Floods in SE Queensland

Floods are expected in Brisbane tomorrow. And Ipswich is flooding tonight.

Last major floods were in 1974, and after that a new flood mitigation dam - Wivenhoe Dam was built on the upper Brisbane river, hopefully to prevent further flooding. It is now overfull, after being effectively empty a year ago or so, and water has been released under direction, although it will smooth out flood heights.

A record breaking intense La Nina event [http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/42858.html] has brought unprecendented rain to SE Queensland, with horrific scenes all over the media outlets today of disastrous flash flooding in Toowoomba and the upper reaches of the Brisbane river, and despite the dam, that water is going into the Brisbane River. There are seasonal high tides also this week, and by Thursday, some 9000 homes as well as another 14000 business premises are expected to be flooded in Brisbane alone, with more in Ipswich [one third of all houses].

There are numerous images and stories across the media outlets - they do that stuff very well, so go and look.

I have been impressed by the savvy performance of a numer of Queensland ministers of state as well as senior officials in police, emergency services and related areas. The Premier Anna Bligh has spoken well, as has the Police and Emergency Services Minister, in stark contrast to the situation in Victoria during the dreadful fires there a few years ago. These two especially deserve congratulations on both their media appearances [several scheduled per day] as well as oversight of the various service departments operational in this situation.

While terribly difficult as these situations are, it does seem under efficient management and things are happening efficiently and effectively. No doubt the volunteeer crews deserve a lot of praise too.

One of our sons lives in Brisbane, and so far seems to be ok. Their house seems likely to be above predicted flood levels, based on available mapping. BUT......conditions are variable, changeable and a bit of an unknown. Our thoughts go out to them.

One can prepare only so much......and I have no doubt that the next issue in Brisbane for many people will be loss of power, for short or maybe longer time. They are turning off the power in some central city areas already. I hope they prepare well.

Living in an active cyclone zone ourselves, preparing for emergencies is an ongoing issue and we have, as well, been through a few modest as well as larger, fiercer cyclones. So we know a little about emergency preparation and coping.

There is nothing like the real event though.

If you are in a warm, dry place.........think about those in this region who may not be, or who are in emergency shelters.