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General Category => Weather and Water Updates => Topic started by: Novice on January 10, 2011, 08:47:02 PM

Title: Brisbane River from the other side
Post by: Novice on January 10, 2011, 08:47:02 PM
Could not make it out to work today as during the night the river had come up and cut the Hwy at Shines gully , near the Wivenhoe-somerset Rd turnoff . Spent most of the day taking a few pics and contemplating the fact 'us in the pocket' are now stuck with all roads out cut.

Wivenhoe has filled to a level where it has gone over the bridge at Kipper Creek , the Hwy past the dam towards Esk is cut just past Hamon Cove and if you get to Cominya , there's nowhere to go past there. Funny enough , not alot of traffic about  ;D

Cheers,
Dave.
Title: Re: Brisbane River from other side
Post by: Novice on January 10, 2011, 08:49:53 PM
Some more...
Title: Re: Brisbane River from other side
Post by: StevenM on January 10, 2011, 09:16:02 PM
Thats a sh!t load of water

Those shots of Lumley are like  :OMG
Title: Re: Brisbane River from other side
Post by: StevenM on January 10, 2011, 09:19:20 PM
check out the plot

http://www.bom.gov.au/fwo/IDQ65389/IDQ65389.540177.plt.shtml
Title: Re: Brisbane River from other side
Post by: rayke1938 on January 11, 2011, 06:18:29 AM
Geez getting close to 74m when they keep floodgates open all the time with no regard for the tide times etc.
Cheers
Ray
Title: Re: Brisbane River from other side
Post by: Novice on January 13, 2011, 12:13:43 AM
Power has just got back on ...woohoo !!! Lost it Tuesday morning amongst the 500mm!!!  The River at the end of Shines Rd peaked sometime around midnight Tuesday night and by 6am had dropped a couple of feet or so . Many people in the pocket were caught by the very fast rise of the river in the hours just before dark . Seqwater had gone around telling residents of on Tuesday evening that they expected the auxilary spillway to burst as the main spillway was open the whole 17metres possible  , and that wasn't enough to stem the rise in the dam.

The auxilary spillway came within a whisker of topping , how lucky was that ! By mid-morning the river had dropped considerably as seqwater was able to wind the release from Wivenhoe back . An even bigger bullet dodged .

Cheers,
Dave.
Title: Re: Brisbane River from other side
Post by: Novice on January 13, 2011, 12:15:38 AM
some more..
Title: Re: Brisbane River from other side
Post by: StevenM on January 13, 2011, 06:12:55 AM
Thanks Dave

We were very close
Title: Re: Brisbane River from other side
Post by: estuary girl on January 14, 2011, 11:54:38 AM
My sentiments with Steven,Dave.
Thanks for those pics.
Seeing the break through that close really hits home just how lucky Brisbane was!!

Cheers.

Title: Re: Brisbane River from other side
Post by: Novice on January 14, 2011, 06:48:38 PM
Apparently the power for Fernvale comes from the Wivenhoe pocket side of the river , most of those power lines are dangling in the river  , as power poles are either gone or on a 45degree angle .

The picture below is from the 2 storey house near Twin bridges looking down towards Wivenhoe pocket Rd and downstream towards the Highway .
Title: Re: Brisbane River from other side
Post by: aussiebasser on January 15, 2011, 12:40:58 PM
Went for a look at Twin Bridges this morning.  For those who know the area you can see the sign for the turn-off from the highway.  It is in  about a mtre of water at the moment.  Yes, the highway in the dip.  The closest you can get to it is the coloured toilet block on the hill.  Where we watched the water in October, from the picnic ground is under water.  The road from Fernvale to Lowood remains underwater at the Lowood end.  Fervale reamins without power, and I have been told that it could be up to 2 weeks before it returns.  There is a 9 metre x 9 metre shed, on a concrete slab sitting on the road near glamorganvale pub.  The river came to the bottom of the driveway at Fitz place.  1 metre higher than the 74 flood here.  Pam was able to get home from Toowoomba via Warwick yesterday.  Our place at Fernvale has had the ceiling ruined.  Water made its way in under the tiles and because it has Cool &  Cosy insulation it's all waterlogged .  Two weeks without power will cause problems with the septic system each house in Fernvale has.  I threw out all the food from our fridges yesterday,  but the freezer in the garage still has at least 2 turkeys, 3 chickens and a couple of whole rumps in it.  I had nowhere to throw them.  My driveway has been totalled, will need a couple of metres of roadbase to fix it.  I gather the pool will be off before the power comes.  The other night I had 12 mobile phones plugged into my crappy 750 watt cmc generator.  I did a door knock up the street and charged all the flat phones.  NO land lines out here, so no internet access.  NO power, NO water, it's just a trickle now.  The highway was under a foot of water at Woolworths in Fernvale
Title: Re: Brisbane River from other side
Post by: johnv on January 15, 2011, 02:52:41 PM
Sorry to hear about your losses Dale but  the fact that you're both ok and in no danger is all that really matters. All them clouds and not many silver linings.
I got stuck in Bris on Tuesday night, couldn't get home. Some anxious moments with family in Riverside estate at Karalee and Chapel hill. The anxiety caused by lack of phone contact, so I totally understand you wanting to charge phones. Fact is the coverage just wasn't happening.
When I did get home yesterday, almost had to kidnap one daughter from Chapel hill, and bring her home with me. I drove into the estate here and felt so bloody guilty. Just looks like the biggest problem here was that grass hadn't been mowed for over a week.
Stay safe everybody and where possible keep in, or make contact with family and friends, its important.
Yeah, we got a cr@p cricket team, ;D but tremendous resilience. It'll all come good.
Cheers John.
 
Title: Re: Brisbane River from the other side
Post by: Novice on January 15, 2011, 06:03:11 PM
Sorry to hear all the bad news Dale . Fernvale has been forgotten by the media coverage , only news I have heard from over there is by hearsay .

On another note, I made it into Lowood today via Patricks Crossing , where there is someone's half canoe sitting beside the northern approach.

Word is the Brisbane Valley Hwy at the River and Shines Gully will be cut until next Wednesday .

Cheers,
Dave.

Title: Re: Brisbane River from the other side
Post by: Sweetwater on January 15, 2011, 06:27:16 PM
Im told all 5 gates at Wivenhoe are again open & the river down stream is rising again. I guess there's alot of water held back to soften the blow on Brisbane & Ipswich. Now that the waters there are dropping it might be time to get that buffer back into the lakes. Another bad weather pattern & we'll have no buffer with the lakes over full.

Unconfirmed report from friend at Mt Crosby, the weir may have been taken out by the flood. I'm thinking the road over the weir maybe, but I'd be surprized if the weir itself was taken out.  I hope the old weir is now gone however, more river for fish to move up & down.

fitz..

Title: Re: Brisbane River from the other side
Post by: Sweetwater on January 15, 2011, 06:36:04 PM
Some great footage of the Brisbane River in flood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ucKmgOWos8
Title: Re: Brisbane River from the other side
Post by: Dodge on January 15, 2011, 08:23:56 PM
Now that the waters there are dropping it might be time to get that buffer back into the lakes. Another bad weather pattern & we'll have no buffer with the lakes over full.


Fitzy
On the radio news at 4pm today [Sat] they said the gates were opened and expected to have the full available flood protection back by about Wednesday ....so assuming the report is accurate that buffer will come available as you suggest.
Title: Re: Brisbane River from the other side
Post by: Brad H on January 16, 2011, 10:38:21 AM
"Fernvale has been forgotten by the media coverage"

I was surprised to see the FACTUAL reporting on 9 coverage, that said "the towns of Lowood and Fernvale were being inundated due to the high levels of water being held BACK by Wivenhoe Dam which was at 193% capacity"
had me worried for a while, I thought maybe the dam wall had slid downstream while no one was looking  :o.....bloody reporters and their researchers, never let the facts get in the way of a GOOD story  :-\

Brad
Title: Re: Brisbane River from the other side
Post by: Sweetwater on January 16, 2011, 12:34:20 PM
Understandable I guess. Things would have been different if the fuses had of blown out of Wivenhoe... there would have been nothing left of Fernvale & Lowood with an 8 meter wall of water on top of the rest coming down...

Overall, I recon the media did a great job of reporting the disaster. It brought a focus & attention to it than no other way could; probably saved lives!! Also the support coming would not be the same if there'd only been a short clip on the 6 oclock news.

I've been in Sydney working since before the worst hit. The TV coverage here was universal 24/7. I went to bunnings in Gosford, they were doing a fundraiser for the flood relief. Went to Coles, same deal. The Woolies were taking donations & matching it. Folks were talking in the streets here about the destruction & loss of life...without the media coverage none would have known the extent of the damage.

My sisters place has been destroyed. Yesterday an army of volunteers (family & friends) showed up, stripped all the ceilings, walls, carpets, kitchen, bathroom, cupboards & washed out the floors; got it back to a bare hull in a little over 4 hours. Then those same people moved onto the next place. The whole estate looks like a war zone, but not a govt person to be seen expect for at the road block going in, & they were SES volunteers who were stopping everyone going in...so the volunteers dragged equipment on foot to get in there.

Top marks to them IMHO.  :thumbsup

Fitz..
Title: Re: Brisbane River from the other side
Post by: aussiebasser on January 16, 2011, 03:17:04 PM
Just updating from Sweetwater Lodge in Lowood, as no power in Fernvale yet.  Energex put in a Generator yesterday to run the houses, but it blew up during the night.  Not sure if it's fixed yet.  Drove to Toowoomba this morning to make sure Pam could get through OK tomorrow.  Unbelievable sights on the way.  Came back via Lake Clarendon and Coominya, over for a sticky beak at Big W and back to Coominya to Lowood.  A lot of ADF guys checking culverts and bridges everywhere.  The new bridge at Patrick Estate over the LOckyer was 7 metres underwater.  The houses from that bridge out to the turnoff to O'Rielly's weir were inundated.  Even some of the High set homes had water upstairs.  Lowood to Fernvale is still closed and under water.  At this end it is nearly up to the bike way.  Fernvale markets were still on this morning, as there is power to the main street.  We got water back last night.  Seeing the piles of possessions along the roadside makes me realise that what happened to our joint is nothing.  The options at Wivenhoe wall were looking very grim and a 2.00 am they opened all the gates as far as they could, knowing what the consequences would be.
Fitz, I've heard the weir and bridge are still OK at Mt. Crosby.  The house over the road on the little hump had 6" of water through it.  The water was almost level with the top of the Sewage tank.  There was only a few inches stopping water from spilling over the Wivenhoe wall.