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200,000 people affected by flooding in Australia


joe_OC

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Thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by the flooding in Australia...Hope it has not affected any of our palm friends there.

Huntington Beach, CA

USDA Zone 10a/10b

Sunset Zone 24

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The worst is yet to come for some towns .

And its just started pouring again here .

The yard was ankle deep yesterday after overnight showers .

Fingers crossed for no more cyclones .

Michael in palm paradise,

Tully, wet tropics in Australia, over 4 meters of rain every year.

Home of the Golden Gumboot, its over 8m high , our record annual rainfall.

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I've seen the news reports about the Queensland flooding over the last few days when checking news online. That sounds like a huge area underwater. I wish they would published a map somewhere of the area effected. I've read that evacuees are being told they may not be able to return for at least another 10 days or more. Yikes that's bad news. Imagine so many people looking for high ground and a dry place to land all at the same time. As I understand there is now a fatality from the flooding and people missing. Having seen the TV coverage from flooding over the years here in the U.S. especially along the Mississippi River where the flood waters just spread out so far and wide, I assume the terrain in Queensland is a huge flood plain not unlike the Mississippi River area?

Aussiearoids are you in danger of being evaculated? I hope your home stays dry.

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Zone 9b (formerly listed as Zone 9a); Sunset 14

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From what I have read, the flood is larger than the COMBINED surface area of Germany and France...

Huntington Beach, CA

USDA Zone 10a/10b

Sunset Zone 24

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I am in the wet tropics and we are used to this flooding rains , and the water seems to go away a lot faster , no danger at my place , but the heavy rains that drenched the sub-tropics much further south over a much larger area , and also much further inland are just ott.

[ over the top ]

Its all the rains that fell hundreds of miles inland that will soon come coursing down rivers already several meters higher than normal .

Michael in palm paradise,

Tully, wet tropics in Australia, over 4 meters of rain every year.

Home of the Golden Gumboot, its over 8m high , our record annual rainfall.

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The BBC has some footage near Rockhampton of the flooding. This is the first video I've seen. I see that a number of homes around there are already raised above ground so hopefully won't be affected. Clearly other aren't. A particularly memorable frame from the BBC video is a "Welcome to Rockhampton" sign situated between two Bismarkia nobilis palms and a few others all sitting in flood waters.

Zone 9b (formerly listed as Zone 9a); Sunset 14

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The design of the town around the Northern Queensland is to cope with plenty of water, hence huge drains - so the water will drain quickly. The area that is flooded is around Central QLD - they are not designed for those conditions... as it is usually a lot drier.

Regards, Ari :)

Ari & Scott

Darwin, NT, Australia

-12°32'53" 131°10'20"

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Make that 200,001 !! The river became a massive lake and while it usually stops near my front fence this time it came up into the yard and under the house but not inside thank god. The driveway was 30 cms under water and Tojo's Revenge was up to his arthritic old axles in water. It stopped just after covering the bottom steps to the front porch. Most of my seedlings were in stands and baskets in the carport, just their little bums in the drink until rubbernecking halfwits decided to try out their 4wd cars in the water and send waves roaring down the driveway, through the carport and sent everything flying. Fortunately it only lasted for a day but it was another day before all the mud was removed from the street and I am still battling with the mud clean up process. The damage done to the verges and parkland opposite by idiot rubberneckers in their cars is appalling and restricts all access to my street. My established palms have taken it all in their stride, nothing washed over and they seem to drink every drop that fell. I count myself much luckier than the people further north and farther down stream from me who had water in their houses. That is quite devastating. I can always replace seedlings eventually.

Peachy

I came. I saw. I purchased

 

 

27.35 south.

Warm subtropical, with occasional frosts.

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It's been on the news over here for the past few days. CNN says the flood plain area is the size of Texas! Hang in.

Randy

"If you need me, I'll be outside" -Randy Wiesner Palm Beach County, Florida Zone 10Bish

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I wish everyone over there the very best.

Tyrone

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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People driving big-tired four wheel drive trucks through residential areas is a serious problem when flooding occurs in Florida. In recent years, it's become standard practice to put houses on mounds, so they're a couple of feet above the street.

Fla. climate center: 100-119 days>85 F
USDA 1990 hardiness zone 9B
Current USDA hardiness zone 10a
4 km inland from Indian River; 27º N (equivalent to Brisbane)

Central Orlando's urban heat island may be warmer than us

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Peachy, sorry to hear the water got that close to you but sure am glad you didn't have to deal with mud and flood water inside. How high up is your house above ground level? I heard in the news here that flooding might still get worse for some people. Are you totally in the clear now or is your area still at risk? Hope you continue to stay safe and dry.

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Zone 9b (formerly listed as Zone 9a); Sunset 14

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Its bad those floods, but what I saw on the television looks like a floodplain wich get flooded ones every 50 years or so. Well extremely flooded. But it seems that people build houses/buildings in areas wich are bassically risk areas of floodings. You see it in Europe, North America and now Australia. Maybe building on mounts or stillts would be a solution! And maybe people also have started to build on lower land then in the old days! Well if land get scarce due to urbanisation.

More the 2000 years ago people lived on artificial mounts, here called ''terpen'' in parts of the Low Countries wich where prone to get flooded now and then.

Alexander

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Alexander most of the homes in these areas are on stilts. They are a type of home called a "Queenslander". Brilliant idea and as you can see a necessity in these areas. I'd love to live in a Queenslander but they are very rare on the west coast.

Best regards

Tyrone

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Monsoon ? Monnow..

Happy Gardening

Cheers,

Wal

Queensland, Australia.

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It just seems to keep on going, one area and then the next, Gympie and Maryborough are now flooded with the highway cut in several places, Bundagerg had local flash flooding and St George is on it's third 1 in 100 year flood in the past 12 months.

By the look of the current radar it looks as though Wal is going to get it next.

Bruce

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Now living the life in Childers, Queensland.

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Although the floods have not been as bad as Australia parts of Brazil have been hit lately. This week São Paulo got blasted and created major gridlock and various fatalities. A city of 18.5 million people with flash flooding conditions is a real drag. I am sure glad I was not there last week. Australia has 22 million people in an area of 7,617,930 square KMS, vs São Paulo with an land area 8,479 square kms. The city has two rivers ringing the city center and one that cuts through it. Even though the drainage has been improved a lot with the amount of rain that dropped last week was above any capacity to drain the water quickly. It is almost like having all of Australia in one city. It is too many people for me. Around here the rivers are so big that they rise and fall slowly. When the flood comes normally it is like watching a wave hit in very slow motion. Although some areas of the city of Manaus do have flash floods that are localized in streambeds with inadequate drainage.

dk

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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Devastating scene from Toowoomba and surrounding towns tonight, plus Esk, floods are smashing almost every town in those areas. Donna and I are going to Sydney tomorrow for a wedding on the Saturday. It is our nephew's wedding and his own father is stuck in Stanthorpe and can't get out, another wedding guest near Toowoomba also stuck can't make it, bridges are washed away and all of this water has built up in every dam in Sth East Queensland and the water has to be released which means that even Brisbane may be affected not disimilar to the 1974 floods. My daughter is also isolated near Gympie and has run out of bread and the local store is fresh out of goods and can't be replenished because that area is cut off. Poor Dalby has been flooded for the 4th time in 2 weeks.

Happy Gardening

Cheers,

Wal

Queensland, Australia.

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Wal,

That is a bad scene. Have you had much of a problem with landslides? That is a big problem in Southern Brazil this time of year. A lot of it is due to construction in risk areas to begin with.

dk

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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Apparently the Wivenhoe dam in at 154% and it is only designed for 120%. Anyone near the Brisbane River... just be prepared.... just in case.

Wal, is the airport near the river??

Regards, Ari :)

Ari & Scott

Darwin, NT, Australia

-12°32'53" 131°10'20"

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Check out the flooding in Toowoomba, which is on top of the ranges...

Video

I just hope we don't get any cyclones tracking down the coast as the rain that comes with them would be devastating.

Daryl

Gold Coast, Queensland Latitude 28S. Mild, Humid Subtropical climate. Rainfall - not consistent enough!

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Apparently the Wivenhoe dam in at 154% and it is only designed for 120%. Anyone near the Brisbane River... just be prepared.... just in case.

Wal, is the airport near the river??

Regards, Ari :)

Ari,

Wivenhoe is currently at about 1700000 megalitres storage and would need to fill another 800000 megalitres to overflow, apparently. Every other dam in SEQ is at capacity and spillways are all operating. A lot of water, but not impossible for mother nature!

regards,

Daryl

Gold Coast, Queensland Latitude 28S. Mild, Humid Subtropical climate. Rainfall - not consistent enough!

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Wal,

That is a bad scene. Have you had much of a problem with landslides? That is a big problem in Southern Brazil this time of year. A lot of it is due to construction in risk areas to begin with.

dk

Don, there has been one instance of a house sliding down a hill on the Sunshine Coast, and several small landslips on road cuttings, but nothing worse than that fortunately.

Daryl

Gold Coast, Queensland Latitude 28S. Mild, Humid Subtropical climate. Rainfall - not consistent enough!

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Apparently the Wivenhoe dam in at 154% and it is only designed for 120%. Anyone near the Brisbane River... just be prepared.... just in case.

Wal, is the airport near the river??

Regards, Ari :)

Ari,

Wivenhoe is currently at about 1700000 megalitres storage and would need to fill another 800000 megalitres to overflow, apparently. Every other dam in SEQ is at capacity and spillways are all operating. A lot of water, but not impossible for mother nature!

regards,

Daryl

What I read before... that they have to let some water out of Wivenhoe soon. It is at 154% capacity as it is... And that will cause Brisbane to flood!!

Regards, Ari :)

Ari & Scott

Darwin, NT, Australia

-12°32'53" 131°10'20"

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Seven confirmed dead with many more still missing!Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of the greater Brisbane area!Stay safe everyone and hopefully the sun will sow itself tomorrow....Mike Green(Newcal)

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Just reading the last few posts and I see that this situation is a nightmare of the worst kind. My thoughts go out to all of you over there, and stay safe.

Best regards

Tyrone

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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I hope Peachy gets out OK I fear that she will be in for the worst.

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Now living the life in Childers, Queensland.

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Our house in Childers is available for anyone to use who is affected by the floods. Just send me a PM.

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Now living the life in Childers, Queensland.

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Horrifying footage of cars and vans being washed down a road and knocking trees over , supposedly with the drivers still inside :(

This flooding is getting worse and worse, hang on down there .

Michael in palm paradise,

Tully, wet tropics in Australia, over 4 meters of rain every year.

Home of the Golden Gumboot, its over 8m high , our record annual rainfall.

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I got this from my weather forum.... I hope it is wrong...

"Btw Wivenhoe Dam has hit 74m one more metre and they have to use explosives to blow open the wall."

Yikes!!!

Ari & Scott

Darwin, NT, Australia

-12°32'53" 131°10'20"

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Apparently the Wivenhoe dam in at 154% and it is only designed for 120%. Anyone near the Brisbane River... just be prepared.... just in case.

Wal, is the airport near the river??

Regards, Ari :)

Ari,

Wivenhoe is currently at about 1700000 megalitres storage and would need to fill another 800000 megalitres to overflow, apparently. Every other dam in SEQ is at capacity and spillways are all operating. A lot of water, but not impossible for mother nature!

regards,

Daryl

What I read before... that they have to let some water out of Wivenhoe soon. It is at 154% capacity as it is... And that will cause Brisbane to flood!!

Regards, Ari :)

Here is the explaination from the CM

Wivenhoe was rising fast, but it had the potential to go past 200 per cent capacity before overflowing. Cr Newman said the dam was doing its job but could not fully protect the city because of the dimension of the floods.

Wivenhoe holds 1,728,590ML the most it has ever held and faces its greatest test as a city flood mitigation project since it was built after the 1974 floods.

The 1.45 million ML flood compartment is close to half full, with managers yesterday scrambling to increase releases from 116,000ML to 170,000ML a day as rain fell in its 7020sq km catchment. It also holds a further 1.17 million ML of drinking water supplies.

SEQ Water Grid spokesman Barry Dennien said Wivenhoe peak inflows had hit 1,032,000ML per day. Somerset Dam inflows were about 360,000ML per day.

"Considering Wivenhoe's flood storage compartment holds 1.45 million megalitres, at this rate the compartment could fill within 1.5 days," Mr Dennien said.

Peak flows varied depending on rainfall but releases under way will provide relief from the inflows.

Under conservative operating rules set by State Parliament, managers must empty the flood compartment within seven days to prevent a second flood.

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Now living the life in Childers, Queensland.

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Looking at the latest radar images, the catchment area for Wivenhoe Dam is getting hammered, so I would expect large inflows into the dam....not looking good for those downstream on the Brisbane river. The rainfall rate is up to 100mm (4") an hour.

Daryl

Gold Coast, Queensland Latitude 28S. Mild, Humid Subtropical climate. Rainfall - not consistent enough!

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Here is another Video.

BE WARNED IT IS VERY GRAPHIC

http://video.courier...Qld-communities

It's almost unbelievable what's happening. Here in the SW we are still drying in the sun and we desperately need the rain.

Best regards

Tyrone

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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This is really terrible stuff. Our best wishes are with our friends & relatives up in the north of the country. :(

When the water subsides, the rest of Australia WILL pitch in to get Qld back on its feet - it's what Australians do.

Regards

Michael.

Just north of Cairns, Australia....16 Deg S.
Tropical climate: from 19C to 34C.

Spending a lot of time in Manila, Philippines... 15 Deg N.
Tropical climate: from 24C to 35C.

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This is a bit more well spread than Larry though... I hope the damage is not as bad as everyone feared...

Regards, Ari :)

Ari & Scott

Darwin, NT, Australia

-12°32'53" 131°10'20"

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yep.... all Brisbane suburbs near the river has been getting flood warning now.... A friend has been told that his street would be flooded by about 1 pm.

Ari & Scott

Darwin, NT, Australia

-12°32'53" 131°10'20"

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I noticed we haven't heard from Peachy since the 4th. Hope all is well at her end and that her house is still above the water line. I assume that she has evaculated. I honestly don't know if I could sleep knowing that a flooded area was beneath my house.

I logged onto google news and saw this video from The Telegraph of footage near Toowoomba which prompted me to check in here and see how people were. It was reporting 8 swept away to their deaths. Really scary footage and to see the speed of the water in and of itself is frightening.

Curious how many members here are in their houses right now but could be at risk in the near future?

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Zone 9b (formerly listed as Zone 9a); Sunset 14

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I've also been worried about Peachy! I don't know the geography, but I know she's near Brisbane and that she hasn't posted in a bit. Has anyone heard from her. It's terrible to see what's happening and to know how bad it is for people in the middle of it all. Are there other members here that are in the thick of it?

Susan

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Sounds like Wal will be experiencing this soon...I HOPE NOT...

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Huntington Beach, CA

USDA Zone 10a/10b

Sunset Zone 24

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