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Forum Administrator 2012 USPOL Most Valuable Poster (MVP)
I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but Australia is currently undergoing our largest natural diaster ever. More than two-thirds of our second largest state (Queensland, where I was born and raised until I left university) is now under water, as a result of two separate flood incidents. The flood waters are also in New South Wales and Victoria. Queensland is equivalent in size to California and Texas combined! The cost of recovery will be tens of billions of dollars, and it's not over yet.
My home town (where my sister and father still live) of Rockhampton (pop. 90,000 in Central Queensland) is under water, and will remain that way until at least the end of next week. The reason is that the Fitzroy River in R'ton is the exit point to the Pacific Ocean of the world's second-largest river system - Fitzroy/McKenzie/Dawson Rivers. Flood waters in the north and west of the state are trying to get out at the same time. They're safe thank goodness, but my dad's new home has water through the property. The town is cut off on all fronts. The airport is under water, and all rail/road lines are cut, with more than 9 metres of water across them.
My mother lives in Hervey Bay (pop. 50,000) in the southern half of the state, and they are cut off. They don't have flood water, but the next town is under, and no supplies can get through. The town ran out of fuel on Tuesday, and bread/milk yesterday.
The flood event that is currently occurring in the state's capital city, Brisbane (pop. 2 million, where I lived for 8 years) is a result of a massive rain storm three days ago that dumped more than 200 mm of rain in less than one hour. This storm hit the town of Toowoomba (pop, 90,000), which sits about 700 metres above sea level along the Great Dividing Range (Australia largest mountain range). The water flow downward has completely washed away several towns. Luckly the death toll thus far is relatively low at 14, but there are still about 70 people still unnacounted for. Brisbane is Australia's third largest city, and it is built on a major river, which snakes through the entire city to the ocean - the Brisbane River. The Toowoomba waters are now flooding this city. What has made it worse is that Queensland has had its wettest year ever in 2010, so all the water catchments and dams are at capacity, so the water has nowhere to go. Approximately 18,000 houses in Brisbane have been lost. Prior to reaching Brisbane, the waters devasted the city of Ipswich (pop. approx 170,000), with a third of that city now gone.
My old Brisbane apartment (before I moved to Melbourne) was on the fourth floor of a riverside building, and whilst I woudln't have been wet, the building downstairs is flooded. All power to the CBD was cut yesterday, and hasn't been turned on yet. Imagine the US-equivalent of Chicago having its CBD shut down and completely inundated with water. At this stage it looks like far exceedings New Orleans in terms of infrastructure, but thankfully not lives lost. All of my friends and family are safe, but some have had to evacuate and relocate to emergency shelters.
The US govt has already offered support.
Anyway, I hadn't seen any mention of it on the Forum so I thought I'd let my international friends know what is going on. I've also pasted a couple of pictures below of Brisbane and the CBD, including the Australian Stock Exchange district.
Queensland Floods, Brisbane Floods Health Implications | Disease
These catastrophic floods have set in motion a series of serious health problems across Queensland.
IN WHAT is likely to be Australia's worst natural disaster, an area the size of Victoria is now flooded between Rockhampton and Brisbane, putting a strain on the resources of Queensland's health services. Storm cells can be tracked, but predicting when and in which catchments falls will occur remains imprecise. These floods have simultaneously blocked air and land access to affected areas at various times, delaying the redeployment of our most capable first-responders to the areas where they are needed most.
The health challenges vary across Queensland. In the Fitzroy River basin last week, flood levels silently rose over the sandbags, drowned the pumps and inundated GP practices. There was no option but to evacuate. In the Lockyer and Toowoomba storm cell on Monday, flash floods came and went within two hours. In Grantham and Helidon, bodies remained unrecoverable yesterday, allowing time for Toowoomba to expand its mortuary capacity to 24 places if required.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Our world-class health infrastructure is struggling to cope.
Vice President
What is CBD that you mention?
I take it that this is an event resulting from global warming trends? That these sorts of events will be happening in the future?
I believe someone told me that the Australian government is run by conservatives. Will they respond with government aid, or will they just let everyone deal as best they can?
"There is no gain in arguing with a poo flinging monkey. While his
gibbering and raucous cries of victory may seem obnoxious in your ears
as you walk away, he will soon be quietly sitting behind his bars again
and licking his own feces off his fingers as you carry on with your day."
Forum Administrator 2012 USPOL Most Valuable Poster (MVP)
Sorry, CBD is Central Business District.
The Federal Government is the Labor Party, which is our version of our left party. The Queensland state govt is also Labor, as is the state govt of New South Wales. The govt of Victoria is Liberal, which ironically is the name of our conservative party.
Australians - liberal or conservative - have a long history of reponding with aid. National and local business are already fundraising, and we had a national televised fundraised last weekend on tv. The Prime Minister has temporaily turned over control of the nations entire military apparatus to the Queensland Premier (our equivalent to a state governor) to help with the situation, and several billion has already been committed by the Federal govt. All state governments in our country have all committed millions of dollars as well, but it is going to take tens of billions to rectify the massive devastation that has occurred.
Vice President
I've heard that sharks and crocodiles are exploring the newly waterlogged areas, complicating rescue efforts.
While it's one of those once in a lifetime things, one wonders if better home design could deal with this without serious property damage.
Secretary of Defense
I've been keeping up with it, as much as possible. Thankfully, BBS is covering it, even if it's not been in the US media much. I correspond with several folk in Australia, luckily not directly affected with this flooding. We just went through a 500 year flood here in Iowa in 2008, so I'm very aware of the devastation this can do, and the long term problems you will have to contend with.
Hopefully, the US and the world will not only promise, but live up to those promises, with money and aid. Take care and my hopes that your family comes through this.
fiscal conservative, Constitutional Neo-liberal democrat
"I am not a member of any organized party — I am a Democrat," Noted humorist Will Rogers
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Legend of USPO
CL, BS, I saw this on ALL the cable news networks this AM.
Sorry for your country's misfortune, noahath.
Take a good hard look, it's coming.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Member
Its happened before in that area and will no doubt happen again.
Precedents
The Queensland flooding has caused loss of life and extensive damage, but this isn’t the first time the area has been hit, hard, by massive floods.
1974: The vast amount of rain that hit the area the previous year is often seen as a precursor which led to massive flooding in Brisbane in 1974. The new year got off to a bang with torrential downpours soaking many parts of Australia in addition to Queensland, which scientists attribute to a La Niña event. But the extreme weather pattern reached a boiling point when tropical Cyclone Wanda hit on January 24, two days before Australia Day, the country’s official national day of celebration. The cyclone didn’t cause extensive damage, but caused massive amounts of rain to fall over the Australia Day weekend. More than 300 millimetres fell in Brisbane in a 24-hour period. Houses were washed away, 14 people were killed and nearly 7,000 homes were flooded. At its peak, the Brisbane River reached 5.45 metres. In the aftermath of the flood, Queensland adopted new flood prevention and mitigation strategies, such as Brisbane’s Wivenhoe Dam, which is credited with helping prevent some damage due to the current flood.
1893: Although the 1974 flood is typically the yardstick by which all floods since have been measured, Brisbane has been immersed in even deeper waters. In 1893, Brisbane was hit by a massive flood following major rainfall that is linked to a tropical cyclone. The depth of the Brisbane River at the peak of the flood was 8.35 metres and led to the deaths of 11 people, as well as nearly 200 hospitalizations and costly damages. It’s considered by many experts to be the worst flood in the region’s history.
Australia flooding considered ominous sign of disasters to come - The Globe and Mail
President
Reminds me of the one two punch the gulf coast in the US took from Katrina and Rita during the 2005 hurricaine season.
Forum Administrator 2012 USPOL Most Valuable Poster (MVP)
Here are some more pics.
Forum Administrator 2012 USPOL Most Valuable Poster (MVP)
And a few more
Proud Virginian Administrator!
I've been keeping up on this. The low loss of life is absolutely remarkable when one looks at all the pictures. It has been in the news quite a bit here, eclipsed only by Tucson shooting related stories. I hope your family and friends make it through without any issues, noahath.
We'll be sending you a slightly used Superdome.Originally Posted by noahath
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Forum Administrator 2012 USPOL Most Valuable Poster (MVP)
Yeah, that's true. You can't swim in rivers in far north Queensland as they're full of crocs, and the Brisbane River is full of bull sharks. The first shark was spotted swimming in someone's yard yesterday.
Nah, there's nothing that could have been done about it. Queensland houses are already built to an incredibly high standard, as the state is prone to multiple cyclones (our version of hurricanes) each year, and most houses can withstand those. This was simply a case of mother nature going bad-ass. All the water catchments were full, and the rain just did not stop for weeks on end. My home town of Rockhampton has been flooded since Christmas Day. My mother was there to see my sister, but had to leave during the night so she could get home. It's one of those quirks of nature.
Last edited by noahath; 01-13-2011 at 04:18 PM.
President
Anyone seen this one yet ?
Young flood victim; "Save my brother instead"
msnbc.com Video Player
Can you imagine that ?
Forum Administrator 2012 USPOL Most Valuable Poster (MVP)
Yeah, that one made the headline news here. The poor kid couldn't swim and was afraid of water, but he still insisted they take his younger brother first, and he was subsequently washed away. Very tragic, sad, and brave.
President
They are called houseboats.
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