Water Levels Rising In Brisbane CBD

[jaffa]

Qld premier declares BNE and Ipswich disaster area's and invokes a state disaster declaration with associated emergency powers for the entire southeast.
Special powers to forceably evacuate and detain are now in force for the South east of the state.

Flood levels will exceed 1974 levels (5.45m) to around 6.00m and above by Thursday 11am.
"The situation by Thursday will be the most significant natural disaster event Qld & in Particular Bne has ever seen"
"Queenslanders need to prepare themselves for a significant rise in the dealth toll, particulary in Bne/Ipswich on Wend peaking on Thursday.

Evacuation stations for 13500 people will be completted by 8.30pm tonight.
The premier announced she will be holding 2hourly press announcements from now until the peak of the disaster on thurs.

 

[JohnK]

Most people have left the office at work either worrying about their homes or how they will get home. Some have actually stayed home and have been concerned about having to evacuate.

I am still at the office and not sure how I will get home tonight if the trains are not operating as scheduled.

If things are as bad as they say then I may have to stay in Brisbane this weekend.

I've been told in the last few minutes that Vodafone and Optus mobile networks are down.

Vodafone mobile broadband was down this morning although 3 Mobile broadband was working.

 

[rtyuiop]

Yeah, given that last press conference I don't like my chances of my flight to Bangalore on Sunday. I'm not sure how many things would need to be fixed if you cover an entire airport with water, but I suspect it's quite a lot!

Interesting that Amberley's being evacuated, it was only a few hours ago they were happily talking about basing more ADF helicopters there!

Danny

 

[samh004]

The modelling used is based only on current water flow on the ground, its a best case scenario and not a worst case scenario being talked about, hydrologists cannot estimate with any accuracy the effect of the rain simply because they have no idea how much is getting into the catchment area until it hits the sensors.

At no stage did the premier indicate that Brisbane would be spared if it stopped raining, that would be a most unwise thing to say.

That’s true, I paraphrased that as I couldn’t remember what she said exactly, it was along the lines of it would be worse than the 1974 floods if it continued raining as it is now, which suggested in my mind a break in the weather would be at least somewhat beneficial/hoped for.

Sorry.

I was just looking at the flood maps for BNE airport, mirrored on Ewing’s website and it doesn’t look good there. Though that map was from an earlier in the day flood prediction. :shock:

http://cdn.se.id.au/mirrors/www.bri...looding_eagle_farm_airport_flood_flag_map.pdf

 

[NM]

I thought it was getting close to 3,000,000 ML now! A problem in itself.

Wivenhoe Dam has a normal storage capacity of 1,165,238 ML. That is actually 50% of its full capacity including flood mitigation. As at 9am today it was holding 2,049,705 ML which is 175.9% of normal capacity. Its absolute maximum capacity is around 2.3 Million ML, so your number is just not possible.

The next issue is that Summerset Dam is over 160% capacity and all still filling fast. And Summerset Dam is up-stream from Wivenhoe Dam. So they have to continue to increase the release from Summerset Dam and Wivenhoe Dam to ensure they do not exceed its maximum design capacity while the in-flow rate still exceeds the outflow rate. And it all has to go down through the snaking Brisbane River, through the CBD and out into Moreton Bay.

 

[MissBurrill]

many non essential staff at Brisbane airport have been sent home

We were sent home from the airport precinct at noon. I stopped at the supermarket in uniform and the check out chick was asking me for airport gossip.

 

[samh004]

Wivenhoe Dam has a normal storage capacity of 1,165,238 ML. That is actually 50% of its full capacity including flood mitigation. As at 9am today it was holding 2,049,705 ML which is 175.9% of normal capacity. Its absolute maximum capacity is around 2.3 Million ML, so your number is just not possible.

The next issue is that Summerset Dam is over 160% capacity and all still filling fast. And Summerset Dam is up-stream from Wivenhoe Dam. So they have to continue to increase the release from Summerset Dam and Wivenhoe Dam to ensure they do not exceed its maximum design capacity while the in-flow rate still exceeds the outflow rate. And it all has to go down through the snaking Brisbane River, through the CBD and out into Moreton Bay.

Yes I see where I got my number muddled up, I was thinking of the 2,610,000 ML full capacity, lots of big numbers, still, water is still flowing in fast.

 

[anat0l]

Not liking the sound of the airport closing. I have a day trip to SYD tomorrow.

Luckily QF is allowing fee free changes - including changes on the day of departure - in light of the floods in BNE. I might have to exercise that ability tomorrow.

 

[yohy?!]

Not liking the sound of the airport closing. I have a day trip to SYD tomorrow.

Luckily QF is allowing fee free changes - including changes on the day of departure - in light of the floods in BNE. I might have to exercise that ability tomorrow.

Perhaps an airport change to OOL:shock:

Hopefully they will honour original routing credit in that case:!:

 

[FlyboyAl]

I recall something on the ABC this morning where a Bureau of Met guy was talking about this type of weather staying around until April:shock:

I've seen some scary footage on various forums, and all I can say is that thoughts are with all Queenslanders.

I know 2 businesses (1 in Dalby and 1 in Emarald) that have been wiped out with these floods - These were mum and dad family businesses, and it is just heartbreaking.

 

[munitalP]

My thoughts to all AFF banana benders, if I can do anything to help, I will, just ask

munitalP

 

[samh004]

Not liking the sound of the airport closing. I have a day trip to SYD tomorrow.

Luckily QF is allowing fee free changes - including changes on the day of departure - in light of the floods in BNE. I might have to exercise that ability tomorrow.

So is Jetstar:

Affected by the QLD floods? Phone 131538 to change flight date, reroute the booking or get a refund at no extra cost. #jetstar #qldfloods

 

[FlyboyAl]

So is Jetstar:
Wow it must be getting serious

We will know its a true disater when Tiger offer to change bookings without charge

 

[NM]

I recall something on the ABC this morning where a Bureau of Met guy was talking about this type of weather staying around until April:shock:

Its been a long time (at least 2 months now) since the 10-day weather forecast for Brisbane has shown more than 2 days without rain. Its looked like this since November:

 

[Mal]

Yep, the Brisbane River is quite high and the water is running fast. Walking over Victoria Bridge about an hour ago, I counted about 5 different boat jetties floating past.... The bridge itself seemed a little "bumpy" - there were a few jolts - probably various debris hitting the bridge.

Brisbane mall is pretty much shut down. Very few places left open - mainly adult entertainment places (incl. drinking holes, casino and "mens entertainment"), a couple of the mall restaurants and not much else.

I'm over at South Brisbane at the moment, and wondering how high the water will rise. Am pretty close to the river, but quite a bit higher than it. But it wouldn't have to rise too much to block entry into where I am staying. Waiting for further advice there.

Having seen the photos of '74 flooding, I can't even start to imagine the devastation that will occur in Brisbane's CBD and suburbs. Where water was 5+ metres high, there are now countless numbers of apartments and hotels.

My work is a ghost town, most workers left about 11-12. Some were heading out for sandbags, others were just heading home to ensure they got home before their routes started flooding.

Thursday will be a VERY interesting day.

 

[markis10]

Ipswich river level to be ten percent higher than 74, and 9000 properties to be severely affected in Brisbane with serious inundation - yikes.

 

[Saab34]

Ten news might state that BNE is "closed" but its not. The only reason it will close is obviously runway flooding, but Visibility is still quite good at 8km.

 

[JohnK]

The more this goes on the worse it sounds.

Let's hope that things are able to settle down very quickly for all affected by the floods.

 

[awilcockson]

I was about to mention Brisbane Airport. It only has an Elevation 13ft so I would suggest it will be in trouble.

It better not be. I fly out at 10am tomorrow!

I had to stay home to do some sand bagging today ... I work in the CBD and the entire company got sent home today and told not to come back to work this week.

edit: I reckon the airport will be ok

http://bne.com.au/media-centre/media-releases/brisbane-airport-currently-still-operating-130pm

Considering it is the ocean, not the river that will affect the airport (notice the reference to the king tide), it's going to take an awful lot of rain to flood the airport ...

 

[medhead]

Not liking the sound of the airport closing. I have a day trip to SYD tomorrow.

Luckily QF is allowing fee free changes - including changes on the day of departure - in light of the floods in BNE. I might have to exercise that ability tomorrow.

DJ are a bit more generous allowing changes for travel up to 17 Jan and also allowing retrospective changes.

Virgin Blue Minor Incident Report

QF by comparison is only allowing changes for travel upto 13 Jan. Qantas Major Disruptions - where we keep you informed of developments and the choices that are available to you

Unless I have misinterpreted QF:

The following options are available to Qantas customers holding a valid 081 ticket for travel to/from Brisbane who wish to make changes to their booking for travel up to and including Thursday 13 January 2011.

Looks like I may not get to a funeral on friday. Probably for the best as I've already survived one flood. But will have to stick to my SYD F lounge experience on Saturday.