The flood waters have receded but the governmental clean-up of those involved in the management of Queensland’s waterways continues. After 31 different meetings of public consultation across the state, the interim report of the inquiry into the 2011 Queensland floods was handed down yesterday to Premier Anna Bligh.
The floods devastated the Lockyer Valley, Toowoomba and Brisbane, leaving 35 confirmed dead with another nine missing, presumed dead. The royal commissionesque inquiry noted the Queensland government’s lack of readiness for an event of January’s magnitude, as well as confusion and dysfunction led by the water minister and Wivenhoe Dam authorities. You can read the majority of the inquiry’s recommendations here.
Queensland’s Water Utilities Minister Stephen Robertson is copping much of the flak over his failure to fix confusion over whether the Wivenhoe Dam needed to release water pre-floods. In October, the Bureau of Meteorology passed on information that higher-than-average rainfall was expected in the coming months.
“The interim flood report found Mr Robertson had failed to clear up the confusion about who should respond to his request for information and did not do enough to pursue the proposal to lower water levels in the dam,” reports Sarah Vogler in The Courier-Mail.
Responded Robertson:
“I believe I did my job. I acted on the advice from my agencies as it was provided by me. Was it the best advice? Well I accept that that finding from the commission that it wasn’t the best advice but we learn from those experiences.”
Robertson is retiring at the next election but he’s not the only one getting the blame for mishandling the Wivenhoe Dam. In fact, the inquiry found that the authorities of Wivenhoe Dam “breached” the official manual regarding water releases. As Hedley Thomas and Roseanne Barrett explain in The Australian:
“The breach occurred because the flood engineers did not rely on ‘forecast rainfall’ when they were determining the timing and volume of dam releases at critical stages of the flood event.
During periods of very heavy rain and with more forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology, the engineers made relatively low releases based on a ‘no further rainfall’ model instead of the manual’s requirement to be using ‘the best forecast rainfall’.”
This manual breach could open the door for compensation claims by homes and business ravaged by the floods, the most critical element to come out of the inquiry, writes Hedley Thomas in The Australian:
“What difference might compliance have made? That question might only be answered in the courts.
Meanwhile, Brisbane Council has narrowed its plans to five designs for rebuilding Brisbane’s Riverwalk. The riverwalk is expected to be completed by 2014 and will cost between an estimated $54-75 million, reports Sarah Vogler in The Courier-Mail.
Unfortunate to see politicians unable to say ‘yes, I accept I was responsible’ in every sense.
Unfortunate to see yet again, computer modelling being used both to assault, and buttress each side of the argument, when the models are demonstrably still works in progress.
Unfortunate to see Grantham residents retreat into survivor-rituals of “fix it Anna” because their trauma is unimpeachable. We saw this with firemen post 9/11: Without the imprimatur of a firechief, no politician was safe. Soon, without the signoff of a Grantham or Towoomba resident, no party leader will be safe.
Raise the dam wall: interesting, when they just put fusable plugs in at the current level. In any case, this is not a short term act, and structural engineers reports on *how* to raise the dam walls are going to be very very cautious.
Campbell Newman hung himself on ‘no levee, no flood doors’ but there are signs *some* mitigation work makes sense and his replacement, Quirk, is going to go there. Bad press for Campbell!
Without the dam, this one would have exceeded 74. With the dam management, this one did more damage than 74 because Brisbane is bigger.
What is the success rate of the BOM in predicting weather accurately?
If you are going to base your blame and solutions on a wobbly base, then the whole thing is a farce, witch-hunt, (plagued by, “I told you so experts, with 20/20 retrospection,” and miserable marksmen looking for a target), that will all fall down at the first opportunity. ( Oh, and politicians poking their tongues out at each other).
Where in the recommendation does it say if you plan to live in a flood plain, you will get drowned when it rains? Move or it will happen again? I should be compensated for my pig headedness and lack of ability to be told that it is a stupid idea to build on a flood plain and the result is foreseeable? I have a right to be this stupid and complain about it afterwards.
And what if the Bureau of Meteorology got it wrong and the rain missed us imagine the outcry if they released 25% of the water for no good reason. Why do we always need to blame someone when things go wrong? Remind me to never to run for politics, become the head of a Government department or become a NRL coach.
@Damotron: water grid meant that we could pump up from Hinze dam, and we had Tugun and other desal. We hadn’t even gone mega with grey water.
25% lossage risk is low compared to consequences of ignoring BoM even if wrong.
We have belts and braces. The dam is a belt or a brace, but not both, facing floods. Since we have belt and braces for drinking supply, I think, on balance, even without hindsight, some ministerial backbone was called for.
I wouldn’t be hitting on the dam engineers were it not for a number of people who previously defended them, now saying “hang on, they treated this 20yo book like a bible and nobody actually THOUGHT”. Yes, its the OZ selling the story, but I have some sympathy with ex-SeQ water engineers saying ‘I think our guys dropped the ball a bit here’
Now the class actions start…
-G
Led by the Courier Mail and Gold Coast Bulletin, with frequent and continuous shallow echo from Channel 7 Brisbane – Anna Bligh’s State Government has been blamed for everything and anything that irks Qld people. The January floods are just another case in point. Incredible how a “once in a lifetime weather event” can be laid at the door of a bunch of mere mortals, isn’t it? Almost as if Bligh and Coy actually caused the rain and everything else – and Cyclone Yasi.
And now, the weirdly absent from the House, LNP Leader, Campbell “Can Do ” Newman has come out and said that he had a “secret desire” to open the Dam floodgates much earlier to mitigate the flooding. Well, Campbell – it really is a bit rich to say you covertly and secretly wanted to perform these things now – when you are safely out of the hot seat as Mayor of Brisbane and lauded Anna Bligh and her confident and tireless performance at the time when you were in it!
While we are at it, it is mysterious indeed and one just has to suspect a blatant political agenda in action here, when not one media outlet to my knowledge has ever asked any questions about the parlous state of the Brisbane City Council’s finances nor asked Newman even one hard question. Quite the opposite has been the fact of the matter. Breathless opinion pieces on what “Can Do ” thinks and comments in a little Sir Echo of Tony Abbott. All mouth and trousers and PR fluff with absolutely no responsibility.
And what did the media have to say about Barry O’Farrell and his not so secret meeting with Fred Nile? Talk about Christina Kennealy’s new hairdo. God ( or nominate the Deity of your choice) save us from the vapid and vacuous Oz media …