The Last Bass Outpost
Main Forums => The Outpost Cafe => Topic started by: uwe on January 03, 2011, 07:22:43 AM
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I read in the newspaper that the flooded areas in Queensland/Northern Territiry are as large as Germany and France combined - that is mindboggling. I always though you guys were an arid dustbin with lizards scurrying around. If you have relatives and friends there, I hope they are fine. I read that human casualities are so far very low ("just" that one woman in the car) and hopefully everyone will get back on their feet (and out of their Wellies!) very soon. We had bad floods in Germany a couple of years ago (not of the massive size you have to face now of course) and, inevitably, the regions are now perfectly rebuilt with a much better anti-flood infrastructure in place.
Best!
Uwe
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Casualties are 10 now, but that's still low for a flood of this size. The trouble with arid dustbowls is that when the ground gets rock hard from drought, the rains won't soak in. The biggest issue for us will be the impact on food prices, as the flooded areas include a major beef cattle region, and fruit and vegetable farming areas. The Queensland areas affected also include most of Australia's export coal mines - coal is this country's single biggest export commodity. There are 45 ships waiting off the central Queensland coast waiting to be loaded with export coal.
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Mark just gave advice to buy international food stocks - :-\. Sorry, not trying to be cynical, but it seems that the world works this way more and more.
I hope casualities don't rise any further. Are large floods like this every ten years or so the norm or is there any explanation why this is happening now with such force?
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We have just had a 10 year severe drought. Some say a once in 100 years occurrence. Older people say a once on 50 years drought. Like Mark says makes it hard for the water to just run away down a hole. Parts of western Australia are still in drought. My state (South Australia) is probably doing the best out of all this. For the first time in about 10 years the biggest river in the country (The Murray) is flowing out to sea about 50km from where I live. Of course this is just as the Desalination plant that the Govt (we the tax payers *ironic sigh*) paid over a billion dollars for is about to come online. :-\
Most of SA's north is what you would call stereotypical Aussie desert. Very few people live up there by comparison to most of the US or Europe. We have an area called the Channel country.The Channel Country is located on the borders of Queensland , New South Wales , South Australia and the Northern Territory. Its a desert with very big water channels scarred across it. Prone to flash flooding from rains fallen hundreds of Kms away it has (as far as I know) the only Ferry (punt) in the middle of a desert.
(http://www.auinfo.com/australia-pictures/map/channel_Country_queensland_map.jpg)
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I vaguely remember someone saying something about the foot wide gutters some places have on buildings and tourists asking why you need such things when it's so dry... :rolleyes:
What's old Pete Garrett had to say about things...? Is he still the Environment Minister...?
Keep the waders handy and your powder dry guys...
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Our Venerable vocalist from Midnight Oil, ie Environment minister Garrett has been the subject of one of the wikileaks this week. I believe he is still on holidays.
I think the gutters thing was me talking about Pinnaroo. I've seen some recent pics of the main street and these days ita all modern bitumen and concrete guttering.
Big flood.
Mackay
(http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/ffximage/2008/02/16/flood(new).jpg)
Interesting comparison from NASA
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=48319 (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=48319)
Very good slide show here
http://www.news-mail.com.au/photos/galleries/aerial-view-rockhampton-flood-03-jan/#num=1&id=aerial-view-rockhampton-flood-03-jan (http://www.news-mail.com.au/photos/galleries/aerial-view-rockhampton-flood-03-jan/#num=1&id=aerial-view-rockhampton-flood-03-jan)
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Good Grief...!
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well said. :)
Its not just one town but many over a massive area as Uwe mentioned. Some of them quite large like Rockhampton.
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Is the Midnight Oil guy really in the administration? I had no friggin idea! I knew he was politically active, but more on a grassroots, out-of-parliament level.
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Yep, Peter Garrett was Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts uner former prime minister Kevin Rudd. He is now is Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth under PM Julia Gillard.
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/member.asp?id=HV4 (http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/member.asp?id=HV4)
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Yep, Peter Garrett was Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts uner former prime minister Kevin Rudd. He is now is Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth under PM Julia Gillard.
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/member.asp?id=HV4 (http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/member.asp?id=HV4)
Peter and his lab-coat wearing minions used to visit us at least once a year at Pine Gap.
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Peter and his lab-coat wearing minions used to visit us at least once a year at Pine Gap.
I hope you didn't have any roof insulation installed up there ;) ;D
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Toowoomba, which sits on top of a mountain range, got hit yesterday. 8 dead, 72 missing ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYUpkPTcqPY
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Floods of biblical proportion in the East, bushfires in the West. The Doomsdayers are out again. 21st of May they say. :rolleyes:
http://www.embeddedworks.com/ChristReturns/ (http://www.embeddedworks.com/ChristReturns/)
Maybe this time they are right? :o :P :mrgreen:
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10 dead 59 missing now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjjCKqYftHs
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Primary headlines over here... there was some footage of a (Cessna) floating away - surreal...
Soon be 2012...
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17 of the 23 dams in the affected area are 100% full or above capacity. The largest, Wivenhoe Dam is currently at 190%. All dam floodgates are fully open and have been for over a week Except Wivenhoe which had all 5 gates opened fully as of last night.
Its maximum capacity is 225%
Professor Hubert Chanson, a professor in hydraulic engineering at the University of Queensland, says the dam was built to withstand an event similar to what we are seeing. However......
"The Wivenhoe Dam is not designed to be overtopped, it is what we call an embankment dam. And if water was to flow over the top of the crest of the dam, there would be a very high risk of erosion of the dam wall and ultimately failure of the dam," he said.
"If the water was to spill over the top of the crest of the dam we would look at the failure of the dam on the possible complete emptying of the reservoir into the Brisbane River with deadly consequences for the people living downstream."
But he says there are a number of safeguards to prevent such an event.
"The first one is the primary spillway, the main spillway you have seen on the TV news," he said.
"That is the location where they are currently controlling the downstream release of water into the Brisbane River.
"But they also have a secondary emergency spillway where if the water were to reach dangerous levels it would start to provide further release from the dam wall."
Some towns have been hit twice in a few days by flash flooding. The water is making its way down to Brisbane and shoud peak tonight.
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Terrible for all involved. The Brisbane situation sounds like a worse disaster in the making.
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Terrible for all involved. The Brisbane situation sounds like a worse disaster in the making.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2011/01/12/3111216.htm
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Good mojo from Raleigh for all you Aussies!
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(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201101/r700809_5369316.jpg)
Financial analysts predicting final clean up costs to be higher than that of Katrina.
Currently 15 Air force and 10 civilian helicopters working in the flood area.
Hospitals already organising for the medical aftermath including water borne diseases and those caused by contaminated water.
40,000 properties affected in Qld.
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That looks worse than Kathrina and that is saying something. :-\
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The latest is that they are predicting a Cyclone to hit Queensland the day after Australia day, Wed Week.
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Strewth...! talk about kicking a guy when he's down...
I'd drop the (G*ds) own country for fear of bringing down any more wrath... :o
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My mate in Atlanta has been telling me how insanely cold and snowy its been there. Weathers weird .....
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So in the last few months we have had floods at Canarvon in northern Western Australia which is 3,800 Kms away from The Queensland Floods.
Bushfires in southern Western Australia (The normally green and higher rainfall area of WA).
Two floods in Queensland
One flood in Northern new South Wales and two in Victoria.
Of course we have had floods in northern South Australia causing the massive lake Eyre to fill up in what is a very rare occurence. This is not such a big issue due to the fact that its desert/outback and very few people live there. The scale of water movement is the same though.
(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201101/r701252_5378370.jpg)
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That pic goes to show how well the traffic light control panels are waterproofed!
The US Embassy in the background seems safe though.
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My mate in Atlanta has been telling me how insanely cold and snowy its been there. Weathers weird .....
Actually the weather in the US's Southeast seems to be returning to its historically normal pattern. The past 30 years have been abnormally warm and dry. Scores of retirees from northern and midwestern states are now finding out that they didn't move far enough south to escape winter completely.
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Yep, Peter Garrett was Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts uner former prime minister Kevin Rudd. He is now is Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth under PM Julia Gillard.
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/member.asp?id=HV4 (http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/member.asp?id=HV4)
Midnight Oil is one of my favorite '90's bands
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Midnight Oil is one of my favorite '90's bands
My fav Oils album is their 1979 effort Head Injuries. full of gold IMHO.
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(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201101/r701480_5383003.jpg)
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It seems Brazil is faring worse than Australia.
(http://www.pamil-visions.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/brazil.jpg)
Brazil government says 100,000 displaced by floods
Heavy flooding in Brazil, at least 270 dead, toll expected to rise, leaves thousands homeless, and submerges nearly 60 cities in four states.
(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200811/r317606_1409715.jpg)
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I'm involved in two different fundraising events already to raise money for the flood appeal. I've got a multi band show on 13 Feb with my blues band, and another on 5 March with the Stones tribute, with a bunch of other cool tribute bands on the bill - Zeppelin Live, Dirty Deeds (ACDC), No Secrets (The Angels), The Oz Rock Show. All door takings go to the appeal. Great to be contributing a little to help people affected by this disaster.
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Good for you!
Up here in Colorado, news about the events just sounds worse and worse.
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Flooded rivers can be a lot of fun ....
http://www.news.com.au/weird-true-freaky/couple-floating-on-dolls-rescued-on-yarra-river/story-e6frflri-1225989295328
(http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2011/01/17/1225989/310569-yarra-river-inflatable-doll.jpg)
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Is this the time now to invest in stock of Australian construction firms? Their balance sheets should have a heyday in the next few years. And your unemployment will dip significantly.
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Our unemployment rate is already very low at around 4.5%, so if the construction firms need more labour, we'll have to import migrant labour (again)
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Is this the time now to invest in stock of Australian construction firms? Their balance sheets should have a heyday in the next few years. And your unemployment will dip significantly.
After being though countless floods, many tropical storms and a couple of hurricanes I will tell that whatever company will sell the most lumber, plywood and sheetrock would be the place I would invest in. The major lumber mills and sheetrock manufacturers make out like bandits with every major catastrophe. Get in early and you'll make a bundle ;)