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}}</ref> of floods in the [[Brisbane]], [[Gatton, Queensland|Gatton]], [[Grafton, New South Wales|Grafton]], [[Grantham, Queensland|Grantham]], [[Gympie]], [[Lismore, New South Wales|Lismore]], [[Maryborough, Queensland|Maryborough]] and [[Wivenhoe Pocket|Wivenhoe]] areas of interest.
}}</ref> of floods in the [[Brisbane]], [[Gatton, Queensland|Gatton]], [[Grafton, New South Wales|Grafton]], [[Grantham, Queensland|Grantham]], [[Gympie]], [[Lismore, New South Wales|Lismore]], [[Maryborough, Queensland|Maryborough]] and [[Wivenhoe Pocket|Wivenhoe]] areas of interest.


On March 7, [[Scott Morrison]] stated "these are floods that we have not seen in living memory in anyone's lifetime, and even before that".<ref>{{Cite news |title=Frustration swells in Australia over slow flood relief, more rains to lash Sydney |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/frustration-swells-australia-over-slow-flood-relief-more-rains-lash-sydney-2022-03-07/ |access-date=8 March 2022 |website=Reuters |date=7 March 2022 }}</ref>
On March 7, [[Scott Morrison]] stated "these are floods that we have not seen in living memory in anyone's lifetime, and even before that", however many in [[Brisbane]] remember the floods of 2011 and 1974.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Frustration swells in Australia over slow flood relief, more rains to lash Sydney |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/frustration-swells-australia-over-slow-flood-relief-more-rains-lash-sydney-2022-03-07/ |access-date=8 March 2022 |website=Reuters |date=7 March 2022 }}</ref>


New South Wales premier [[Dominic Perrottet]] vowed to fund the flood recovery, saying that he was "not going to spare a dollar" in flood recovery efforts. He also stated that there should be direct housing for residents who lost homes, which was a particular concern. According to emergency services minister, Steph Cooke, of the approximately 1,400 rapid property damage assessments taken in Lismore, 900 of them were already considered uninhabitable.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Perrottet defends NSW flood response amid Lismore anger as Qld death toll rises|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/05/perrottet-defends-nsw-flood-response-amid-lismore-anger-as-qld-death-toll-rises|access-date=8 March 2022 |website=The Guardian|date=5 March 2022 }}</ref>
New South Wales premier [[Dominic Perrottet]] vowed to fund the flood recovery, saying that he was "not going to spare a dollar" in flood recovery efforts. He also stated that there should be direct housing for residents who lost homes, which was a particular concern. According to emergency services minister, Steph Cooke, of the approximately 1,400 rapid property damage assessments taken in Lismore, 900 of them were already considered uninhabitable.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Perrottet defends NSW flood response amid Lismore anger as Qld death toll rises|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/05/perrottet-defends-nsw-flood-response-amid-lismore-anger-as-qld-death-toll-rises|access-date=8 March 2022 |website=The Guardian|date=5 March 2022 }}</ref>

Revision as of 10:20, 8 March 2022

2022 Eastern Australia floods
Pedestrian tunnel flooding in the suburb of Tanah Merah, in south Brisbane
Date23 February 2022 (2022-02-23)–Current (Current)[1]
LocationSouth East Queensland, Wide Bay–Burnett, the Northern Rivers, Central Coast and Sydney
Deaths20[2][3]
Property damageA$2.5 billion; (Queensland damages estimate)

The 2022 Eastern Australia floods is an ongoing flood disaster occurring in South East Queensland, Wide Bay–Burnett and parts of coastal New South Wales. The city of Brisbane suffered major flooding, along with the cities of Maryborough, Gympie, the Sunshine Coast, Caboolture, Toowoomba, Ipswich, Logan City, the Gold Coast, Murwillumbah, Grafton, Lismore, the Central Coast and some parts of Sydney. Twenty people are known to have died during the flooding, 13 in Queensland and 7 in New South Wales, with Lismore, NSW experiencing the worst flood in its history.[4][5]

Throughout South East Queensland and the Wide Bay–Burnett, almost one thousand schools were closed in response to the flooding,[6] evacuations took place[7] and the public were advised to avoid non-essential travel.[8] Food shortages were reported across the region, due to the ensuing supply chain crisis as well as affecting communities in outback Queensland.[9]

Meteorology

Rainfall of over 400 millimetres (16 in) was recorded across the greater Brisbane area.[10] In the three days to 28 February, greater Brisbane received 676.8 millimetres (26.65 in) of rainfall, the largest three, and seven, day total ever recorded in Brisbane.[11] Mount Glorious received in excess of 1,770 millimetres (70 in) of rainfall in the week until 28 February.[12] The rainfall recorded was higher than that of the 1974 Brisbane flood, with 30 locations across the south-east recording in excess of 1000 millimetres.[13]

Cause

The flood event was caused by low pressure system over Queensland's southern coast that dragged in moisture from the Coral Sea in the north, raising it over the Queensland coastline. The area of colder air higher in the atmosphere travelled in, thus making the atmosphere unstable and permitting moisture to be lifted up and falling as rain. As the system headed south, it turned into an East Coast Low near the Central Coast and Sydney. Furthermore, around New Zealand, there existed an area of high pressure, which is an anti-clockwise rotating blocking high that obstructed the low pressure system from drifting away into the Tasman Sea.[14]

Impact

Brisbane

Rowing Shed in West End, Brisbane

In Brisbane, the CBD experienced flooding as well as the inner city areas of South Bank and South Brisbane, Milton, West End, and Newstead. In 28 February the Brisbane River’s height reached 3.8 metres (12 ft), higher than the 2.3-metre (7 ft 7 in) peak height of flooding in 2013 and below the 3.9 metres recorded during the 2010–2011 Queensland floods[15] but less than the peak height of 4.46m in 2011.[16] Throughout South-East Queensland, more than 20,000 homes were inundated and power outages affecting over 51,000 properties.[17][18] All public transport services were shutdown lasting for several days, including rail, buses, and City Cat ferries. South-East Queensland's rail network suffered extensive damage resulting from landslips, and major highways closed due to flooding, including the Bruce Highway, the Warrego Highway and the Ipswich Motorway.[19]

Holman Street ferry wharf in the Brisbane River suffered damage by floating debris.[20] On the 28 February, a river crane for the Kangaroo Point Bridge broke free of its mooring, causing the evacuation of apartment and office buildings along Eagle street and the area of Howard Smith Wharves.[21][22] Wivenhoe Dam peaked at 183.9% capacity that day, despite the outflow gates being opened, albeit not at 100%.[23] Enoggera Dam, in the western Brisbane suburb of The Gap, reached a record capacity of 270% on the same day.[24]

Wivenhoe Dam is primarily designed for drinking water supply to Brisbane, Ipswich, and surrounding areas, as well as flood protection of Brisbane. The 2022 floods would have been significantly worse if were not for Wivenhoe Dam. Over the course of the rain event (excluding subsequent inflows after the rain had stopped), Wivenhoe had inflows of 2.2 million mega litres (ML), and released only 150,000 ML, effectively holding back 2.05 million ML from flowing down the Brisbane River and decimating Greater Brisbane. [25]

Gympie

In the Wide Bay–Burnett, the city of Gympie suffered its worst flooding since 1893, with the Mary river peaking at 22.8 metres on 28 February, reaching its highest water level since 1893.[26] About 550 people sought shelter at the Gympie evacuation shelter, and up to 3600 homes were inundated in the city.[27] The city of Maryborough also suffered flooding in parts of its CBD and cut bridges, an 11-metre flood levee was erected to protect the rest of the city centre.[28]

Northern Rivers

In the Northern Rivers, the M1 highway was closed by flooding from Cudgera Creek to Tweed Heads.[29] The area, particularly Lismore and Clarence Valley Council, suffering fuel, food and water shortages. 400 personnel were sent to Lismore to help with the clean-up. Four people perished in Lismore, after the area suffered its worst flood in history, inundating many businesses and homes in the city.[30]

Sydney

In Sydney, thousands of people in Camden, Chipping Norton, Georges Hall, Lansvale, Milperra, Moorebank, Warwick Farm, North Richmond, Windsor, and nearby suburbs were told to evacuate as the Hawkesbury River, Nepean River and Georges rivers began to rise after 100mm of rain fell over parts of Western Sydney overnight.[31][32] Warragamba Dam, Sydney’s chief reservoir, was spilling at a rate in excess of 70 gigalitres a day on 3 March.[31]

On 8 March, another heavy deluge inundated streets in Lansvale and Wisemans Ferry, in addition to two people being found dead in Wentworthville. Areas near the Georges River and Manly Dam were placed under an evacuation order by the State Emergency Service as floodwaters began to rise that day, with 2000 people evacuating in Manly.[33] Floodwaters in this event topped 2021’s levels, with playgrounds and caravan parks being submerged, particularly in Freshwater, Brookvale, Manly, Curl Curl and the encompassing suburbs.[34][35] In the Upper North Shore, the Roseville Bridge was flooded, in addition to a portion of a ceiling at Bondi Junction Westfield collapsing.[36]

Response

European Commission's European External Action Service activated the Copernicus Emergency Management Service – Mapping in order to produce delineation maps[37] of floods in the Brisbane, Gatton, Grafton, Grantham, Gympie, Lismore, Maryborough and Wivenhoe areas of interest.

On March 7, Scott Morrison stated "these are floods that we have not seen in living memory in anyone's lifetime, and even before that", however many in Brisbane remember the floods of 2011 and 1974.[38]

New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet vowed to fund the flood recovery, saying that he was "not going to spare a dollar" in flood recovery efforts. He also stated that there should be direct housing for residents who lost homes, which was a particular concern. According to emergency services minister, Steph Cooke, of the approximately 1,400 rapid property damage assessments taken in Lismore, 900 of them were already considered uninhabitable.[39]

One of the many criticisms by the affected residents was the slow pace of troops arriving to the region. Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese criticised the government’s handling of bringing in the ADF, saying, "Clearly, there have been issues here with people who were on the roofs of places for a long period of time. There’s a need for an explanation". Although Defence minister Peter Dutton and Dominic Perrottet defended the timing of the ADF’s arrival, contending that many parts of the area were inaccessible due to inundating floodwaters.[40]

Relief efforts

Damage from floods is expected to reach almost $1.5 billion, as addition ADF troops came to aid in clean-up efforts. Insurance Council of Australia figures calculate the cost of claims from the disaster is now $1.45 billion, but it is expected to rise once the extent of the damage is known. According to the council, insurers had received more than 96,000 claims, with 80 per cent of those for homes, thus far. 69% of claims have come from Queensland, and 31% have come from NSW. There has been as much as 5000 ADF personnel distributed across the flood disaster areas by March 5. Despite the aid efforts, there was rising criticism from those impacted by the floods that the government was too slow to act in sending in defense troops to help them. As of March 8, more than $282 million in disaster payments to flood victims were paid to 242,000 people ($157 million to victims in NSW and $125 million to those in Queensland).[41]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2022 South East Queensland flood.

References

  1. ^ "Queensland flood damage bill set to top $2.5 billion, according to early estimates". 7News. 7 March 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  2. ^ "Queensland records 13th flood-related death after man's body found in Warwick's Condamine River". ABCnews. 7 March 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  3. ^ "Fifth flood death in NSW's flood crisis confirmed as man's body discovered". ABC news. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Northern Rivers floods UPDATES LIVE: A year's worth of rain in days, eighth person dies". 27 February 2022. Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Australia flood toll rises to 20 as thousands evacuate Sydney". France 24. 8 March 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  6. ^ Scott, Samantha; Ripper, Felicity; Innes, Natasha; Marszalek, Jessica (27 February 2022). "FULL LIST: 986 schools closed as flood chaos continues". news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  7. ^ "Three killed, evacuations ordered as continuing severe weather causes chaos in south-east Queensland". ABC News. 25 February 2022. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  8. ^ "Savage weather batters south-east Queensland with deadly flash flooding escalating". The Guardian. 25 February 2022. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  9. ^ Pengilley, Victoria (1 March 2022). "Queensland flooding triggers fruit and vegetable shortages in outback towns". ABC news. Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  10. ^ Massive falls recorded in south-east Queensland, more rain ahead, ABC News, 23 February 2022, archived from the original on 26 February 2022, retrieved 26 February 2022
  11. ^ "677 mm in three days breaks Brisbane rainfall record". weatherzone.com.au. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  12. ^ "677 mm in three days breaks Brisbane rainfall record". weatherzone.com.au. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  13. ^ Marsh, Stuart (1 March 2022). "'Bigger than '74': Queensland Premier confirms record-breaking rainfall". Ninenews. Retrieved 1 March 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ^ "What caused the 'rain bomb'? How the unprecedented Queensland and NSW 2022 floods unfolded". The Guardian. 28 February 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ^ "Brisbane suburbs in flood's firing line as heavy rain and high tide combine". The Courier Mail. 27 February 2022. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  16. ^ http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/flood/fld_history/brisbane_history.shtml
  17. ^ Ludlow, Mark (1 March 2022). "Wild weather and flooding moves into NSW". AFR. Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  18. ^ "Major flood disaster in Brisbane, 20,000 houses inundated". ABC news. 1 March 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. ^ Bailey, Mark (1 March 2022). "Big wet continues to impact public transport". Queensland Government. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  20. ^ "Six dead in the flood of centuries in eastern Australia". 24sata. 27 February 2022. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  21. ^ "Evacuation warning as pontoon carrying crane breaks free of mooring in Brisbane". Ninenews. 28 February 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  22. ^ "Brisbane River to see another major peak as south-east Queensland reels from weather emergency". ABC news. 28 February 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  23. ^ "Wivenhoe | Seqwater". www.seqwater.com.au. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  24. ^ "Enoggera | Seqwater". www.seqwater.com.au. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  25. ^ SEQ Water. "Wivenhoe Dam Update". Twitter.
  26. ^ "Queensland floods: SES worker killed as death toll rises to five and part of Gympie evacuated". The Guardian. 26 February 2022. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  27. ^ Zagon, Chanel (27 February 2022). "Gympie smashed by largest flood in more than a century". Ninenews. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  28. ^ Barton, Fraser (28 February 2022). "Qld residents stranded as floods continues". 7News. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  29. ^ "Heavy traffic build up as M1 closes due to flooding". Bigrigs. 28 February 2022. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  30. ^ "Maclean in Clarence Valley braces as cracks form in levee, flood clean-up continues elsewhere". ABC News. 3 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  31. ^ a b Hannam, Peter (3 March 2022). "NSW flood: Sydney residents in west and north-west evacuate as Warragamba Dam spills". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  32. ^ "Sydney weather warning cancelled as rain moves towards the Hunter". ABC News. 3 March 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  33. ^ "Woman found dead in Sydney's west as flood warnings force residents to evacuate". Sydney Morning Herald. 8 March 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  34. ^ "Dangerous winds to lash Sydney but respite from rain is imminent". Sydney Morning Herald. 8 March 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  35. ^ "Incredible footage as Sydney hit by massive storms". Nine News Sydney. 8 March 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  36. ^ "Sydney flooding: Roseville Bridge floods, Westfield roof collapses in heavy rains". News.com.au. 8 March 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  37. ^ "EMSR567: Floods in Queensland, Australia". Copernicus Emergency Management Service — Mapping. European Union. 26 February 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  38. ^ "Frustration swells in Australia over slow flood relief, more rains to lash Sydney". Reuters. 7 March 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  39. ^ "Perrottet defends NSW flood response amid Lismore anger as Qld death toll rises". The Guardian. 5 March 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  40. ^ "Northern NSW local heckles ADF troops as anger, exhaustion intensifies over flood response". The Guardian. 8 March 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  41. ^ "Flood disaster damage to top $1.5 billion". The Canberra Times. 8 March 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
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