Brisbane, batten your hatches & start sandbagging. We are in the worst flood for more than 100 years.
The drought stricken state of Queensland has suddenly, for the first time in decades, experienced rain. A lot of rain. The rain has soaked into the earth, & now has no where else to go, so it has been travelling down the river ways of central QLD like an inland tsunami, flooding towns as it goes.
The water is going to Wivenhoe Dam, which was built after the 1974 floods to stop the city flooding again. Currentlly the dam is at 190% capacity. Hopefully it will peak at 210%.
They started letting water out of the dam this morning.
This photo was taken in Milton, a suburb close to Brisbane CBD, yesterday afternoon.
They are expecting the flood to peak at 5.5 metres, which will see approximately 40,000 homes inundated. I have learned over the last few days that 'Inundated' is a technical term meaning 'the water level went over the floor boards'. We are talking about a volume of water twice the size of Sydney Harbour.
So far, 10 people are dead & there over 90 people missing. Bad weather has hampered the resue & recovery effort, so those figures are almost certain to rise.
Highways & roads all over the state, including Brisbane CBD have been closed by water. Many communities have been isolated - & not just country towns. A suburb 30 minutes up the highway from us was completely cut off yesterday - a metropolitan island. As I type this, the tv news reports that 3500 houses are currently flooded in Brisbane CBD alone.
The power to the city has been turned off as a safety measure, so there are no traffic lights operational. Luckily hospitals have generators.
Supermarkets have been stripped in a frenzy of panic.
And here is the kicker; today, we are expecting a King Tide. So extra metres of salt water will be travelling up the Brisbane River to meet extra metres of flood water. Their meeting place? Brisbane City.
This flood is expected to peak at midday tommorow.
Casa de Chaos is lucky to be one of the few suburbs that won't experience flooding. It has rained for the last 6 weeks of school holidays & we all have cabin fever so badly that tempers are incredibly short. The dryer has been going non stop & the house is still full of laundry. Downstairs has been flooding with rain run off & so far we have vacuumed up at least 500 litres of water with the wet n dry vac.
But at least we are not sitting on our roof, waiting for the rescue chopper.
Please send your thoughts, prayers & best wishes to the people of Queensland. And Sham-wows.
Mrs BC
xx
