Alf we are ok it is a 3 hour plane flight away from us
however today looks like Brisbane will end up under water
and it will be worse than the 1974 floods up there
they are saying that it won't peak there till Thursday
on top of that King tides and it is still raining
The Queensland floods death toll remains at 10, with 78 people still missing.
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/ipad/brisbane-flood-alert-as-wivenhoe-threatens-to-spill-over/story-fn6t2xlc-1225985477271THE Brisbane River has broken its banks and evacuations are under way in the heart of the city.
Premier Anna Bligh, in a press conference a short time ago, said the city - along with Ipswich - was facing its greatest threat in 35 years and will hold two-hourly conferences to update on the constantly changing situation.
She warned that the "situation continues to deteriorate" with the Brisbane River expected to peak at 4.5 metres by tomorrow noon.
If the river continues to rise, it will be higher than the 1974 floods.
Ms Bligh said her advice was that flood levels in the Brisbane River were expected to go beyond the 5.45 metres seen in 1974.
"Current predictions indicate the river will continue to rise into Thursday with flood levels expected to be higher than the 1974 peak,'' she said.The Courier Mail reported five floodgates at Wivenhoe Dam have been opened even wider to increase flows into the Brisbane River by 50 per cent - a risky move likely to worsen flooding in in the city.
A Seqwater source said the floodgates were opened to release 516,000 ML (mega litres) a day, up from 344,000 ML.
Water Minister Stephen Robertson was told the volume of water released was the equivalent of 6000 swimming pools of water a second, up from 4000 in the morning.
A Seqwater spokeswoman said the move was a gamble. Asked if the additional water would exacerbate flooding in low-lying suburbs she said: ``It's hard to say.
"But if we don't do it now there will be more chance of worse flooding later. We want to control the release. We don't want it spilling over the top of the dam.''
An evacuation centre has been set up at the RNA Showgrounds at Bowen Hills and is now open for flood-affected residents.
Car parks in Brisbane's CBD have opened their boom gates and advised people to get their cars out.
Some public transport services in the city were being suspended, while CityCat and CityFerry services on the Brisbane River have already been suspended.
Office towers on Eagle Street are being emptied, along with businesses in Fortitude Valley, and flood waters are creeping into the inner-city suburb of West End, where residents have been told to get to higher ground.
Evacuations are also underway on Brisbane's northside at Albion and Bowen Hills, the ABC reported.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said at a press conference 6,500 homes and businesses expected to experience direct, ``significant'' flooding would affect 14,900 people.
He said a further 16,500 properties would be partially affected by flooding.
He said the latest advice suggested the Brisbane River would peak at the port office gauge, in the CBD, on Thursday at 4.2 metres.
"To put that in context, the 1974 flood was higher, but a 4.2-metre reading at the Brisbane gauge is very significant indeed.''
He said the figures were ``very scary''.
"We are in uncharted territory,'' Mr Newman said.
He says the next few days will see a large-scale disaster unfolding across the city, ahead of an expected peak in the Brisbane River on Thursday.
He said the Wivenhoe dam, built after the 1974 floods to protect Brisbane, was full, and dam managers had no choice but to continue with increased, controlled releases.
"It's going to come down the river to the city of Brisbane and there's not much dam managers can do about that,'' he said.
It's feared Brisbane could be about to experience its worst flood since the catastrophic 1974 event, when at least 6700 homes were partially or totally flooded in the Brisbane metropolitan area.
The Wivenhoe dam was subsequently built to the protect city's west.
The Brisbane City Council has released a list of 32 at-risk suburbs.
On Monday it warned 200 properties could be flooded, most in the areas of Rocklea, Albion, Milton and Auchenflower.
But the situation has worsened since then, and that warning was issued before flash flooding tore through Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley west of Brisbane.
Premier Anna Bligh on Tuesday said urgent modelling was being carried out to determine how the Toowoomba deluge would affect the situation in the capital, and west at Ipswich where evacuation alerts are also in place.
She said the water that fell in the Toowoomba area would move into the catchment of the Wivenhoe dam, and from there it must be released, at a controlled rate, into the Brisbane River.
Releases from the dam are being ramped up to cope with the enormous volume of water its holding back.
"Releases from Wivenhoe are not optional, there is no discretion here,'' the premier told reporters on Tuesday.
Some residents at Ipswich were also evacuating areas close to the rising Bremer River on Tuesday.
"I'm told by the experts we are likely to see levels similar to the dreadful 1974 floods,'' Mayor Paul Pisasale said.
The floods of '74 flooded 1800 homes and businesses in Ipswich, and 41 homes were washed away.
On Tuesday, the Wivenhoe Dam was at 173 per cent capacity. It can take up to 200 per cent. Somerset dam, which feeds into Wivenhoe, was at 160 per cent, the SEQ Water Grid said.
It said controlled releases from Wivenhoe would need to be increased further on Tuesday.
``These releases are being made in consultation with the Bureau of Meteorology and local councils and aim to limit downstream impacts where possible,'' it said.
``Note, these large releases are necessary for the safe management of the dam.''
It said water levels in Somerset were expected to continue to rise on Tuesday and areas around Kilcoy were likely to be impacted by the rising dam levels.
Residents in the upper Somerset townships of Kilcoy, Jimna and Linville are being urged to conserve water due to the impacts of local flooding on water infrastructure.
Water Grid spokesperson Dan Spiller said vital water infrastructure in those areas had been damaged by flood waters, cutting off the raw water supply.
"We have a limited supply in local reservoirs that is expected to last one to three days. However, we will ensure that critical supplies are maintained. In the meantime, we are asking people to conserve water while we repair equipment and organise alternative supplies,'' he said.
In Jimna and Linville, rising waters have impacted infrastructure that supports the region's supply.
Approximately 1,000 residents on town water across these three areas were affected, it said.
``We are asking people to restrict non-essential water use ...,'' Mr Spiller said.
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