Brisbane and Ipswich's largest known floods - February 1893

Queen Street, one of the major roads in Brisbane, after the 1893 floods. Residents are seen rowing boats to move about due to the flooding.

South Brisbane during the 1893 flood.

Map from the Irrigation and Water Supply Commission.

Indooroopilly Railway Bridge

The 1893 Brisbane flood, occasionally referred to as the Great Flood of 1893 or the Black February flood, occurred when the Brisbane River burst its banks on three occasions in February 1893.

It is the occurrence of three major floods in the same month that saw the period named "Black February". There was also a fourth flood event later in the same year in June. The river runs through the centre of Brisbane in the Australian state of Queensland,with much of the population living in areas beside the river. It was flooded in the first flood due to a deluge associated with a tropical cyclone, called "Buninyong".

The second cyclone struck on 11 February, causing relatively minor flooding compared to the first flood.

When the third cyclone came on 19 February, it was almost as devastating as the first, and it left up to one third of Brisbane's residents homeless. This time however the flood in the Brisbane River was largely from waters from the upper reaches of Brisbane River, rather than the Stanley River.

For the first flood, Crohamhurst recorded 914.4 mm of rain fell in a 24 hour period.  The water surge was recorded on the Port Office gauge (now the City gauge) as being 8.35 metres (27 feet, 5 inches) above the low tide level. The February 1893 floods were the second and third highest water levels ever recorded at the City gauge, the highest being the January 1841 flood at 8.43 metres (27 feet, 8 inches).  There was however some oral aboriginal history suggesting a flood level of nearly 12 m prior to the first European settlement.

The 1893 events were preceded by two notable yet less severe floods in 1887 and 1890. Both were caused by high levels of summer rainfall; however the rainfall around this period (with the exception of the two summers) was described as "very low".

^{Full Report on the 1893 flood:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1893_Brisbane_flood}