Floods.

[The Womble]

I live in Toowoomba - Monday was something I hope not to see again.

I hope you guys and girls of the forum in Brisbane are ok.

My house did not flood here - but my garage and office did. Everyone in my family is ok and the dog just sat on her bed and could not understand what the fuss was about.

It sucks hearing that Toowoomba is being advised to boil their water AND add Chlorine in order to make it drinkable.
Ive got a truckload of water for you folks and just no way of getting it to you

[heay]

I live in Toowoomba - Monday was something I hope not to see again.

I hope you guys and girls of the forum in Brisbane are ok.

My house did not flood here - but my garage and office did. Everyone in my family is ok and the dog just sat on her bed and could not understand what the fuss was about.

It sucks hearing that Toowoomba is being advised to boil their water AND add Chlorine in order to make it drinkable.
Ive got a truckload of water for you folks and just no way of getting it to you

how much water womble? Is it bottled? How much weight? I have transportation that can get it out there via air but it cost $500. PM me the details.

[MountGower]

As a person who works where helicopters are often hired, that's about a 95% discount at least and very generous.

Another flood related thing I have noticed recently is the difference between a local rain initiated flood and one purely cause by a rise in the river. Around my area, places that flood heavily during rain have not flooded and places that do not flood in heavy rain have flooded. The rain water backs up here and there on it's way through, but the river rising simply floods on the level, rising up in the opposite direction through the drains and yielding a different result

This seems an obvious concept upon reflection, but when you see it happen like that, it is a very stark difference and not what you expect to see.

[Oxford]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/14/3113042.htm

[elantra]

Went to Kenmore today with brisbane city council volunteers.
worked for 3 hours, met various people, including some cyclists.

Brisbane City Council workers/organisers doing a fantastic job in a challenging environment.
Managed to avoid injury to hands from picking up bits of wood with nails in them.

Got home, had a shower and went into garden for a few minutes.
Hit head on branch of tree causing scalp laceration and blood on clean shirt.
Only a scalp laceration but what an irony.

[BruceGray]

The floating walkway is now the Floating barge at the Gateway. There goes may way to work.

Donald

The river walk has now been broken up and can be found on the shore at Nudgee Beach and Sandgate.
Will miss it.

Helped at Chelmer yesterday. The stench is picking up. Volunteer groups were going through and helping move everything out of the houses, then the fire brigade were coming in to blast the heavy mud out, then the owners could use gernys to remove the lighter stuff.

It was obvious to me any gyprock that went under water needs to be ripped off, and electrical wiring replaced.
Many houses will have had their wooden or metal frames pushed out of square as well.

Can't help but think homes that had more than 4-5 feet of water through them would be better off demolished.

[Zynster]

Can't help but think homes that had more than 4-5 feet of water through them would be better off demolished.

I'm of the opinion that everything below the flood line should be demolished and turned into a public park. That would solve all future flood problems.

[The Womble]

Not Likely. Campbell Newman has said the BCC is still approving and going ahead with 3 new multi million dollar projects which were affected by the floods. He said that because last week was a 1 in 100 year event he has no concerns with the zoning or recent events. Is he mad or just that greedy?!

[MountGower]

The last three occasions would make it a one in fifty year event to start with. Ever since I was a child I have felt waterfront development to be an obscenity, flood prone or not.

[master6]

Can't help but think homes that had more than 4-5 feet of water through them would be better off demolished.

I'm of the opinion that everything below the flood line should be demolished and turned into a public park. That would solve all future flood problems.

Do you believe that the people below the flood line should be given free land to replace what they have now?
Do you feel the same about commercial/retail/ industrial sites?
What i$ the bigge$t number your calculator can handle?

[Zynster]

Can't help but think homes that had more than 4-5 feet of water through them would be better off demolished.

I'm of the opinion that everything below the flood line should be demolished and turned into a public park. That would solve all future flood problems.

Do you believe that the people below the flood line should be given free land to replace what they have now?
Do you feel the same about commercial/retail/ industrial sites?
What i$ the bigge$t number your calculator can handle?

No, they would be compensated.
Yes, everything.
Yes, it would cost a stupid amount, especially at the massively over inflated price of land. But then this flood is estimated at costing 20 billion for clean up. How much will the next one cost if we assume a continuation of inflation? Or the next one? or the one after that? These floods have been happening for a very long time, and they will keep on happening.

[Comedian]

Yes it will be interesting to see how the public handles the moral hazards involved in this issue. Should the public pay for the rebuilding? Should we let the people who chose to buy in these areas deal with the issues? Should we compensate them for lost property values?

http://www.jenman.com.au/news_item.php?id=423

This is an interesting read, but it may require subscription.

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Queensland-floods-relief-insurance-pd20110117-D6QXD?OpenDocument

[martinjs]

It interesting to note that most large towns along the Murray River have either Levy banks or don't have buildings of any importance's along the low parts of the river.

Martin

[Zynster]

It seems the council already had some sort of lame duck scheme to buy back houses in Rocklea.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/quee ... 1117145726

[crazycanuck]

In regards to 'should we rebuild in a flood prone area"..isn't it the same q faced in Vic after the bushfires "Do we rebuild here"..

I dunno..

I felt guilty enough just visiting King Lake last year after the Otway Odyssey & even guiltier pondering the q..."do we rebuild in X place". As a planning student, it's something I need to face..

[martinjs]

In regards to 'should we rebuild in a flood prone area"..isn't it the same q faced in Vic after the bushfires "Do we rebuild here"..

I dunno..

I felt guilty enough just visiting King Lake last year after the Otway Odyssey & even guiltier pondering the q..."do we rebuild in X place". As a planning student, it's something I need to face..

Fair point, not sure what I'd do but Bushfire if done right can be minimised and a lot of the safety rules for avoiding the fires were ignored but that could be said of the floods too.
Growing up in the dry areas I would feel safer preparing for brushfire's. (Mind you a lot of the dry areas I grew up near which was central Victoria is now under water )
Glad I don't have to make the big decisions, the pollies can have that to them selves.

Martin

[soc]

Just getting back from holidays and starting to see some of the damage around, but haven't been able to get into Brisbane to help with the cleanup yet. I was told last weekend they had volounteer staging point at Boondal entertainment centre busing people into the affected areas, does anybody know if this is happening this weekend?

I also have a Bike for anybody that has lost theirs or needs transportation. Please, if anybody is in need of a bike or knows someone who can use it, let me know. It was listed for sale in Memeber to Member , but I'd rather see it go to someone who needs one.

[The Womble]

http://www.safecyclingaustralia.org/bic ... ations.php