Australia in general is infamous for extremes of weathers. Drought has ravaged much of the country for many years now, but a prevailing La Nina effect has brought some (previously) much needed rain this summer that has been dumped primarily on the Eastern Seaboard. Queensland, being tropical and sub-tropical has always experienced heavier summertime falls than places further south, but this year it’s copped a beating.
On edit, what** Prinny** and Noel said. 
Well, stay safe everyone!
Yeah there was the great flood of 1974 in Brisbane. Don’t forget that the area of QLD effected is sub tropical.
Down here in Melbourne we are getting a lot of rain but nothing like those poor bastards up there.
Australia is entering back into “normal” weather patterns after over a decade of drought.
…and the Premier has just announced that water levels are expected now to be higher than they were in '74.
This is gonna suck.
Are you still holding the fort in the office Noel, or have you fled home?
I’m still in the office. I live in the inner city and ride a bike, so getting home is never going to be a problem. No one else is here, all gone home. I should stay and get some work done but the atmosphere here is so weird that I’m struggling to keep myself at it.
I live on a very small island (Karragarra Island) in southern Moreton Bay just off the coast from Brisbane. There has been a barely perceptable rise in water levels in the Bay but there is no danger of my part of the island flooding. I’m pretty high up. There will be some mild inundation of homes on the lower ground of the island but not anywhere near what the people of the Lockyer Valley or Brisbane have experienced. It’s been raining so hard for so long that the soil is just super-saturated.
I will be interested in the news tonight. The commercial stations are extending coverage to one hour instead of the normal half hour.
I can only begin to imagine.
Just keep in mind folks, that Australia is nearly as big as the continental USA. So this is kinda like posting “Major flooding in Texas, dopers in the USA okay?”.
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Seriously though, does living in a semi-arid area like many parts of Down Under are combined afford some different type of quick flood relief? Does the parched soil mixed with so much sand do a good job of drainage?
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Fertile soil in Australia is, in general, really thin. Floods like this wash away vast amounts that it takes decades or longer to regenerate. But the areas this particular flood is in were already waterlogged from constant rain over the last few weeks, so no, no quick drainage here.
That kind of thing can happen in the real outback though. Rivers like the Diamantina only flow every now and then, and what water gets into them often just soaks into the ground before it gets to Lake Eyre.
Not quite “all”, I’d suggest: Weather experts warn of flash flooding across Victoria.
It’s 4.15 pm. I’m still here at work. Of the five floors of an office building that my department occupies, there is a grand total of 3 people present, last I looked. My house is on a hill and will be safe. Only problem is if roads are flooded between here and there, but I am pretty confident there is a work around route even if there is flooding.
The city is a ghost town. My daughter (who works in the city too) told me that she was told to go home at lunch time, and the scenes at the train station were chaotic. They threw open the gates to let everyone on, but the platforms were like Tokyo with everyone trying to squeeze in.
Go home Noel.
And you too Princhester.
NOW.
:mad:
Checking in from Toowoomba.
To give some perspective – Toowoomba has a population of 100 000 and is more than 1500 feet above sea level at the top of what is known as the Great Dividing Range – a string of hills that runs just about the entire length of the country from north to south a couple of hundred miles inland. The city is fairly hilly. Two (fairly insignificant-looking) creeks run through the cenrte of town.
We had steady, heavy rain for a few hours yesterday and from our house it was clear that the run-off couldn’t get away quick enough. My street has a gradient of about 5-6% on average. Water rose to knee deep in the middle of the road and we were positioned so that we caught run-off from neighbours. Flooding came to within a few inches of our floor so we got away fairly lightly.
In the CBD a wall of water estimated by some to be as high as eight metres rushed down the two creeks. Anything in its path was obliterated. Cars were stacked up to three high. Some friends of ours took this footage from an office block overlooking the smaller of the two creeks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYUpkPTcqPY Some 40 cars were washed out of a carpark and crushed up against a bridge further downstream.
At the other stream the water smashed buildings in the CBD, knocked out some bridges, emptied all the stock out of a furniture store and spilled it into the street, flooded the library and the lower level of the city’s largest shopping centre. The city centre has been evacuated. A few people have drowned, but reportable details are limited. A lot of damage but the water has quickly returned to more manageable levels and the clean-up is well under way.
All the rain that hit Toowoomba is now flowing west and inland. Not sure how much of a flood risk it is for those downstream. Our reserviors which sit to the east of the divide received two and a half year’s of water supply in under 24 hours and are now overflowing. That excess flows west towards Brisbane. Thier large dam which was built as a safety measure to protect the city has water levels at 176% of capacity and is still rising. That water has to be released (as if there was an option) and is likely to cause extensive flooding when it reaches the capital (which is fairly low-lying).
But it was the sudden nature of the Toowoomba flash floods that caught everyone by surprise. You just don’t expect there to be a flood hazard when you are on the side of a hill.
Glad to hear you’re safe j_sum1. What happened yesterday in Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley was just so mind-boggling, I’ve been in shock for much of the day today.
Hope the rain pisses right off for you, and the sun shines down again.
Yes, Dad.
(pouts sulkily and makes circles in the dirt with foot.) 
Maybe I should have added “at this stage” instead of throwing open a challenge to the gods 
I’m still not digging the waders out though, as all reports I’ve heard so far indicate possible flooding in north, north-east or central Victoria, and I’m down in the south-east.
I’m looking forward to hearing that Princhester and Noel got home ok and continue the same way. Take care, everyone.
On the news a little while ago a spokesman for the Bureau of Meteorology was explaining the outlook over the next few days. He said severe flooding is expected in 5 states including eastern SA and Tasmania.
Mum actually. And I’m much scarier than you can imagine.
Getting home was a dreadful drama. At times the “broken” banks along which I was cycling were notably damp and I had to avoid clumps of debris caused by the flood everywhere. Although tourists taking photographs of the somewhat swollen river might object to being described as “debris”.
I think the media are at times somewhat melodramatic.
I got home. No drama.
Tomorrow might be less fun, though.
I’m probably about as far away from the flooding as you can be so no personal worries, but I hope you guys on the other side of the country get through this ok.