Queensland Summer 2010 Heavy Rains Coming

Garry Brockley · 31st January 2011, 08:18 AM

holy god

if that keeps intensifying we are going to have some serious carnage along the coast trim those trees and batten down the hatches people.

Eric Frei · 1st February 2011, 05:56 PM

It's getting bigger and it's coming very soon.

How does it compare to other devastating cyclones, well here's a cross reference.

Drouin Tree Service · 1st February 2011, 06:05 PM

Wow thats huge in comparison to Katrina and others.

Eric Frei · 2nd February 2011, 10:16 AM

It's gone Cat5

That's the worst category, aint anything beyond that.

Wind gust up to 320km/h

Has an eye 100km wide

It's the worst to ever hit Australia

Done it · 2nd February 2011, 07:18 PM

I've been watching it on this, sure is big.

MTSAT Infrared Colorized Image Loop - Satellite Services Division - Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution

Drouin Tree Service · 2nd February 2011, 07:21 PM

Damm there will be nothing left!!

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news...-1225998762870

TrevMcRev · 2nd February 2011, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Done it

I've been watching it on this, sure is big.

MTSAT Infrared Colorized Image Loop - Satellite Services Division - Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution

HOLY CRAP

jmcg.insight.gardens · 2nd February 2011, 10:58 PM

Quote:

HOLY CRAP

and some

Eric Frei · 14th February 2011, 07:41 PM

Back to Brisbane floods and Wivenhoe dam.

Now a new temporary measure has been brought in. Wivenhoe to be only 75% capacity for drinking water during the wet season, the remainder (up to 225% capacity) is for flood mitigation.

Gee, just like Howards gun buy back scheme seems genius follows catastrophe as most bureaucracy is useless at making forecasting decisions and being pro-active, in other words they're always pissing on fires rather than planning for them.

This measure surely tells the Inquiry Commission that whilst rules are rules they inevitably are made up at a whim. I believe even Hitler and the Gestapo had rules, how appropriate they were is another issue.

Wivenhoe Dam gates open as rain rolls in | Courier Mail

Quote:

February 13, 2011
THE equivalent of a year's supply of drinking water will be released from southeast Queensland's Wivenhoe Dam with further heavy rain forecast for the flooded region.

The dam's role in last month's flooding of Brisbane remains controversial, with some critics claiming that earlier releases of water would have stopped the inundation of up to 20,000 properties.

It is one of the topics to be probed by a commission of inquiry this year.

From next weekend, 25 per cent of the dam's water will be released slowly over nine days, adjusted with rainfall and the tides.

Announcing the massive release today, authorities stressed no homes or farms would be flooded.

Natural Resources Minister Stephen Robertson said the 290,000 megalitre release was needed to make space in the dam to mitigate any further flooding, with heavy rain forecast until April.

The second strongest La Nina weather pattern in history prevailing over Queensland made the "very conservative and precautionary" approach necessary, Mr Robertson said.

"The Brisbane River will not break its banks as a result of these releases, and there will be no significant downstream impacts," he told reporters in Brisbane.

Seqwater chief executive Peter Borrows said it was too difficult to say whether a 25 per cent release would stop another flood on the scale of those seen in January - but guessed it was "extremely unlikely".

"It would have had to have been a major reduction in the storage to have any impact on a major flood event," he said.

Mr Borrows stood by the management of the dam, saying it went by the book in the face of unprecedented flooding.

Some 2.6 million megalitres of water flowed into the Somerset-Wivenhoe system in January's floods, more than double that of 1974.

SEQ Water Grid chief Barry Dennien said although the release was equivalent to a year's normal drinking water supply, above average rainfall would mean it would be recovered more easily.

In addition, the Wyaralong Dam was now full, storing 103,000 megalitres of drinking water five years earlier than expected.

"Our (water) security position is very sound," he said.

The dam release will have no effect on water bills or restrictions, but will close three bridges downstream of Wivenhoe - Twin Bridges, Colleges Crossing and Savages Crossing - for at least nine days.

Emptying the dam to 75 per cent capacity will be a temporary measure, with its future operation to be informed by the floods inquiry.

Eric Frei · 19th March 2011, 07:18 PM

There's been many stories told of how animals survived.

Heifer is plucked from tree | Ipswich News | Local News in Ipswich | Ipswich Queensland Times

Quote:

19th March 2011

James Christensen (left), of Pine Mountain, who helped to rescue this cow from floodwaters, with the owner David Strong, of Wivenhoe Pocket.

IT has been a long time coming but a cow that was picked up like a buoy and tossed among the treetops during the floods has been returned to its owner.

The two-and-a-half-year-old Santa Gertrudis was discovered in serious strife on January 12 at Pine Mountain, where it became entangled in branches of trees after floating more than 20km down the raging Brisbane River.

Property owner James Christensen noticed the stricken beast and immediately gathered his neighbours, Dave and Joe Andrews, some rope and a small aluminium boat to attempt a rescue.

But with the Brisbane River flowing at an intimidating rate due to remarkable amounts of rain in the Lockyer Valley and large-scale releases from Wivenhoe Dam, no rescue effort was going to be straightforward.

“The place where we dragged her out was probably about five to 10 metres up in the trees,” Mr Christensen said.

“We toyed with the idea of putting a rope around her neck, but we were concerned about getting tossed overboard if she thrashed about too much.”

Initially the cow’s instincts were telling it to swim away from its rescuers.

It took about 30 minutes to eventually coax the distressed heifer out of its tight spot, with Mr Andrews gripping the beast’s tail while Mr Christensen reversed the tinnie across to the bank – the little 15-horsepower Mariner outboard revving hard.

Although it would have been extremely stressed, the three-year-old heifer, named Bambi, has recovered well since the ordeal. Its owners, Wivenhoe Pocket graziers David and Laura Strong and Ian MacDonald, lost 36 head of cattle and a pony when floods consumed their land in January.

Mrs Strong said cows ended up in paddocks right along the river, with some neighbouring farmers telling her they remembered hearing several of her cows “bellowing for help” as they rode the torrent toward Brisbane.

“Some of them floated 3-4km downstream – about 19 of them ended up on a vacant property at Splityard Creek – while one of them ended up at Karalee,” she said.

“We thought they were all dead and we’d never hear of them again, but we’ve since had 29 of them returned – the amount of help we have received from neighbours has been heartwarming.”

The cow that ended up at the Christensens’ was traced back to the Strongs through a National Livestock Identification System tag, which was inserted in its ear.

Eric Frei · 20th May 2011, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric Frei

In this similar example a family man in Canada is killed in his car when a large tree falls crushing the roof.

The coroner says the death was preventable because the tree was weakened by fungus and should have been taken down.

The family sue for damages but read about the absurd laws ....

Source:- CTV Montreal - Family of man killed by falling tree trying to sue Westmount - CTV News

In this case here the tree was weakened by fungus. The tree's root zone was deliberately interfered with (road and footpath). The tree's accepted root protection zone was ignored and then not considered for further investigation when sufficient information and data has been around for years about root protection zones.

There's been an update.

Court to hear no-fault insurance case

Quote:

May 20, 2011

Canada's top court has agreed to hear an appeal by the city of Westmount over whether it can be sued for negligence in the death of a man crushed by a tree while driving down one of its streets.

The case, which represents the first time the Supreme Court will tackle Quebec's controversial nofault insurance plan, could have farreaching implications for how the auto-insurance board deals with accidents that are not really car accidents at all.

Gabriel Rossy, 27, was killed in August 2006 after a 100-year-old poplar tree along Côte des Neiges Rd. fell on his car during a severe windstorm. According to coroner Paul Dionne, the death was preventable: The tree that fell on Rossy was found to be 90 per cent rotten, and had been "dangerous" for at least one or two years.

In the three weeks that followed the incident, Westmount inspectors identified 13 other trees that posed short-to medium-term risks and had them cut down.

But when Sharon Rossy, Gabriel's mother, went to sue Westmount for $1.3 million, she was told by a Superior Court judge that because her son was in a car, the issue was between her and the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec.

The Quebec Court of Appeal overturned the decision in November 2010, ruling that the car was not a factor in the man's death. The final word now rests with the Supreme Court.

"We're disappointed," said Sharon Rossy, who has been waging the legal battle for five years. "When we won in the Court of Appeal we felt that common sense had finally prevailed. But maybe this will put to bed a lot of the issues and weaknesses with the (1978) no-fault insurance act. If it can bring about a tiny door to be opened for people to challenge whether or not certain accidents fall under its umbrella, I think we've done a good thing."

Rossy admits her son was at the wrong place at the wrong time. "Yes it was a bad storm. But that tree would have fallen down eventually. To allow a 100-year-old poplar six stories high near a thoroughfare, then to say this happened because he was in a car? When does someone take responsibility?"

Rossy compares her son's death to the collapse of the de la Concorde overpass in Laval, which killed five people in 2006 - eight weeks after her son died. The victims' families wanted to sue the Quebec government for not maintaining its infrastructure, but when told they couldn't sue, Rossy said, they settled with the SAAQ for between $2,500 and $300,000 each.

André Legrand, the lawyer representing Westmount - and its insurer, Lloyds of London - says the auto-insurance act was created to help victims so they wouldn't have to hire a lawyer and go before the courts to get compensation.

"My view is that the legislation is there to cover a broad spectrum of incidents, not limited to two cars bumping into each other," Legrand said. "If the court rules on the side of the family and allows it to go forward with its claim, it means that when people go to the SAAQ, the SAAQ can say 'No. Go ahead and sue whoever is responsible.' "

Legrand says it is now up to the Supreme Court to provide the lower courts with guidelines on how to deal with incidents where other factors are at play - for instance, if someone spills coffee on themselves while driving, or veers to avoid an animal on the road and kills himself.

"Where the use of a car is at play but other factors are present, the question is where do you draw the line?"

Apocalypsse · 21st May 2011, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric Frei

There's been an update.

Court to hear no-fault insurance case

Don't most councils here have an 'Act of God' type rule preventing them from being sued from stuff like this? It's a shame someone died and its easy to point the blame at the council for not removing the tree. Trees always come second to infrastructure needs, I've seen large roots removed so new gutters and footpaths can go in. Most councils don't have the resources to to assess every tree for rot and on top of that remove the ones that do, but they can help curb issues like contractors ripping out roots by adding in more requirements when putting out tenders for works.

Eric Frei · 13th October 2011, 06:14 PM

One of the largest storm downloads .... our summer storm season these pics were taken 30 minutes ago down the road.

Two cars didn't make it, the white one floated away and the occupants were rescued by a bloke in a 4WD tray back. The other attempted to drive through after the white one was already sitting there and that one stalled too. Water was running down that road at perhaps 15km/h.

This is near the Chatswood shops in Springwood, Magellan road and Chatswood road corner. Winds were strong and hail persisted for about 15minutes, the deluge was huge and the street turned into a raging torrent .... yes summer 2011 is shaping up to be another real wet one, the next few days in Brisbane will be interesting.

Garry Brockley · 13th October 2011, 08:10 PM

wow these microstorms are full on!

Eric Frei · 26th October 2011, 10:22 PM

A person died in that storm ....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric Frei

On 13 October 2011 around 4pm a storm hit Brisbane .....

Johnson Road Tree Fatality - YouTube

31st January 2011, 08:18 AM	#91
Garry Brockley Bayside Tree Care Brisbane Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Brisbane Aus Posts: 1,641	Re: Queensland Summer 2010 Heavy Rains Coming holy god if that keeps intensifying we are going to have some serious carnage along the coast trim those trees and batten down the hatches people. __________________ My business:- Brisbane Bayside Tree Care

1st February 2011, 05:56 PM	#92
Eric Frei Admin - Owner Palm & Tree Services in Brisbane Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Brisbane Posts: 12,994	Re: Queensland Summer 2010 Heavy Rains Coming It's getting bigger and it's coming very soon. How does it compare to other devastating cyclones, well here's a cross reference. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Protect your rights to work - Join Australian Tree Association My businesses:- Qualified Brisbane Palm and Tree Lopping \| Stump Grinding Brisbane \| Brisbane - Gold Coast Consulting Arborist

1st February 2011, 06:05 PM	#93
Drouin Tree Service Veteran Heritage Status Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 1,727	Re: Queensland Summer 2010 Heavy Rains Coming Wow thats huge in comparison to Katrina and others. __________________ Drouin Tree Services \| Excavator Hire - Drouin and SE Gippsland \| Landclearing Melbourne

2nd February 2011, 10:16 AM	#94
Eric Frei Admin - Owner Palm & Tree Services in Brisbane Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Brisbane Posts: 12,994	Re: Queensland Summer 2010 Heavy Rains Coming It's gone Cat5 That's the worst category, aint anything beyond that. Wind gust up to 320km/h Has an eye 100km wide It's the worst to ever hit Australia __________________ Protect your rights to work - Join Australian Tree Association My businesses:- Qualified Brisbane Palm and Tree Lopping \| Stump Grinding Brisbane \| Brisbane - Gold Coast Consulting Arborist

2nd February 2011, 07:18 PM	#95
Done it Over mature heritage tree Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Australia. Posts: 780	Re: Queensland Summer 2010 Heavy Rains Coming I've been watching it on this, sure is big. MTSAT Infrared Colorized Image Loop - Satellite Services Division - Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution

2nd February 2011, 07:21 PM	#96
Drouin Tree Service Veteran Heritage Status Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 1,727	Re: Queensland Summer 2010 Heavy Rains Coming Damm there will be nothing left!! http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news...-1225998762870 __________________ Drouin Tree Services \| Excavator Hire - Drouin and SE Gippsland \| Landclearing Melbourne Last edited by Drouin Tree Service; 2nd February 2011 at 07:54 PM.

13th October 2011, 06:14 PM	#103
Eric Frei Admin - Owner Palm & Tree Services in Brisbane Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Brisbane Posts: 12,994	Re: Queensland Summer 2011 Heavy Rains Coming One of the largest storm downloads .... our summer storm season these pics were taken 30 minutes ago down the road. Two cars didn't make it, the white one floated away and the occupants were rescued by a bloke in a 4WD tray back. The other attempted to drive through after the white one was already sitting there and that one stalled too. Water was running down that road at perhaps 15km/h. This is near the Chatswood shops in Springwood, Magellan road and Chatswood road corner. Winds were strong and hail persisted for about 15minutes, the deluge was huge and the street turned into a raging torrent .... yes summer 2011 is shaping up to be another real wet one, the next few days in Brisbane will be interesting. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Protect your rights to work - Join Australian Tree Association My businesses:- Qualified Brisbane Palm and Tree Lopping \| Stump Grinding Brisbane \| Brisbane - Gold Coast Consulting Arborist

13th October 2011, 08:10 PM	#104
Garry Brockley Bayside Tree Care Brisbane Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Brisbane Aus Posts: 1,641	Re: Queensland Summer 2010 Heavy Rains Coming wow these microstorms are full on! __________________ My business:- Brisbane Bayside Tree Care

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Neighbourhood Disputes Resolution Act 2010 Queensland	Eric Frei	Local law regs, start thread with County then State then Country	40	4th March 2012 07:33 AM
Summer Red Maple	Weezie	ANNOUNCEMENTS	0	16th September 2010 07:21 AM
dropping heavy pieces	kylekurt	General Tree Chat	15	28th January 2009 04:40 AM
Summer limb drop	Drouin Tree Service	General Tree Chat	3	10th March 2008 09:49 PM
Bushfire Summer	azrael	ANNOUNCEMENTS	5	6th February 2008 11:46 PM