Tuesday 11 January 2011

We Make Our Move to Manly. Inland Instant Tsunami in Toowoomba

Eight dead, 72 missing.  Families separated, many people stranded and isolated.  Gatton, Qld evacuated overnight.  Flash floods, Toowoomba devastated by a wall of water.  Houses washed away with people in them.  One spokesperson calls the wall of water that swept through Toowoomba yesterday, "An inland instant tsunami".

Queensland government calls an all agencies briefing.  Suburbs at risk today or tomorrow include: Albion,  Auchenflower,  Bowen Hills, Brisbane City, Bulimba, Chelmer, Coorparoo, East Brisbane, Fortitude Valley, Kangaroo Point, New Farm, South Brisbane, Windsor, Wacol.  The equivalent of two Sydney Harbours are flowing into the Wivenhoe Dam.

We are holding tight to our floating dock at Dockside Marina while considering our options.  The marina is protected a little by the curve of the river, with the other side experiencing fast flowing water (we estimate about 10 knots), and our lines not straining at all.

Moving out from our little eddy would present some difficulties with the flow of the water,  and all the debris making its way to the sea.  We are expecting a three meter tide, which these docks could sustain.  No evacuations have been called for Brisbane city and we're trying to get more information.

Noon.  We are preparing to leave the dock and take our chances getting down the river, out through Moreton Bay and to the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron marina at Manly.

2 comments:

  1. good luck getting down the river. I guess its better to do it deliberately now and not later because the dock falls apart!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Doug, yes, you're right. We're just outside the mouth now, pouring rain, heading into 20-25 head winds. Bit bumpy. Doing our best to push through. All the Citycats are out here too. Not sure where they are heading. Lots of boats heading for somewhere safer than the river floods. We're doing fine, making progress to Manly.

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.