Floods - how are you coping?

Wivenhoe (sp?) dam is the one which is full. The river flows through Brisbane. Demonstrates the error in the logic of the 'build more dams to save the water to use later' brigade.

The options are:
1/. Keep dams predominantly empty to maximise safety capacity during floods, or
2/. Keep them as full as possible for water supply, but no assistance for flood mitigation.

Any given volume of dam capacity can provide either flood mitigation or water supply, but cannot provide both!
 
Warragamba Dam in Sydney was designed to do both- and it does so. The flooding of Richmond and Windsor is now a thing of the past, and Sydney's drinking water is primarily from Warragamba. Some years ago, in order to cope with a very rare wether condition, they spoke of raising the wall to deal with it- I don't know whatever came of that. The drought might have put a delay to it.

Of course, Sydney's population is massively bigger than when the dam was built and is now marginal for water supply. Solution- raise the dam (damn?) wall and/or build other dams so both functions can be achieved.
 
Finally able to view that video posted earlier... That is nuts, wow! Really liked how the guy was hiking around in 2' of water, yet had the umbrella open to keep him dry! :lol:
 
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt-FT-skins"]YouTube - Toowoomba floods 2011[/ame]

The worst image though I thought was of the white Forester stranded, nose down in an inland sea, with a child and both parents on the roof and no way of helping them. When the rescue chopper arrived, the car and the people were gone, never seen again. Tragically bad.
 
Vale the 'Forester' family. ...

Rally said:
The worst image though I thought was of the white Forester stranded, nose down in an inland sea, with a child and both parents on the roof and no way of helping them. When the rescue chopper arrived, the car and the people were gone, never seen again. Tragically bad.
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Rally, having posted that link it really hit me when I was informed by a colleague a few minutes ago that this young family - child appeared about 10-12 from memory - had not been rescued.

They had done a great job to get up on the roof. Initially no-one on roof, can clearly see one person in front seat. Imagine the difficulty of just getting all three of them onto the roof.

They seem composed and not panicking in the footage, I guess with the appearance of the chopper they would've thought that rescue was at hand, and parents would always try ang keep children reassured.

Could've been anyone who has ever been in those parts. Disasters are just like war, who makes it and who doesn't is a case of 'dumb luck'.

"Vale" to this family.
 
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Barry said:
Rally, having posted that link it really hit me when I was informed by a colleague a few minutes ago that this young family - child appeared about 10-12 from memory - had not been rescued.

They had done a great job to get up on the roof. Initially no-one on roof, can clearly see one person in front seat. Imagine the difficulty of just getting all three of them onto the roof.

They seem composed and not panicking in the footage, I guess with the appearance of the chopper they would've thought that rescue was at hand, and parents would always try ang keep children reassured.

Could've been anyone who has ever been in those parts. Disasters are just like war, who makes it and who doesn't is a case of 'dumb luck'.

"Vale" to this family.
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Mother and child saved, father still missing

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has confirmed one of the family members spotted stranded on their four-wheel-drive in floodwaters around Toowoomba is missing.
Dramatic footage shot from a television helicopter on Monday showed a mother, father and young son sitting on the roof of their car near Toowoomba waiting for rescue.
Advertisement: Story continues below
The harrowing footage shows floodwaters swirling around the family.
Ms Bligh said her office had received many calls about the welfare of the family after the footage was aired on several television stations.
At a press conference today she confirmed that both the mother and son were rescued, but tragically, the father was still missing.
"We are pleased to confirm the mother and the child have been found alive, but we are still searching for the father in this case," she said.
Ten people have died in the Queensland floods so far with at least 90 people still missing.
https://www.theage.com.au/environme...shed-off-4wd-roof-goes-on-20110112-19nfw.html
 
Well some good news, but obviously could be better still. I've got to say that from what I have seen, Premier Bligh has been doing an outstanding job. Not being from her state I don't know much about her, but she is most impressive. Certainly showing up the PM.
 
Barry said:
Can only hope that 'no news is good news' for the father.
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Lets hope so.

Rally said:
I've got to say that from what I have seen, Premier Bligh has been doing an outstanding job. Not being from her state I don't know much about her, but she is most impressive. Certainly showing up the PM.
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That's for sure & I must agree.

Djulpan said:
Ten people have died in the Queensland floods so far with at least 90 people still missing.
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Unfortunately this has now risen to 12.
However there is some better news, being that the people missing has been lowered to 67, meaning that 23 people have been found, which is great to hear.

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Thanks Barry, Damo, Djulpan et al. We seem to be keeping everyone up to date mot effectively. Thanks also to our US friends for their thoughts and prayers.
 
Rally said:
... Premier Bligh has been doing an outstanding job. Not being from her state I don't know much about her, but she is most impressive. Certainly showing up the PM.
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As I understand it non-Qld polies have been told to keep away, so difficult for PM to be seen to do anything, other than make statements about aid, etc.
As usual the 'Displan', or whatever it is called north of the Tweed River, seems to be running in an orderly fashion. No bad achievement, given the nature and extent of flooding. No-one being abandoned, no riots, etc.
The substance seems to be there from both State and Federal authorites - which is presumably why the 'budgie smuggler' was on the box the other night doing a stern 'face to camera' puff piece on "What the Federal Government would have to do!"

A couple of pieces of irony:
1/. Up til last week Bligh appeared to be highly unpopular.
2/. After the Victorian Bushfires both the then PM and the then Vic Premier were well received for their efforts, but this was soon forgotten by a 'fickle' electorate.

Take home message: The job gets done well, and so it should, but then voters vote on the 'next' lot of issues, not 'past delivery'. "Thats politics! ..."
 
I wasn't trying to make a political point. We- and myself included- are willing to knock politicians for all their faults and I was just pleased to be able to say I saw one doing a good job. I guess you have to wonder why they cannot work to this standard more often. Maybe then they might still be in power/be popular.

The Vic bushfires seemed different- but again I view that from afar as well. A lot of mistakes were made during the fires- maybe in time we might hear of mistakes in Queensland. The one thing that has not changed is the media. They get so wrapped up in one big news story they cannot handle a second. When the Vic fires were raging, Queensland was in flood yet little was covered. This time around, Queensland is once again in flood, yet WA is burning and other states are also flooding and the national coverage- especially of the bushfires- is minimal. They have trouble balancing new stories.
 
Rally said:
The one thing that has not changed is the media. They get so wrapped up in one big news story they cannot handle a second. When the Vic fires were raging, Queensland was in flood yet little was covered. This time around, Queensland is once again in flood, yet WA is burning and other states are also flooding and the national coverage- especially of the bushfires- is minimal. They have trouble balancing new stories.
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That is so true.
While my thoughts & well wishes are with the people in the Qld floods (& northern N.S.W & S.A) I haven't forgotten about the people in W.A fighting these bush fires either.

Hoping all that are effected by either of these tragedies are safe & continue to stay safe.

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
So true about the media Rally, they are the primary reason IMO as to why there is such ignorance about so much and no in-depth analysis of the issues. 'Lord Foxtell' has a lot to answer for - he is a disgrace to the genuine journalism of his father in his early years. (Albeit with his own conspiracies, such as against your avatar.)
Incidentally, didn't interpret your comment as a political point.
 
ok cool, sometimes I write things and worry it may be mis-interpreted.
 
Rally said:
sometimes I write things and worry it may be mis-interpreted.
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Barry said:
Incidentally, didn't interpret your comment as a political point.
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Me either, I didn't mis-interpret it at all.

I don't care who says what or does what (within reason) in these situations &/or circumstances. As long as it gets done & done right.

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
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