Campbell Newman in hiding?

[pancakes_and_haggis]

Seems like the liberal party have gone Ito hiding and that labour seem to be making hay in the face of a huge disaster!!

Campbell Newman seems to to be handling the crisis as well as his predecessor

Chreers

[rayke1938]

Just seen him on tv posing for publicity photos filling up sandbags.

Should be managing the situation not looking after his image.

See he has turned off wivenhoe. bit late to stop it affecting the bremer.

Cheers

Ray

[JackAttack]

I think you're a little quick to judge don't you think? Give the guy a break he has a huge job and in my opinion is doing a great job. He is only 1 man he can't be everywhere.

regards Wade

[daveylad]

seen him often at the Emergency management doing interviews same place as Bligh was

[The Mad Hughesy]

He sure is one man now, after all he has done in the past 6-12 months

Having said that, il be very interested to see how he handles it all.

[fishingnut]

Slimy little maggot, hes also shifty too .

[Terry H]

Just seen him on tv posing for publicity photos filling up sandbags.

Should be managing the situation not looking after his image.

See he has turned off wivenhoe. bit late to stop it affecting the bremer.

Cheers

Ray

I'm a little confused by your post ray.

Are you suggesting that the increased flows into Brisbane River from Wivenhoe has meant the water from Bremer River is flowing into the Brisbane River at a slower rate than it would have if Wivenhoe was locked up from the get-go, ultimately resulting in additional flooding to Ipswich and other regions of the Bremer?

I imagine that the flood models used by BOM/EMQ/SEQWater would have to consider such instances, and would also (I assume) impact the decision to release/hold water in Wivenhoe.

It was said in a press conference that Wivenhoe has been closed so that the upper reaches of Brisbane and Stanley rivers aren't hitting the city at the same time as the Bremer's peak is flowing through Brisbane.

There were releases from Wivenhoe to ensure that there is enough capacity to handle what is coming down from the upper reaches of Brissy, along with the water flowing down from Somerset. I imagine they are playing it safe after 2011's events and are concerned about the impacts of any further potential rain. There is a LOT of water flowing down from the upper Brissy and even the upper reaches of Stanley around peachester, palmwoods etc.

Even still, Wivenhoe is not operated by Campbell Newmann or the LNP. It is operated by SEQWater and they are abiding (one would hope) with the how-to manual for Wivenhoe.

[Binder]

water level was deeper than Jan 2011 at work, ta for opening the Dam Campbell......

[muzz]

Just seen him on tv posing for publicity photos filling up sandbags.

Should be managing the situation not looking after his image.

See he has turned off wivenhoe. bit late to stop it affecting the bremer.

Cheers

Ray

I'm a little confused by your post ray.

Are you suggesting that the increased flows into Brisbane River from Wivenhoe has meant the water from Bremer River is flowing into the Brisbane River at a slower rate than it would have if Wivenhoe was locked up from the get-go, ultimately resulting in additional flooding to Ipswich and other regions of the Bremer?

I imagine that the flood models used by BOM/EMQ/SEQWater would have to consider such instances, and would also (I assume) impact the decision to release/hold water in Wivenhoe.

It was said in a press conference that Wivenhoe has been closed so that the upper reaches of Brisbane and Stanley rivers aren't hitting the city at the same time as the Bremer's peak is flowing through Brisbane.

There were releases from Wivenhoe to ensure that there is enough capacity to handle what is coming down from the upper reaches of Brissy, along with the water flowing down from Somerset. I imagine they are playing it safe after 2011's events and are concerned about the impacts of any further potential rain. There is a LOT of water flowing down from the upper Brissy and even the upper reaches of Stanley around peachester, palmwoods etc.

Even still, Wivenhoe is not operated by Campbell Newmann or the LNP. It is operated by SEQWater and they are abiding (one would hope) with the how-to manual for Wivenhoe.

Well said.

[rayke1938]

Newman directed seq water to release water from wivy directly against seq waters wishes.

The increased flow in the bne river has resulted in increases in heights in the bremer.

The level of inflows in the stanley and bne river catchments were within the capacity of wivy the flood gates should have been closed much earlier and should have been closed so that the increased flows should have not arrived with last nights high tide which caused damage in herston area.

Cheers

Ray

[Old Scaley]

Anna Bligh was expected to carry the can for the operation of the dam in 2011, so it is only fair that Campbell Newman is also held accountable. I am sure that the same thing will happen again this year - some very smart, well-qualified people will work very hard to do their best for the people and still be crucified by others with the benefit of hindsight if things don't go perfectly. Let's hope for everyone's sake that this flood does not turn out to be too bad. Stay safe everyone.

[Terry H]

Newman directed seq water to release water from wivy directly against seq waters wishes.

The increased flow in the bne river has resulted in increases in heights in the bremer.

The level of inflows in the stanley and bne river catchments were within the capacity of wivy the flood gates should have been closed much earlier and should have been closed so that the increased flows should have not arrived with last nights high tide which caused damage in herston area.

Cheers

Ray

Ipswich Mayor just praised the operation of Wivenhoe on channel 7 news, saying the operation meant the levels seen in Ipswich are LOWER than it would have otherwise been.

He said they saw a "double whammy" in 2011 as the Bremer River was banked back due to wivenhoe releases, which are NOT the case this time. He said the flooding of the Bremer this time is due to 'natural causes' - eg rainfall in the region and not impacted (negatively) by Wivenhoe.

[Seiran]

I see the haters have their blinkers on this weekend :pinch:

It seems to me no matter what Newman does, he will get a rubbishing from people who don't like him. People who have no idea about the modelling processes used to plan for water releases, the amount of water being released from dams, or the meteorological processes modeled by BOM, jump up and down making all kinds of stupid statements. Nice one.

[rayke1938]

"I see the haters have their blinkers on this weekend"

Nope just the facts releases were not regulated with the tides until today. Very spirited discussion between newman and seq water over releases when newman overrode seq water.

If SEQ water engineers were allowed to do their job without political interference things would be different.

They tried to crucify the engineers after the prev floods when they reacted to people bleating about being cut off at colledges and other places , Very strange that this hardly got a mention in the inquiry. :blush: Oops now I have turned into an Anna hater,

Ray

[Dinodadog]

Mayor of Ipswitch just thanked Campbell Neuman for the way he has been handling the situation right from the start.

Dino

[fifis101]

These people are doing the best they can.

They know the weather is coming a long time before we do and they would have a plan in place from the get go. They would also have the best people they have working continuously on the flood modeling to work out the best time to hold or release the dams.

It really sucks for the people that were badly affected by the floods but you just really need to stop pointing the finger and put more energy into just dealing with what is happening.

[bommie2]

the media does not help either, they stir the pot if anything

[bootyinblue]

I reckon Campbell has done an alright job so far. I listened to an extensive media briefing he gave last night and then threw the floor open to questions which seemed to go on for ever.

I still cant see why Wivenhoe cant leave the 'tap dripping' constantly to maintain the level at 80% or so and then 2 or 3 days out from what was predicted to hit last weekend they turn off the tap and let it back up in the dam so there is no interference from dam releases in the waterways. Once its all over, turn the tap back on to drip it back to 80% again.

[benno573]

biggest advantage we had this year relative to 2011 is the lack of lead up rainfall, meaning the inflows into the dams were at a lesser speed than 2011 - where even with 5 floodgates open the dam was still filling rapidly.

I don't like campbell newman at all, however, he doesn't seem to be handling this any better/worse than bligh. Admittedly the 2011 event was over a far greater area than this event so we aren't really comparing apples with apples. they are both very good at getting their mugs on tv and creating the perception they are doing stuff. only thing that has become evident to me is that campbell has had a lot less botox than anna...

as far as how the dam is managed, i am contantly amazed by people who believe that because we have a dam on the river that brisbane/ipswich should never flood. the dam is there as a flood mitigation device, not a flood prevention device. The people that run it are trained and probably can do it much better than those who sit in the armchair and whinge about it. There will always be a weather event that exceeds "normal" expectations - 320mm of rain in 6 hours at peachester and through down to woodford, kilcoy etc in january 2011 was the catalyst for the major inflows in that instance. this year peachester had 760mm in 3 days yet the inflows are far less than 2011. If they had left the dam closed in 2011 there was the potential for a dam failure as the dam had not been designed to deal with the amount of water flowing in - where would we have been should this have occurred? I also find it funny that after 2011 people were jumping up and down saying we should have let water out earlier etc yet less than 2 years prior to that the dam was at <15% and people were screaming for the government to invent ways to fill it up... but rejected the easiest and cheapest solution of recycled water (last i checked catfish dump in the dam - surely putting treated waste water back in the dam would be better than drinking catfish spooge, it's just a perception thing i guess!).

i'm not sure how people who live right beside the river or one of it's tributries think it is a good idea to sue the state government for damages to their house during the floods because of "mismanagement" of the dam... (the only winners out of that one will be the lawyers). of course if they do end up winning the case, the only people who are actually paying for it are all the other queenslanders who have to foot the bill - ironically including those suing in the first place! if they had read their insurance policy properly and actually ensured they were insured against floods, storm water, whatever it was classed as (and paid a little extra for it - cheaper is NOT always better) they wouldn't be in the mess they currently are in. either that or move house...

I think the biggest fault lies with town planners and councils for allowing people to continue to build in flood prone areas. they wouldn't let you build a house at the base of a volcano that "only" goes off every 50 years, why do they continue to allow people to build in areas that go underwater once every 50 years? The fact that some areas in brisbane experience minor flooding on spring tides when it hasn't rained for months just goes to show how wrong they have got it in places.

[Old Scaley]

I promise that this is my last post on this subject, because I am (privately) a critic of people using this site to push political opinions instead of talking about fishing and boating, BUT

I agree with Benno about the town planning. After the 74 floods there were lots of areas that were designated as no-go zones for development. Many of these have been developed over the years because of their attractive locations in the dry weather and the over-reliance on the dam as a flood mitigation device. Again the mighty dollar wins out, and people then look to the government for a solution to a problem that should have been prevented, by which tiome the developers have taken the profits and cleared out. The class action is motivated by the greed of the ambulance chasers and probably no-one will come out ahead except the lawyers, as Benno said. I know people who have joined, but who can blame them because any money they get will be a much needed bonus.

It is a shame that events like this become a party political issue. We have the right to expect that no matter who is in power, we will get the total support of the government to get through the disaster. It is not so much a test of leadership as it is a test of media management. Let's elect governments based on policies and performance rather than how well they empathise or grandstand (both parties are guilty) in a disaster, because dealing effectively with these situations is the minimum we should expect from any party.

There endeth the sermon. Oh, and I am very happy that things did not end up too bad for too many people, but very sorry for those for whom it did not go well. I think the river will be shagged for a few more weeks.

[bommie2]

Flood Mitigation

During a flood situation, Wivenhoe Dam is designed to hold back a further 1.45 million megalitres as well as its normal storage capacity of 1.15 million megalitres. Floods may still occur in the Ipswich and Brisbane areas but they will be rarer in occurrence. Wivenhoe’s flood control facility, together with the existing flood mitigation effect of Somerset Dam, will substantially reduce the heights of relatively small floods.

It is anticipated that during a large flood similar in magnitude to that experienced in 1974, by using mitigation facility within Wivenhoe Dam, flood levels will be reduced downstream by an estimated 2 metres.

Full supply level or 100 percent capacity (in the water level analysis) is indicative of the optimum level intended for town water supply, and does not take flood mitigation levels into account.

The graph below shows the total water level of Wivenhoe Dam, where 100 per cent is equal to the full supply level (or drinking water supply). Levels above 100 per cent indicate that water is being stored in the dam's flood mitigation compartment.

It is all there on SEQ Water. website!

[rayke1938]

Must admit he is pretty good.

Just stated on tv that Brisbanes drinking water problem is because of the high silt content of the Bremer that is clogging up filters at Mt Crosby.

Isnt the bremer downstream of Mt Crosby?

Making water flow uphill think his spin doctors could get the facts correct.

Cheers

Ray

[Terry H]

I'd say it's probably a mix-up or error.

ABC http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2013/s3678832.htm

"The muddy inflows from the pastoral country around the Bremer River and Lockyer Creek catchments have overwhelmed the capacity of two of Brisbane's water treatment plants at Mount Crosby." Although thats not Newman, that's someone else.

It'll be the Lockyer Creek run off, which is just downstream from Wivenhoe.

I guess now people will have a go at Newmann for closing the dam, which may have lead to the silt/mud from Lockyer Creek being more concentrated, and thus clog up Mt Crosby's filters.

A politician can never win.