Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

More Photographs of the Flooded Fitzroy for Val

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I visited Rockhampton on Monday and later posted some photographs of the racing Fitzroy. Val Majkus asked for more.  This afternoon I decided to try for some images of the river east of the city, as it heads towards the Coral Sea. From Emu Park I travelled to Nerimbera and down to the boat ramp. 

The river was quiet and creeping. Then I found a track up a hill near the primary school and got some shots looking back towards Rockhampton – unfortunately into the sun.  In the third photograph you should be able to see some of Rockhampton city in the distance.  The photographs were taken as the river peaked at 9.2 metres.  Click on the images for a larger better view. 

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Comments

  1. val majkus says

    Thank you Jen for the great photographs
    and here’s Tony’s latest post http://papundits.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/brockhampton-flood-crisis-flood-peak-arrives-life-goes-onb/
    He has a slide show this time, Tony says ‘I have purposely not shown any close up images of inundated homes, because behind images like those lies great personal tragedy, and that tragedy is just that…..personal.’
    I heard yesterday that the Premier’s appeal had reached about 10.4 M

  2. spangled drongo says

    Jen, thanks for those photos. The mouth of the Fitzroy is such a vast area of low country. I suppose Port Alma is isolated? Did they get flooding there?

  3. el gordo says

    The latest ENSO Wrap Up suggests we are in for a long haul.

    ‘The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) value for December of +27 is the highest December SOI value on record, as well as being the highest value for any month since November 1973.’

  4. Vince Schultz says

    Its now raining here in the Northern Rivers and flood advisories have been published.

    Its been wet here since Late September, and everything is wet. We are high on a hill here in Maclean, but we get seepage. So far the ag drains are coping.

    I am looking at my feet for signs of mutating web feet.

    Good luck Jen

  5. val majkus says

    Hi Vince Good luck to your feet; I felt the frightening power of water this morning in Toowoomba where I live. Toowoomba had a torrential downpour lasting about 45 minutes, no news on the amount of rain yet but I would put it at about 50 mls or 1.5 inches in the old scale. I was out in my little Ford Fiesta and shortly after the downpour started I was crossing the Warrego Highway (cnr Kitchener Street for anyone who knows T’wmba); There was water flooding across the Highway and I felt the car start to drift) luckily I and cars behind me got through; a four wheel would have had no probs but for peasants like me if we’d had to wait any longer for the lights to turn we might have had probs; I’ve heard that cars parked in the street outside the Court House were flooded; the Court House is on a slope and that would have been water flooding down Hume Street from Herries Street; I’ve heard one major shopping centre has been flooded; probably Centrepoint; and that drains in the town centre overflowed; the Range Highway is closed; for the latest see http://www.thechronicle.com.au/story/2011/01/06/torrential-downpour-city-toowoomba/
    So floods affect Toowoomba! Luckily for Toowoomba-ites it drains quickly. Pity the flood victims with rising river levels outside their doors or lapping at their floors or already innundating their homes and pity too all the affected animals.
    After that experience I googled ‘power of water’ and came up with this scary natural video (4 mins)
    http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3060459/power_of_water_scary_natural_video/

  6. Polyaulax says

    NASA Earth Observatory has essential imagery of Fitzroy floods from 04/01/2011. The amount of water still ponded in the Comet River valley is amazing

  7. Polyaulax says

    Running the ruler over the blown up NASA sat image 04/01 shows about 3000km2 under floodwater,and that’s conservative.

  9. spangled drongo says

    val,

    Toowoomba dams full yet? Mine isn’t. The only time it has happened here was in 1996 when we had 56 inches [over a year’s rain] in 6 days. That’s how much the vegetation restricts flow here.

    There has been a lot of talk on the web lately about pos and neg feedbacks and if there’s one thing that floods teach you it’s that large forces of nature are accompanied by neg feedbacks. Every single object that gets washed away does its best to dam the stream, level the flow, limit the erosion and restore equilibrium.
    If it was the other way we probably would never have got here in the first place.

  11. val majkus says

    update on the Toowoomba downpour, I’ve heard we had 3 inches in 45 mins; so much more than I thought

  13. val majkus says

    yes, Spangled, totally agree, it’s a warmist site and very discourteous to skeptics; if you’re a sceptic you’re totally a moron, it’s religious not science I’m afraid!

  14. Jenny Madden says

    I think this nation is turning into a pile of wimps. I was living in Rocky in ’91, when the river reached 9.4m. My son was doing an internship at Gladstone at the Smelter and he spent two weeks, hopping into a boat at the bottom of the street on Monday morning, with a mate, and motoring over to Gracemere, where they had another mate with a 4 wheel drive who drove them down to Gladstone. The reverse trip was accomplished on the Fridays, and he spent the weekends at home. We have hundreds of photos of the Fitzroy in flood.
    But life went on. The pharmaceutical companies were able to barge supplies up to Yeppoon, and apart from the first day ot two, there was no shortage of medication for patients in the hospital where I was working.
    The locals who were inundated saw it as the cost of purchasing in flood territory and they were generally philosophical about the flood. It’s a regular ocurrence
    Compare that with the inundation of the Riverina, particularly Billabong Creek. This is a flood that was unprecedented, and thus unexpected and not warded against. I was a minor victim of this inundation, but more fortunate than others, as I was covered by insurance.
    The media jump from one hot spot to another. Imagine the guffaws of derision when we heard on ABC news that the townships of Wagga Wagga and Gumly Gumly were under water! UNTRUE! Sadly East Wagga Wagga and North Wagga Wagga were evacuated, along with Gumly Gumly.
    When I heard the ABC say that the population of Rocky was 150,000, I thought – HoHum here we go again. Bah Humbug to the hysteical media

  15. Jenny Madden says

    I think this nation is turning into a pile of wimps. Or is it just the Media? I was living in Rocky in ’91, when the river reached 9.4m. My son was doing an internship at Gladstone at the Smelter and he spent two weeks, hopping into a boat at the bottom of the street on Monday morning, with a mate, and motoring over to Gracemere, where they had another mate with a 4 wheel drive who drove them down to Gladstone. The reverse trip was accomplished on the Fridays, and he spent the weekends at home. We have hundreds of photos of the Fitzroy in flood.
    But life went on. The pharmaceutical companies were able to barge supplies up to Yeppoon, and apart from the first day ot two, there was no shortage of medication for patients in the hospital where I was working.
    The locals who were inundated saw it as the cost of purchasing in flood territory and they were generally philosophical about the flood. It’s a regular ocurrence.
    Compare that with the inundation of the Riverina, particularly Billabong Creek. This is a flood that was unprecedented, and thus unexpected and not warded against. I was a minor victim of this inundation, but more fortunate than others, as I was covered by insurance.
    The media jump from one hot spot to another. Imagine the guffaws of derision when we heard on ABC news that the townships of Wagga Wagga and Gumly Gumly were under water! UNTRUE! Sadly East Wagga Wagga and North Wagga Wagga were evacuated, along with Gumly Gumly.
    When I heard the ABC say that the population of Rocky was 150,000, I thought – HoHum here we go again. Bah Humbug to the hysterical media