Australia, Queensland: Fitzroy River continues rising amid 'sea of water'

[khan]

Jan 30, 2013

The Bureau of Meteorology says it will revise predictions today for the Fitzroy River at Rockhampton, in central Queensland, as the flood peak moves towards the city.

At this stage, it is expecting a peak of 8.5 metres on Saturday, which is likely to cut the Bruce Highway and inundate hundred of yards in low-lying suburbs of Rockhampton.

The 2011 flood peaked at 9.2 metres.

Parts of Quay Street are already cut near the CBD and Depot Hill resident and takeaway store owner Danny Kalksma says water levels are continuing to rise.

"It's like a sea of water around some houses just 200 metres down the street," he said.

"People were evacuated from that house down there. People here were starting to pack up everything under their houses and get it out of the water."

Mr Kalksma says residents are taking it in their stride.

"Yes they've got the 'she'll be right mate' attitude," he said.

"Even the children, they were wading through the water across this street here just to get some chips that they get regularly from me and then they go and paddle in the water.

"I don't know whether they're allowed to but they seem to be having a whale of a time."

Roads and beaches

The Rockhampton Regional Council says many roads across the region and some beaches have been battered by erosion because of floodwaters.

Councillor Tom Wyatt says he has been driving around his division to inspect the worst of the damage.

He says the beaches fared better than he thought they would.

"There's a bit of erosion at Kemp Beach, I think that's always happened and there's a little bit of erosion at Keppel Sands but with the rest of the beaches there's a bit of erosion but nothing like what we thought we'd have with these wild seas," he said.

"So the beaches haven't fared too badly. Like some of the areas along Kemp Beach we lost some trees and that's an ongoing thing."

Source

 

[Howard]

Photo essay of recent severe flooding in Queensland.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/28/world/gallery/australia-floods/index....

[Kojima]

Flooding along the Fitzroy River [Earth Observatory: 30 Jan 2013]

In eastern Queensland, the Mackenzie-Fitzroy River system takes a circuitous route to the coast, finally emptying into the sea near Rockhampton. In late January 2014, flood waters swelled these rivers and their tributaries so much that satellite sensors could easily detect the changes from the sky. The flooding resulted from heavy rains caused by the ex-tropical Cyclone Oswald.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured the top image on January 30, 2013. For comparison, the bottom image shows relatively normal conditions observed on January 17, 2013. These images use a combination of visible and infrared light to better distinguish between water and land. Water varies in color from electric blue to navy. Vegetation is bright green and bare ground is earth-toned. Clouds are pale blue-green and cast shadows onto the land surface below.

In the image from January 17, upstream of the city of Rockhampton, the rivers are barely discernible. In the image from January 30, higher water levels color the river channels varying shades of blue, and water has spilled onto floodplains at multiple locations along the river system.

On January 31, 2013, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) described the Fitzroy River as “swollen and crocodile infested,” and multiple news sources reported that the flood surge was expected to reach Rockhampton around February 1 or 2, although the January 2013 flooding was not expected to be as severe as the floods that struck in 2011. On January 30, the AAP reported that the death toll from the latest round of floods had risen to six.

The January 30 image above shows not only higher water levels but also more extensive greenness compared to January 17. The greater degree of green may result from a difference in the angle of the satellite sensor, but may also reflect a green-up from new precipitation. Before Oswald brought heavy rains and floods to the region, large stretches of eastern Australia were suffering from rainfall deficiencies.

[References]

* Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology. (2013, January 4) Rainfall deficiencies expand in eastern Australia. Accessed January 31, 2013.

Issued on 4 January 2013 by the National Climate Centre

Rainfall deficiencies expand in eastern Australia

Severe rainfall deficiencies have expanded across parts of New South Wales and in northern and western Victoria for the 5 month (August to December 2012), period with severe deficiencies also developing along Queensland's east coast and adjacent ranges. Severe rainfall deficiencies persist across most of South Australia and in southern Queensland. This follows below average rainfall across eastern Queensland, central and northwestern New South Wales in December, and persistent dry conditions over southeast Australia since August. In the Northern Territory, a poor start to the monsoon has seen severe rainfall deficiencies emerge along the northeast coast of Arnhem Land.

For the 9-month period from April to December 2012, severe rainfall deficiencies remain across large parts of South Australia. Serious to severe deficiencies have expanded slightly along the western New South Wales/Victoria border following average to below-average December rain in those areas. Pockets of severe rainfall deficiencies have also emerged in far northern Queensland. In Western Australia, the sixth-wettest December in southwest WA (southwest of a line from Jurien Bay to Bremer Bay) and above-average December rainfall in the Eucla has eased deficiencies in these regions, although severe deficiencies remain in an area near the border with South Australia.