Speculating? 2010 floods?

[topcropper]

Appologies to West Australianites who are suffering extreme historic dry times. Just ignore all this OK.



Raining again.

The rain in the east and south, especially inland continues. Much of Queensland and parts of the north of the continent has received record rains for the dry season. Alice Springs and a lot of the arid interior is green and lush.

I spotted this newspaper article,.....

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...patterns-combine/story-e6freoof-1225932545396

Weather Channel meteorologist Tom Saunders said there was a strong chance Australia would experience simultaneous La Nina and Indian Ocean Dipole events. A La Nina and a negative IOD both tend to produce above average rainfall.

The IOD is the difference between sea surface temperature in the western and eastern equatorial Indian Ocean. It affects the climate of countries around the Indian Ocean basin.

Mr Saunders said a rain-bearing, negative IOD had developed over the past two months. It and La Nina had their biggest impact in winter, spring and early summer.

"The last event was in the early and mid-1970s, a period infamous for flooding and cyclones across Australia," he said.

"The best examples include Cyclone Wanda, which flooded Brisbane in early 1974, and Cyclone Tracy, which devastated Darwin in late 1974.

"During that period practically the whole country, except the far southwest corner, saw above average rain from June to November, with record high falls through parts of the interior," he said.

"In 2010, the pattern of cyclones, heavy rain and flooding consistent with these two events are set to look similar.

.

When Brisbane got flooded in January 1974, I was a kid, stuck in a caravan park on the Gold Coast. We were OK as we were on a high patch, but I remember some caravans floating away. Took many days to get home, as the rain was widespread, and roads were blocked everywhere. When we got home, we found our farm was flooded out too, although not to the extent of Brisbane. Floods in January don't really do much damage. The winter crops are off, and the summer crops go nuts. They are great really, ignoring the fences and stuff washed away.



A scary chart of historic Brisbane river water levels. Looks like the 1974 event was not special after all if taken back to the century earlier.

Wivenhoe will now catch a lot of the next big flood and it wasn't there in 74. That will help a lot.


Floods coming? I have no idea. I'm just stuck inside and bored, love talking about rain and the weather and I'm waiting for the NRL Grand Final to start..


See ya's.

 

[marg4000]

Wivenhoe will help, but it is above the junction of the Bremer River with the Brisbane River. In 1974 a lot of the flooding came from the Bremer River.

BTW, this weekend should see Wivenhoe officially "full", with the extra dam wall height reserved for flood mitigation.
Marg

 

[Aaron Sice]

driest winter on record.

friends of ours have a fruit crop in Northam. 3 years running have had to cart in water. not exactly "rural" either.

i swear this was going to be a wet winter.

 

[marg4000]

It's official, water is being released from Wivenhoe, first time since 1999 apart from a small release 5-6 years ago.
AND it is still raining....
Marg

 

[csc2]

when the next major flood hit brisbane theres gunna be some destitute punters.

twenty years ago i worked on many subdivisions around brissy........

at least half will flood without question..

so called flood mitigation methods with installed drainage etc wont make a scrap of difference.

mark my words when brisbane floods next, there will be huge issues

 

[Sunfish]

I heard tonight that FRESH water is expected to flow from the Murray into the sea.

Can anyone inform a Northerner if this "Saves" the Coorong?

 

[Macca]

I heard tonight that FRESH water is expected to flow from the Murray into the sea.

Can anyone inform a Northerner if this "Saves" the Coorong?

I did read this article in the SMH

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/w...e-coorong-and-lower-lakes-20101001-16149.html

I think the flow is a huge step forward but it will take time for all to be well again.

If the states stopped preaching green and actually acted green, we could have had flow much earlier. When Qld, NSW and Victoria sell off water rights for more water than what actually flows down river it is never going to be good news for SA.

Hopefully one single authority can manage the flow of all interstate rivers, after all we are one nation aren't we

 

[marg4000]

We were in Adelaide recently and were shocked to see people SPRINKLING lawns. When we commented we were told that people couldn't have their gardens dying.

We haven't been allowed sprinklers in Brisbane for several years now and yes, some of our gardens did die.

Please don't put ALL the blame on "northeners".
Marg

 

[weg]

We were in Adelaide recently and were shocked to see people SPRINKLING lawns. When we commented we were told that people couldn't have their gardens dying.

We haven't been allowed sprinklers in Brisbane for several years now and yes, some of our gardens did die.

Please don't put ALL the blame on "northeners".
Marg

Marg, the blame is on the federal and state governments regarding allocation, and the favouring or irrigators upstream.

I have been told by someone with information that next year we will actually be able to get allocation info online, something that people have been in the dark about up to this point.

My personal belief is this Murray report was not disclosed prior to the election because the news was not good for the Victorians but good for the Labor government in keeping in with the Vics.

Sprinklers are banned here also. Were most of these in backyards of friends houses or elderly people with permits?

Watchdogs are out in full force here in SA and report people that blatantly abuse these restrictions.

My husband a Landscaper always applies for a permit when putting in new lawns - puts it in a plastic sleeve and attaches it within view of passersby, becuase people get reported all the time.

 

[csc2]

i love southerners whinging about qld knocking off their water...

we also stole the good weather to! not to mention losing the chips off our shoulders years ago with regards to who owns what water.....first in first served!

harden up you bunch of mexican princesses!!

 

[BayView]

i love southerners whinging about qld knocking off their water...

we also stole the good weather to! not to mention losing the chips off our shoulders years ago with regards to who owns what water.....first in first served!

harden up you bunch of mexican princesses!!

Given that we have been on water restrictions for the last umpteen years, and given that it rains cats and dogs every year up your way, I'd say we are justified.

But what I can't fathom is how our d/head Gubbmint hasn't worked out a way to gather up all the excess water that falls in QLD and pipe it down our way, or to SA, or to wherever else it's needed; instead of letting it simply flow out to sea.

Is it too simple, or have I got no idea?

 

[csc2]

i actually agree (was looking for bites) ;-)...its high time that water catchment facilities around streets for a start were used....billions of litres of water going down drains could be used instead of going out to sea in most coastal areas of qld and australias seaboard cities and towns for that matter...this would certainly help a little...may not do much for the murray though until the farmers get with the program....and that is up to govt to sort out...been slow going for years

im no engineer but its a wasteful resource to see water going down drains which happen every time it rains...

its certainly no worse than drinking river water that fish, crocodiles and who knows what else crap in daily which basically we drink.....after a little treatment.

if i was thirsty enough id drink gutter water from a concrete kerb no dramas as is...thats what kidneys are for to clean things up a bit..

 

[Sunfish]

Given that we have been on water restrictions for the last umpteen years, and given that it rains cats and dogs every year up your way, I'd say we are justified.

That's crap. Brisbane has had years of severe water restrictions too. I'm no expert but this is the first time Brissy's dams have been full for over a decade.

Somewhere I have a map of the major river catchments in Oz and our channel country drains into L. Eyre and most everything else drains (sporadically) into our coastal streams. Some, maybe 15% by memory, of our area drains into the Murray system, but this is all on the west of the Great Devide and that is not where it rains cats and dogs every year. In fact there isn't any part of Qld which doesn't spend as many years short of water as flooded.

Queensland is a big place and it seems too easy for mexicans to assume that when it rains somewhere, it rains everywhere. Not true! Like everywhere it rains when and where it happens. Some win, some lose.

Edit: Found it.

http://www.nativefish.asn.au/ozrivers.html

I'm not good at this but the link names the rivers.

 

[BayView]

That's crap. Brisbane has had years of severe water restrictions too. I'm no expert but this is the first time Brissy's dams have been full for over a decade.

Why is it crap Thommo? I was talking about Qld as a whole. It's a pretty big area as you said, with lots of rainfall. You were the one who isolated Brisbane in your argument.

Queensland is a big place and it seems too easy for mexicans to assume that when it rains somewhere, it rains everywhere.

Not so. We're not that naive, and we see often times reports of severe flooding around various parts of QLD - which we rarely ever get. We may get the odd flashflood in a suburb when a drain or three get blocked, but that's about it. can you tell the average rainfall for QLD as a State v Vic? I reckon you guys would win.

Now, maybe I'm wrong, but fairly frequent flooding in various parts of the (Qld) State would tell me there is a lot of water wandering around?

Thommo; it's the same argument for down here - in the Gippsland area in case you don't know. It never stops bloody raining down there; I should know - we go camping every Feb at Wilson's Prom, and the weather is always bloody terrible for "summer". Every cold front that comes towards Vic from the S/West heads straight to Gippy.

There is a huge amount of water falls on that Gippy region and none of it gets collected.

 

[lizzie]

hmmm - looking at sunfish's map, i'd say "blame the new south welshmen".

oops - that's me

 

[Macca]

Can't upset the greenies you know. If we trap water in a dam and redirect it we are altering the work of nature

It would be so easy if our current pollies had the welfare of the country at heart and not the welfare of their wallet.

Trap water where it falls and pipe it where it is needed, stupid idea I know but without it no Snowy Mountains electricity, no Kalgoolie goldfields are couple that spring to mind.

With todays gigantic machinery we could build a number of smaller dams in the high country where it rains and pipe it to the other side of the mountain range and let it run down the western side through the rivers.

Won't happen as we are all destined to be living in caves soon

 

[topcropper]

January 1974..?

As I sit here waiting for the next bit of rain to hit, it's hard not to make comparisons with 1973. The rainfall of this year and 1973 are very similar. This led to January, 1974, the wettest month this continent has ever recorded by a long way.

http://www.bom.gov.au/lam/climate/levelthree/c20thc/flood7.htm

The year 1973 was one of the wettest known over much of Australia, and in keeping with the strong La Niña event that prevailed, the 1973/74 northern wet season started early. By the end of 1973 large areas of the country were saturated. Then came January 1974, which featured probably the biggest continent-wide drenching since European settlement, inundating vast areas of the country.

As I said in the first post of this thread, I was stuck in a caravan park on the Gold Coast in January 1974, watching some caravans float away. Couldn't get home for ages, and ended up missing some school which was good.

The January flood didn't do us much harm. Somehow we had our wheat off, [I was 6 years old, so I don't remember the details] and the sorghum crop thrived and it was a big one.


See ya's.

 

[Rockstar]

Stop talking like this TC. I am about to build a house in the Northern Rivers.

 

[csc2]

Watch the news about Rockhampton next week.

The media will beat up a story about Rocky in flood yet again.

Thing is, it affects less than 3% of the citys population...

I laugh everytime I hear the news.

Rocky is safe as houses if you stay out of low lying areas which most of the city is built on..

Pencil the media beatup next week when the Fitzroy River peaks next Mon or Tue...

I'll put money on it!

They cant help themselves in the media

 

[topcropper]

Good luck all you Queenslanders with the rain this week. Looks bad.

Some computer weather models have it moving south to northern NSW and getting me next week, and some have it staying up there.


See ya's.