Eastern Australia Floods

[yass]

Day of complete chaos as floods surge across two states
RACHEL BROWNE AND KYM AGIUS
March 7, 2010


Story and Video (worth watching)
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/water-issues/day-of-complete-chaos-as-floods-surge-across-two-states-20100306-ppnj.html
Freak storm floods Melbourne

Footage of Melbourne being hammered by hail and rain and its residents wading through the treacherous conditions.

RESIDENTS in two states were battling against severe weather yesterday that brought record floodwaters, torrential rain, 100km/h winds and hailstones as big as golf balls.

Emergency services in the south-west Queensland town of St George were last night preparing for a flood peak expected to inundate 80 per cent of the town, as Melbourne mopped after a severe storm cell that wreaked havoc.

The Balonne River was already at a record 13.26 metres yesterday afternoon and the weather bureau has predicted it could peak at 13.5 metres - the highest level since recordings began in 1890.

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww114/unfathomable_album/flood-420x0.jpg
Tram ahoy ... flooding yesterday on the corner of Chapel Street and Commercial Road in Prahran, Melbourne. Photo: Sebastian Costanzo

About 40 of the town's 2800 residents were evacuated to a makeshift evacuation centre at the showgrounds. Residents from an aged care facility in the town, 500 kilometres west of Brisbane, were flown to the state capital.

Many St George residents, including Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce, whose family home fronts the Balonne River, spent the day filling 4000 sandbags.

About 25 homes went under but the community appeared to be spared the worst last night.

Slide show 46 photos

example pics:


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http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww114/unfathomable_album/storm10-600x400.jpg

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww114/unfathomable_album/storm7-600x400.jpg

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww114/unfathomable_album/Storm1-600x400.jpg

''Nobody wants to spend the next couple of months with the smell of rotting carpet and underlay around their house,'' Mr Joyce said.

The flood peak will reach the Whyenbah and Dirranbandi area during the weekend.

Residents of the Banana Shire were also urged to prepare for possible evacuation due to predicted flooding in the area.

Heavy rain has hit the towns of Theodore, Moura and Baralaba, west of Gladstone, over the past week. Emergency Management Queensland asked residents to prepare for flooding in coming days.

"Theodore could become isolated and there is the possibility that low-lying homes will be inundated,'' the Banana Shire deputy mayor Maureen Clancy said.

Further south, residents of Cunnamulla braced themselves for a drenching more severe than the floods of 2008 when waters peaked at 9.91 metres. Cunnamulla is expected to be hit with a major flood peak of 10 metres early this week.

An area greater than that of the state of Victoria has been affected by the flooding in Queensland's south. In Melbourne, hail blanketed the city like snow as a thunderstorm ripped through the capital, forcing the cancellation of major events and damaging dozens of buildings. A total of 26 millimetres of rain fell in less than an hour, bringing emergency services to a grinding halt.

Hail up to 5 centimetres in diameter pummelled the streets.

''We don't often see storm cells like that,'' the bureau's senior forecaster, Richard Carlyon, said.

Southern Cross railway station had to be evacuated as heavy rain tore a hole in its roof. Train and tram services faced widespread delays as winds peaked at 100km/h.

The storm forced the cancellation of the NAB Cup AFL game between Brisbane and Geelong, and Flemington's races were also postponed.

Showers are expected across Sydney today, with the CBD expecting a high of 25 degrees.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/water-issues/day-of-complete-chaos-as-floods-surge-across-two-states-20100306-ppnj.html


Additional youtube videos:

Melbourne Freak Storm

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Melbourne freak storm

Melbourne freak storm - YouTube

Melbourne freak storm 2

Melbourne freak storm 2 - YouTube

Massive Hail Storm Melbourne 06/03/2010
(strange dating)
rustynailed
March 05, 2010

Massive hail storm hits Melbourne on Saturday arvo 06/03/2010... Streets flooded, hail stones from marbles to golf balls. The rain was so hard and heavy the only sound to describe it would be a 74...

Massive Hail Storm Melbourne 06/03/2010 - YouTube


melbourne hail storm stuck in a kayak

julianhorsley
March 06, 2010

Hail storm in melbourne 6th March 2010. Hail stones were massive - bigger hail than golfballs. Of all days to go kayak fishing at the docklands. Luckily I was able to shelter UNDER the docks and...

melbourne hail storm stuck in a kayak - YouTube

[fidokrab]

What a mess that will be. Are floods like these expected in that part of Australia?

[yass]

What a mess that will be. Are floods like these expected in that part of Australia?

I don't know but I think they've been in a drought... I read one comment, someone saying, "The droughts finally breaking in Australia."

[morjo]

What a mess that will be. Are floods like these expected in that part of Australia?

Not down south, this kind of rainfall is very rare, don't think it's ever been like this since records started, there has been bad rain over the years, but nothing like this. Rainfall down in Melbourne has been brilliant this year, usually you can go for weeks without any decent rainfall.

Up north in Queensland there is heavy rain this time of year as it's the wet season, so flooding is common.

[robdoo]

They love it!!

[ozpixie]

I cannot remember such a huge volume in such a short time.

[montag]

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

Dorothea Mackellar

[montag]

Not down south, this kind of rainfall is very rare, don't think it's ever been like this since records started, there has been bad rain over the years, but nothing like this.
I remember it raining like this in the seventies and eighties, I don't think it's all that unusual at all.

[morjo]

I remember it raining like this in the seventies and eighties, I don't think it's all that unusual at all.

O yeah, every few years there is a day or two of really bad rainfall in Melbourne for example, though this is the worst I can remember here. Back in 2003 there was a bad night of rain, with lots of flooding, and the eastern freeway turned into a river. But that flood wasn't as bad as what happened over the weekend. I think it's officially the worst deluge Melbourne has had on record, the effects were so wide spread all over the city, from the inner city to the outer suburbs 60k's away.

[lycan]

I don't know but I think they've been in a drought... I read one comment, someone saying, "The droughts finally breaking in Australia."

Yes in Queensland and around Brisbane in the past few years or so we have been in a very bad drought. Most of the huse dams have been down to 7% full.

In Brisbane for the last 3-4 weeks we have had huge amounts of rain almost every day. To day the Brisbane river hit it's peck and has flooded a lot of the city and areas right around brisbane river. I was in Brisbane city yesterday helping out people trying to save there belongings, you get a very funny feeling seeing parts of house's wash down the river, and boat's still sitting on to of pontoons, water tanks, and even a massive gas tank as large as a truck drifting down the river.

The water is now slowing going down, but there we still be he huge clean up. The amount of stuff drifting down the river under water will be 1 of the small issue's. There was even a report of a croc in a brisbane pack with a photograph.

I have just seen on tv have a other person been killed in the floods this morning, they where pulled under in the a storm water drain.

[ownoiz]

http://img573.imageshack.us/img573/2157/malcolmsachs.jpg
.

[ozpixie]

What a mess that will be. Are floods like these expected in that part of Australia?

Yes, sometimes it does happen even during summer. Many homes in Queensland are built up off the ground for this very reason.

The northern part of the country has tropical cyclones at this time of year and the edge of the low pressure systems can extend a long way south.

In the Red Centre we have tiny plants that can grow from seed, mature, flower and then drop seeds within a week or so. There are also frogs that live under the desert sand and come out when it rains and then go under again. Next week it could be 40+C, you never know.