Everyone is out and about for any piccy posting i think. Media piccies today of one of the Qld govt machines forced down to sit it out for a while on a freeway due lightning, heavy rain. Driver commented that it is the worst he has seen in 25 years of flying helicopters.
However there seems to be plenty on those two other frangible outlets? just avoiding the automatic beeper, sorry.
For expats and technocrats here is the giff.
The main flood control dam is Wivenhoe which hit 74 metres at 2PM today and at that point the gates are wide open, full throttle so to speak. (one Million megalitres per day). If it hits 75.7 metres the fuse plug goes which allows a second spillway into operation. Lord Mayor of Brisbane is informing us that in the next three to six hours they may get an idea as to whether that will happen. That is designed to never allow water right over the wall.
In context the normal bottom of flood gate capacity is about 26 units (one unit being Sydney Harbour size) In the last 24 hours it has been filling at 2 units per day, and will for at least the next 36 hours, if it stops raining. It is designed as a flood mitigation dam (225%) as well as a water storage unit. (100%) The current water level projections of worse than 1974 flood level is not counting when /if the fuse blows.
Here is a story on it from earlier today, with an old photograph, only one gate out of five open.
Wivenhoe put to the ultimate test - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
The other side of the story is that between the Lockyer valley and the Bundaberg areas pretty much the whole Horticultural producing area of Queensland and crops are in ruins. Plenty of bananas though they say.