13 February 2012

Huge dam releases caused most of city flood, study shows

Could this have been prevented? Brisbane River Flood
 at Goodna 12 January 2011 looking west from near
 the corner of Brisbane Road and Queen Street.
THE entire January 2011 Brisbane River flood that inundated thousands of properties and inflicted a multi-billion-dollar damage bill would have been contained in Wivenhoe Dam if it had been operated in prudent and strict accordance with its manual, according to new analysis.

Andrew Dragun, an academic expert on water management, said yesterday his newly completed study of the dam's performance showed that the dam's operator, SEQWater, was too slow to make releases of water, then made such huge releases that it caused most of the flood.

www.TheAustralian.com.au
2.2.12