Three quarters of flood-hit Queensland is now a disaster zone and Brisbane is now deluged after extraordinarily heavy rain forced the Wivenhoe Dam to release excess water.
The Brisbane river level rose to just over 4 metres at 2.00pm and is expected to peak at 5.5 metres at 2.00am Malaysian time, 4.00am Brisbane time tomorrow and that peak level is expected to remain for 12-18 hours. (In the event, the peak level turned out to be a metre lower.) The city has been locked down. A contact in Brisbane tells me: “Brisbane city itself is sadly under. All along the Brisbane River is under. … the city cat (catamaran) boats… are all off the river as debris of trees, broken pontoons, wood, boats, parts of houses etc are floating rapidly down the river. The worse is yet to come as high tide is 4.00 am tomorrow morning and the river is expected to rise…”
Ironically, the biggest problem for Brisbane over the last 12-15 years has been drought. This looks like climate change to me.
Live reactions:
Live video of Brisbane River below from a webcam looking from Milton above Coronation Drive across the river to Riverside Drive at West End:
More live streaming here:
What is the reason for the flooding? The Wivenhoe Dam was only built to hold back 1.5 million litres of water from the catchment area, but now 2.5 million litres of water is coming through after extraordinarily heavy rainfall. Continue reading »
