Live webcam over water being released from Wivenhoe Dam



Webcam single image of water
being released from Wivenhoe Dam.
Click on pic for link to live streaming vision

Seqwater has a live streaming webcam of water being released from Wivenhoe Dam.

You can even take control of the camera:

http://www.previous.seqwater.com.au/public/source-store-treat-supply/dams/wivenhoe-dam

Click on: "Watch the Operational Safety Camera" near the top right of the Seqwater webpage.

Get set for another big wet in SEQ

BOM Radar SEQ 6.48am 25 Feb 2013

Heavy rain is falling across southeast Queensland in what is expected to be the start of a 48-hour deluge.

A monster wild weather system set in over the southeast corner in the early hours of Monday, as a surface trough moved across the coast.

The bureau has warned of strong winds and flash flooding, as up to 200 millimetres of rain is expected to fall in parts of the southeast in the next 24 hours.

Up to 100 millimetres of intense rain could fall within a six-hour period in coastal areas, the bureau has warned.

"That could cause some problems," Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Ken Kato said.

In Brisbane, more than 25 millimetres fell within one hour from 5.30am on Monday.

"The rain has really set in this morning," Mr Kato said.

The bureau renewed a severe weather warning for southeast Queensland as a surface trough made landfall early Monday morning.

The warning was issued for Gladstone, Gympie, Bundaberg, Kingaroy, Hervey Bay, Fraser Island, Brisbane, Ipswich, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast and adjacent hinterland areas.

The wet weather is likely to continue through to next weekend - the bureau is forecasting heavy rain through to Tuesday, with showers easing on Wednesday, returning Thursday and a possible and amplifying on Friday to a possible storm which could carry into the weekend.

To help mitigate the risk of flooding in the Brisbane River catchment Seqwater has increased the rate of release of water at Wivenhoe Dam to reduce levels from 89 per cent to the temporary full supply level of 88 per cent.

Colleges Crossing was closed on Sunday night as a result.

www.BrisbaneTimes.com.au

25.2.13

Anguish flooding back for Ipswich flood survivors

RISING CONCERNS: AMA Queensland
president Dr Alex Markwell.


THE mental health of Ipswich flood victims is at the forefront of AMA Queensland's concerns following the threat of rising water last month.

AMA Queensland president Dr Alex Markwell said the recent storm and flooding led the medical association to launch the See the Signs campaign.

She urged Ipswich residents to look out for each other as the city recovered from another flood.

Her concern was matched by Mayor Paul Pisasale, who felt the community angst was amplified when floodwaters threatened Ipswich on Australia Day.

Dr Markwell said the campaign listed seven signs indicating a loved one or friend might be suffering from mental trauma.

Judging by past disaster experience, there was a marked increase in mental health issues, she said.

"An AMA Queensland survey following the floods in 2011 found 31% of Ipswich residents were very concerned about the mental health of family and friends," she said.

"Also almost 60% of doctors had seen or expected to see a spike in mental health cases.

"This time round, even those who weren't flooded still have to cope with the fear and upheaval."

Cr Pisasale said mentally the floods still affected many.

"The most important thing is it's about yourself. We are trying to get the message out there," he said.

 

"Knowing what the signs are and if you know somebody experiencing it, to be a good friend you need to tell them to get help.
 

"The mental anguish was three times as bad in 2013.
 

"They remembered the nightmares of 2011 and had to go through them again."
 

Dr Markwell hoped the pre-emptive strategy would help everyone recognise the symptoms of psychological distress.
 

"We are hoping that this time around people will take more notice of their own thoughts and behaviours, and that of family and friends," she said.
 

"AMA Queensland, with the support of Queensland Health,is relaunching its poster and radio campaign to help people 'See the Signs'.
 

"If you don't address it now it will continue to fester, and what happens in five years time may not be directly related, but it may have begun then."

The Seven Signs 

• Poor sleep and nightmares
• Tearful or fragile
• Drug or alcohol use
• Withdrawing from family
• Poor work performance
• Avoiding social events
• Irritability with family

www.QT.com.au

22.2.13
 

Goodna spared flood heartbreak

Ipswich appears to have averted a 2011-style disaster, with the Bremer River peaking below the feared forecast of 15 metres.

The river peaked at 13.9 metres at 9:30pm Monday, before falling to 13.3 metres at 3am.

Local councillor Paul Tully said he was “cautiously optimistic” that the Brisbane River through Goodna had avoided a predicted peak of 9 metres.

The Brisbane River keeps its distance
from the Ipswich Motorway at Goodna.
Pic: Peter Doherty, Channel Seven

“Residents here will be overjoyed this morning,” said an emotional Cr Tully, who lost his own home in the floods two years ago.

He has visited Enid Street, where residents spent yesterday moving what they could to higher ground, and says the Woogaroo Creek is still at least four metres below the road level.

“We’re talking about a street that had water over the roofs two years ago, and there isn't even any water on the street," he said.



People remove belonging from homes ahead of a
predicted flood in Enid Street at Goodna.
Photo: Harrison Saragossi

Recovery and clean-up operations around southeast Queensland are set to get even stickier today, with forecast top temperatures in the 30s.

“Ex-tropical cyclone Oswald hasn’t quite finished with us yet,” said Jonty Hall from the Bureau of Meteorology.

The core of the system has moved into New South Wales, putting the southeast on its northern side and in the line of westerly winds.

“Westerlies tend to hold out sea breezes, and with the sun coming out today, it’s going to get quite warm.”

Brisbane is expected to get a top of 33 degrees.

BOM hydrologist Jeff Carey said the Brisbane River would peak just before midday.

“This morning’s high tide is expected to be the most severe of the next three high tides,” he said.

“We’re looking at around 2.6 metres at the city gauge.”

Thousands of homes risk inundation through the day.

The Brisbane City Council has also warned residents in riverside or foreshore locations that a storm surge of 1.16 metres is expected above the higher-than-normal high tide around 11:15am.

Mr Carey said the Albert River at Beenleigh was believed to have peaked at minor flood level of 6 metres overnight, which would be confirmed once observations were taken at the manual stations.

The Logan River at Waterford was expected to reach 8 metres this afternoon, and 5 metres was forecast for Eagleby tonight.

Translink is advising of major delays across the public transport network, with CityCats and ferries still offline, and train services severely disrupted. Ticketing equipment has also been affected at some stations due to flooding and power outages.

Energex reports around 162,000 homes and businesses are still without power in the southeast.


www.BrisbaneTimes.com.au

29.1.13

QBE's act of bastardry to 2011 flood victims overruled by Financial Ombudsman

The Financial Ombudsman Service has ruled that QBE's definition of flood, which excluded water deliberately released from a dam onto land that is not normally covered by water, does not apply to a pontoon, because the released water flowed where it was normally covered by water.  

It followed that loss or damage to a pontoon was NOT excluded by QBE's definition.  

COMMENT: QBE should get rid of their buffoons who can't even correctly interpret QBE's own insurance policies. 

Suncorp flood claims mount as governments wrangle over funds

About 80 per cent of Suncorp’s provision
for natural disaster claims has been taken up.

Large-scale flooding across Queensland and NSW last month will cost Suncorp between $200 million and $220 million in claims, accounting for much of the insurer’s provision for natural disasters for the current financial year.

Bushfires and storms in Victoria and Tasmania in January will also total $50 million, adding to the $147 million in natural hazard claims already booked in the December half of 2012.

All up, that means about 80 per cent of Suncorp’s $520 million provision for natural disaster claims has already been taken up with five months of the financial year still to run.

Separately, the states will be watching closely how Queensland and the federal government resolve a key reconstruction issue potentially worth billions of dollars.

Last month’s floods provide “a window” of opportunity to ensure the reconstruction of major assets such as bridges after a disaster is of a greater resilience than the infrastructure that had been destroyed, said David Crisafulli, one of the state ministers leading recovery efforts.

Debate over the so-called “betterment” provisions of national relief and recovery arrangements had flared after assets newly rebuilt after the Queensland floods of 2011 had been damaged or destroyed in the latest inundation - with work completed just weeks ago in some cases near Bundaberg.

The floods “provided a window on how absurd our practise has been in replacing infrastructure” destroyed in a disaster, Mr Crisafulli said. “It’s in the interest of the federal government – and everybody else – to get it right the first time.”

A teleconference on Tuesday between Joe Ludwig, the federal minister appointed to assist the Queensland floods recovery, though, appears to have reached a breakthrough over the guidelines for assistance.

“There was a genuine willingness from Senator Joe Ludwig to stand shoulder to shoulder with the state,” Mr Crisafulli said.

Under existing rules, the federal government will typically fork out 75 per cent of the cost of replacing assets lost in a disaster, with the state paying the rest. Should the road or other public asset be improved to increase its tolerance for future extreme events, the federal and state government split the cost – a result that has often proved too costly or difficult to achieve.

“We will work with Queensland to develop and deliver a revised National Partnership Agreement that meets the needs of the state to rebuild, be stronger, and get back on its feet,” Senator Ludwig said.

“There is some flexibility in guidelines and the National Partnership Agreement will help us fast-track assistance, cut through red tape and get the right assistance to where it is needed.”

The outcome of the revisions will no doubt be followed closely in other state capitals. NSW has also suffered losses in the recent floods, while Victoria and Tasmania may seek commonwealth support in the wake of this summer’s fires.

Donations to the Red Cross Queensland Floods Appeal, meanwhile, remain meagre with about $6 million donated so far, Mr Crisafulli said.

www.BrisbaneTimes.com.au

7.2.13

Flood-fleeing rodents can't dodge Roger the rat-catching greyhound

 'Roger the rat catcher' from Goodna. Roger
can catch rats which have increased after the floods.

Keiron Butler with a rat found on his
Goodna property. Mr Butler says rats
are a more common problem in Goodna
since the 2011 floods.

GIANT rodents are back infesting Goodna, but Roger the rat-catching greyhound is loving every minute of it.

Goodna resident Keiron Butler, a leading greyhound trainer, said the rats were "breeding like wildfire" and moving up into unoccupied homes after being disturbed by last week's floods.

Cr Paul Tully has also encouraged people to cut their grass to prevent another major outbreak of the vermin.

Rats were caught in Goodna as big as bandicoots and possums after the 2011 floods. Mr Butler said Roger, an expert rat exterminator, had been kept busy. Mr Butler's rat baits also killed a rat the size of a bilby last week.

"Roger the rat catcher is doing well," Butler said.

"He catches rats most mornings and he has been doing his job patrolling the house at night. He keeps an eye on the place, and if he sees a rat he grabs it. I've got to get it out of his mouth otherwise he'll eat it.

"He's getting older and slower but he's still doing his job is old Roger the rat catcher.

"There are big rats coming from the river and we are seeing more of an impact since the floods.

"I've had to put more baits out and I caught a rat the other day that was as big as a bilby.

"They did quieten down over the last six months, but they are back now."

Cr Tully said residents should be on the lookout.

"We got reports of a rat infestation within hours of the flood," Cr Tully said.

"People in Woogaroo Street were saying that the rats were coming up out of the river and going into homes again.

"We need people to keep their grass down so it doesn't get overgrown and provide easy hiding for rats.

"Council will be on top of that and serving notices on people with long grass.

"Some of the homes haven't been reoccupied and they are re-infestation points.

"These rats live along the river and creek banks and with all the rain they have been flushed out.

"We have to address this problem again with baiting, rat traps and with people being vigilant.

"It was a major problem in 2011 to eliminate the rats. They are big and they are back."

www.QT.com.au

7.2.13

Flood recovery Minister David Crisafulli wants improved infrastructure



Local Government Minister David Crisafulli



Relocation plans like Grantham 2011, levee banks around towns, new dams and better bridges are all ‘‘on the table’’ for Queensland’s 2013 flood recovery, the minister in charge said last night.

Townsville’s former deputy mayor and the current Local Government Minister David Crisafulli will this morning be sworn in as Queensland’s ‘‘newest’’ minister.

Mr Crisafulli will assume the extra responsibilities as the Minister for Local Government, Community Recovery and Resilience.

The former journalist and Townsville councillor will oversee the Queensland Reconstruction Authority in his new role.

‘‘Cabinet will certainly discuss the way forward for the flood recovery,’’ Mr Crisafulli said, referring to the meeting to take place this morning.

He welcomed the appointment yesterday by Premier Campbell Newman of experienced army officers Colonel Don Cousins and Brigadier Bill Mellor to get the flood recovery underway.

‘‘They will make sure that things happen on the ground,’’ Mr Crisafulli said.

‘‘They will work through the QRA to make sure that we set ourselves milestones and that we deliver them."

Mr Crisafulli said no-one was underplaying the extent of the repairs, with damage estimates now closing on $26 billion.

Mundubbera, Eidsvold, Gayndah and Bundaberg appear the worst-hit towns.

‘‘It is not a task for the faint-hearted and there will be bumps along the way,’’ he said.

‘‘There will be times when neighbours get a bit cross with neighbours, and times when people get a bit angry with their local councils.

‘‘And even times when they get angry with the state.

‘‘And that is that is completely understandable.

‘‘But I think what they need to see - at the end of all that though - is that we not just rebuild Queensland, but to make it more resilient Queensland.’’

Mr Crisafulli said he wanted to discuss part-relocation plans, similar to the scheme that the Queensland Reconstruction Authority engineered for some residents in Grantham in 2012.

‘‘Everything is on the table,’’ he said.

‘‘There is part-relocations like we saw in Grantham; there has got to be levee banks put on the table; there’s got to be dams put on the table.

‘‘It all must be considered.’’

Mr Crisafulli said his background in local government told him that councils often had the best knowledge of when infrastructure should be upgraded.

He wants to change the current position of replacing ‘‘like for like’’ as bridges were repaired.

‘‘When we are upgrading infrastructure, we must look not just to replace it, but look to improve it so that we are not having to go back and replace the same things year on year," he said.

‘‘Which is what we are seeing at the moment.’’

He described standing on a bridge in Monto this week, only recently rebuilt after being destroyed in the 2011 floods.

‘‘If you ask any council they will tell you that they have always argued wit the state, ‘Why can’t we replace this particular asset that has been destroyed with a better standard to prevent having to come back," Mr Crisafulli said.

‘‘And the argument has always been ‘No, its repairs ‘like for like’.’’

‘‘It might mean that it does cost more the first time, but you might not have to go back, time and time again.’’

www.BrisbaneTimes.com.au

4.2.13

Suncorp defends flood record

Goodnas RSL Services Club 2011

 

AUSTRALIA'S largest insurer Suncorp says local government should have done far more to protect the flood-prone towns it controversially stopped selling policies to last year.

The group's insurance chief executive, Mark Milliner, responded after Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale last week accused the industry of refusing to pay out millions of dollars to flood victims while posting growing profits.

Massive floods have wreaked havoc in parts of Queensland in recent days, only two years after the destructive 2011 deluge.

Mr Milliner, who is also president of the Insurance Council of Australia, said Suncorp had lost a lot of money in insurance claims from towns it had stopped selling flood cover policies to, such as Roma and Emerald in outback Queensland.

"In Roma over the last three years from a business perspective we've probably collected about $4 million in premiums and spent about $150 million in claims," he told ABC TV's Inside Business.

"I think from a broad public and private sector we've spent nearly half a billion dollars in fixing up infrastructure, schools as well as homes up there."

A levee could have been built in the town eight years ago for $2 million, he said, but would now cost $15 million.

A levee was now planned for Roma, but in the meantime its average insurance premium had jumped to $3000, compared to nearby Tylerville, which had a $1200 average but also had a flood levy.

Premiums had increased broadly across Queensland and Australia over the past two years by about 10-15 per cent a year, Mr Milliner said.

"One of the solutions is to continue to have better flood mapping, understand the data and make sure we don't build houses in flood plains going forward."

Mr Milliner visited one of the worst-hit towns, Bundaberg, over the weekend.

He said it was too early to tell what the total loss to Suncorp would be from the floods.

 

www.TheAustralian.com.au

 

3.2.13

New $2.4m bowls club handed over at Goodna

 

GREAT DAY: Goodna Bowls Club president
Mal Levarre-Waters celebrates with Cr Paul Tully (left).

GOODNA Bowls Club president Mal Levarre-Waters was the happiest man in Ipswich when the keys to the new clubhouse were presented to him on Friday.

The club was devastated by the 2011 floods, but now a $2.4 million project funded by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, the Ipswich City Council and Federal and State governments has seen it presented with a brand, new clubhouse to be proud of.

The funding also paid for new change and amenity rooms for the Goodna Gladiators rugby union club and little athletics.

The Goodna Bowls Club battled on for two years in a couple of demountables, while the new clubhouse was being built.

It took its toll emotionally and financially on the club and its members but Mr Levarre-Waters said members could look forward to a bright future.

"This will be the best bowls club in the Ipswich and Brisbane area," he said.

"The clubhouse is a whole new building with a much larger entertainment area, a lovely kitchen and a brand new bar.

"Over the last two years we lost $200,000 because we couldn't put functions on, but this new clubhouse is going to be tremendous.

"We've lost a few members over the flood period, but we will get them back.

"We are going to have a good program to get people back. We'll have barefoot bowls, corporate bowls and we'll get the schoolkids back. We haven't had them here the last couple of years because we haven't had the facilities."

Goodna-based Cr Paul Tully said the handover of the keys was an important event.

"It reminds people that while we are sad for what we have lost, we are committed to getting our lives in our community back to normal," Cr Tully said.

"For our local lawn bowls champions, that means getting out of those demountables they've been stuck in for two years and back into a clubhouse they can call their own."

Cr David Morrison, the council's parks sports and recreation chairman, said the new clubhouse was "the second largest piece of all flood reconstruction work after Colleges Crossing".

www.QT.com.au

4.2.13

$176,000 fine awaiting owner of contraband bunnies found at flooded Goodna Boat Ramp

 

LOST: The rogue rabbits discovered
at the flooded Goodna boat ramp.

NOBODY is expected to come forward and claim the two domesticated rabbits that were found near the Goodna boat ramp at the height of this week's floods.

If they do, a fine of $176,000 could be waiting for them, unless they are a zookeeper - or magician.

Councillor Paul Tully found the pair of black rabbits and said "they were very tame".

"You could walk up to them and they came up to my feet to be fed," Cr Tully said.

"But there is an $88,000 fine per rabbit to keep them without a permit in Queensland.

"Usually only zoos and magicians can get the permits in this State to keep them."

Two years ago there were rumours of sharks in the Brisbane River at Goodna during the previous floods.

"This rabbit story is better than the shark story. The local butcher Steve Bateman saw the shark but we didn't have a picture of it in 2011," Cr Tully said.

"But we have got a picture of these rabbits that the council has caught on the junction of Brisbane River and Woogaroo Creek.

"Now they are in the hands of council officers who will look after them."

Cr Tully said he wasn't expecting anyone to claim the rabbits any time soon.

"No-one has yet put their hand up for the $176,000 fine for keeping them," he said

www.QT.com.au

2.2.13

Keys handed over for new Goodna Bowls Club

Goodna Bowls Club President Mal Levarre-Waters
opens the doors of the new clubhouse
for the first time as Cr Paul Tully (left)
and Cr David Morrison look on.

The keys to the new $2.4 million Goodna Bowls Club were officially handed over to Club President Mal Levarre-Waters by Division 2 Councillor Paul Tully this afternoon.

The old clubhouse was totally destroyed in the 2011 flood.

Club members were on hand for the special event.

1.2.13