Updatez0rs
OK, inner Maitland (within the levee) has been given the all clear to return to their homes and businesses – the water didn’t rise as far as predicted, which is great.
Outside the levee, lower lying areas are still at risk and the flood peak is moving down towards Hexham and Raymond Terrace.
The weather is fairly clear and there is pretty much no wind so all is looking good there.
My sister and I are trying to figure out if we can get through to Branxton to get her home. Apparently the highway at Maitland is allowing through traffic, and my brother reports his home is safe and the Anvil Creek bridge at Branxton is now clear and allowing traffic along the New England Highway.
We’re gonna see if we can find some fuel and get through to Branxton – we might have to avoid the Hexham area and instead go via the freeway – we’ll see how we go. We have to find fuel first!
Catch you all later. See my previous posts for the best sources of information on the situation down here – ABC 1233AM is still the best one.
Carly
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June 28th, 2007 at 2:06 am
My mother lives in Lorn, so I was watching the news carefully till the peak past. I learn what they meant by “predicted” merely meant using the river heights upstream correlated with 1971 data.
But after 1971 , the levee banks downstream of the measuring point at Oakhampton have been *lowered* and turned into spillways (what the news kept calling “flood gates” .. despite the fact they are not gates … )
The new levee bank heights are carefully designed to result in river levels at belmore bridge to just come close to the top of the levee banks there.
There was a concern that river’s speed might actually take water along the river faster than it can spill over the spillway, and so actually hit Maitland higher than designed or the levee bank might start to leak.
However the engineers are not idiots(I am an engineer
) , and the design was spot on.
June 28th, 2007 at 7:27 am
Hi Leon!
Oh, man – are you serious about the way they predicted the flood heights? Wow – I wonder why they decided to do it that way rather than talk to some engineers / people involved in the flood mitigation plan in Maitland who know the lay of the land and the flood gates. Surely there are people available to the government to help make a more informed estimate on these sorts of things.
I wonder, if they had been better informed would they still have evacuated the city?
Thanks for the info