So it's a little bit damp around here...
There's no flooding worse than a lot of puddles where I live, but parts of the city centre are very soggy this afternoon, and there are evacuations happening in a few places, especially up towards the Sunshine Coast. If you've seen the news at all, you'll know Toowoomba and the townships downstream were very badly hit yesterday afternoon, so please spare a thought (and a prayer if you're that way inclined) for the people up that way.
To get the idea, see video of the water rising in one of the Toowoomba creeks yesterday. That is in real time!
At some point tonight, all that water will reach the wall of Wivenhoe dam, which is Brisbane's last-ditch flood barrier. The dam is currently at 150% or normal capacity (it's designed to take up to 200%), so they've been releasing water all day in order to create enough space for the incoming flood. That's not helping the flooding downstream, of course, but at this point they've gone for a slow and steady water level rise rather than a tsunami. I really wouldn't want to be one of the dam engineers today - talk about a stressful job!
Everyone was sent home from the office late this morning and asked to work from home until further notice, just to keep people off the roads and public transport. As far as flood-effects go, I'm not complaining about that one at all.
To get the idea, see video of the water rising in one of the Toowoomba creeks yesterday. That is in real time!
At some point tonight, all that water will reach the wall of Wivenhoe dam, which is Brisbane's last-ditch flood barrier. The dam is currently at 150% or normal capacity (it's designed to take up to 200%), so they've been releasing water all day in order to create enough space for the incoming flood. That's not helping the flooding downstream, of course, but at this point they've gone for a slow and steady water level rise rather than a tsunami. I really wouldn't want to be one of the dam engineers today - talk about a stressful job!
Everyone was sent home from the office late this morning and asked to work from home until further notice, just to keep people off the roads and public transport. As far as flood-effects go, I'm not complaining about that one at all.