have to be getting close to the indro bridge now, I saw a picture a few hours ago and it was about 5 metres from the crossing. I'm more worried about moggil ferry breaking away because that would do some real damage.

I read somewhere that in 74 they found that the tide didn't really affect anywhere upstream of St Lucia. It works both ways though, don't get any relief on the low tide, but don't get as much affect from the high tide.

 

[MrTimms]

Pano shot from this morning:

 

[TOCC]

the whole week has been surreal, ive lived in Toowoomba the past few years but Brisbane is my home, devastation everywhere..

 

[naza]

Pano shot from this morning:

Wow, its like a post-apocalyptic film ! Watch out for the zombies..

 

[Jets]

This clip shows the water around Toowong and St Lucia. Gives you a good feel for how things are going.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6QVGWJfDEk&sns=fb

On a personal note my family and I are safe. My sons daycare is under water and they are talking about it being knocked down. Will find out over the next few days. Hopefully it can be saved. I think I will be spending a few days helping out down there over the next few weeks.

My thoughts are with everyone who has lost their homes and the family and friends of those who lost their lives in this devistation across Qld and parts of NSW.

 

[Jets]

Good article about Anna Bligh. She has impressed me during the whole saga.

Has Anna Bligh earned herself a second chance?
January 13, 2011 - 8:49AM
Comments 232 Vote

Politicians facing toughest leadership battle
State and federal politicians face their toughest leadership battles as floodwaters continue to rise and thousands are left isolated.
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Cometh the hour, cometh the woman. And from Queensland's dark hour comes a woman we never expected to meet. Anna Bligh, hero. Of course it's a fraught and chancy thing, conferring such status on one person when thousands are hip-deep in the swift water, risking all for the sake of others. And Bligh herself would demur.

But as the state has gone under, Queensland's Premier has risen in the estimation of many. She became a trending topic all on her own yesterday while thousands of Twitter users burned up the bandwidth discussing the inundation of Brisbane. Many of them expressed surprise and satisfaction at the job she was doing.

From reviled and hapless struggler, a hack and a hanger-on, she's emerging from this catastrophe as a tireless and honest leader. Her regular appearances to inform and reassure, and when necessary, to deliver the bad news, have seen her stocks rise with an electorate that had written her off.

She would have none of it. Especially while police officers throw themselves into the torrent to pull terrified children from submerging cars. And citizen heroes in the bright orange coveralls of the SES range over the state, defending it with little more than shovel, sandbag and unsleeping toil. How could she accept any laurel for just doing her job while thousands of ordinary people throw themselves into the fray for the sake of neighbors and friends and complete strangers because it is the right thing to do?

Bligh would know better than to cast their efforts into the shade by accepting praise for her own. But watching her the last few days it's become moot whether such a political calculation would even factor. The new and improved Anna Bligh wouldn't accept the plaudits, not because it was politically dangerous but because, I suspect, she’d know it was wrong and probably pointless.

She seems a woman transformed by the need to do the right thing. And to do it quickly, before all is lost.

She's not the only politician whose performance has impressed, of course. Brisbane's Liberal Lord Mayor Campbell Newman has been every bit as tireless, and brings to his efforts the functional no-nonsense air of an engineer determined to solve the most diabolical problem of his career. A little west in Ipswich, his Labor counterpart, Paul Pisasale, has all but spent himself in his unstinting defense of his, and my, home town. The cracking of his voice as he talks about the drowned city is affecting because it too is so honest.

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Taking charge ... Anna Bligh fronts the media with Julia Gillard yesterday. Photo: Getty Images
It is Bligh however who has become the embodiment of a whole state's resilience. To understand why, you only had to see her joint presser with Julia Gillard yesterday. The PM, while no doubt being sincere in wanting to help, and in her horror of the toll, nonetheless contrived to present as a poor actor playing at stateswoman. The cliched lines, seeming stale and overdone before they were halfway out of her mouth, contrasted poorly with Bligh's untutored but comprehensive delivery and unpolished appearance. Even the Premier seemed to be a million miles away while her senior colleague droned on and on. Go find the press conference on YouTube or ABC's iView if possible. You can almost see Bligh switch off as Gillard starts bloviating. She is far away, toting up casualties. Making lists of priorities. Assigning people and resources.

It is that sense of being 'real' that's lifted her up, I think. So often with politicians we know we are seeing only the performance, hearing only the 'line'. But Bligh with her bloodshot eyes, her exhaustion, and her unbroken will is no longer performing. She is not trying. She is doing. Her kung fu is strong.

Can it last?

Will the newfound respect survive the clean up and the inevitable blame-laying? What happens when the last bucket of stinking mud is finally slopped out and it's time to declare 'Never Again'?. Because at that point the debate will turn to dams and development and the sort of contested issues that brought her undone before. Can she maintain?

Who knows.

But Anna Bligh may have just earned herself a second chance.

Julia Gillard could take a few notes.

 

[Tangawizi]

Here is a pic I found on facebook of the UQ Rugby Field. Those are the beach volleyball nets in the foreground.