2022 eastern Australia floods

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For the floods in July, see 2022 New South Wales floods. For the floods in October, see 2022 south eastern Australia floods.
2022 eastern Australia floods
A pedestrian tunnel flooding in Tanah Merah, a suburb in Logan, south of Brisbane
Date23 February 2022 (2022-02-23) – 7 April 2022 (7 April 2022)[1]
LocationSouth East Queensland, Wide Bay–Burnett, the Northern Rivers, Central Coast and Sydney
Deaths27, 1 missing[2][3][4][5][6][7]
Property damageA$2.5 billion in Queensland alone[8]
A$4.8 billion[9]

The 2022 eastern Australia floods were one of the nation's worst recorded flood disasters with a series of floods that occurred from late February to early May in

Toowoomba, Gatton, Ipswich, Logan City, the Gold Coast, Murwillumbah, Mullumbimby, Grafton, Byron Bay, Ballina, Lismore, the Central Coast and parts of Sydney
.

Twenty-four people are known to have died during the disaster.[10] Throughout South East Queensland and the Wide Bay–Burnett, almost one thousand schools were closed in response to the flooding,[11] evacuations took place[12] and the public were advised to avoid non-essential travel.[13] Food shortages were reported across the region, due to the ensuing supply chain crisis as well as affecting communities in outback Queensland.[14]

The flooding caused the ground across South West Queensland and North Western New South Wales to become saturated and vulnerable to even small amounts of rain.[15]

Meteorology

Rainfall of over 400 millimetres (16 in) was recorded across the Northern Brisbane area.[16] In the three days to 28 February, Northern Brisbane received 676.8 millimetres (26.65 in) of rainfall, the largest three, and seven, day total ever recorded in Brisbane.[17] Mount Glorious received in excess of 1,770 millimetres (70 in) of rainfall in the weeks surrounding the 28 February.[17] The rainfall recorded was higher than the 1974 Brisbane flood, with 30 locations across the south-east recording at least 1,000 millimetres.[18]

Cause

The flooding was the result of a

blocking high that obstructed the low pressure system from drifting away into the Tasman Sea.[19]

Impact

Brisbane

Rowing shed in West End, Brisbane
Story Bridge
in flood
Flooding in Corinda

The Brisbane central business district (CBD) experienced flooding, as well as the inner city areas of South Bank and South Brisbane, Milton, West End, Windsor, Lutwyche, Gordon Park, Grange, Wooloowin, Toombul and Newstead. On 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 but below the 3.9 metres recorded during the 2010–2011 Queensland floods[20] and less than the peak height of 4.46m in 2011.[21] The Kedron Brook Floodway broke its weir at multiple points inundating houses in the surrounding suburbs and flooding the Toombul Shopping Centre, which shut permanently as a result of the subsequent flood damage. Substantial infrastructure damage was caused to the Kedron Brook Floodway attributable to the 1,000 mm of rain that fell in its catchment over the 72 hour period of the floods. In Brisbane 177 suburbs were impacted with more than 23,000 homes inundated. [22]

Throughout South-East Queensland, more than 20,000 homes were inundated and power outages affected over 51,000 properties.[23][24] All public transport services were shut down lasting for several days, including

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.[25]

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.[27][28] Wivenhoe Dam peaked at 183.9% capacity that day, despite the outflow gates being opened, albeit not at 100%.[29] Enoggera Dam, in the western Brisbane suburb of The Gap, reached a record capacity of 270% on the same day.[30]

Wivenhoe Dam is primarily designed for drinking water supply to Brisbane, Ipswich, and surrounding areas, as well as flood protection for Brisbane. The 2022 floods would have been significantly worse if it were not for Wivenhoe Dam, with the dam also being ~56% full prior to the huge inflow.[31] 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.[32]

Wide Bay–Burnett and Western Downs

In the Wide Bay–Burnett, the city of Gympie suffered its worst flooding since 1893, with the Mary river peaking at 22.96 metres on 28 February.[33] About 550 people sought shelter at the Gympie evacuation shelter, and up to 3600 homes were inundated in the city.[34] 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.[35]

On the morning of 28 March, Emergency Services were called to a submerged vehicle in Toowoomba where a man and several dogs had drowned due to the flooding.[36]

On 29 March, heavy rainfall caused flood levels to peak at 3.6 metres (12 ft) in Dalby, swamping homes and businesses, with many residents considering to resettle elsewhere after four floods in five months destroyed their homes.[37]

Northern Rivers

In early March, in the

water shortages. 400 military personnel were sent to Lismore to help with the clean-up. Four people perished in Lismore, after the area suffered its worst flood in recorded history, inundating many businesses and homes in the city, which peaked 2 metres above the town's last record flood.[39] More than 3,000 homes in Lismore were affected by the flood, which left the region to resemble "a war zone". There were around 270 people refuging in Lismore's two evacuation centres, with thousands of others finding shelter in family and friends' places of residence.[40] Community groups also stepped in to fill gaps in the state and federal governments' response, helping to clear and clean flood damaged houses while providing food and shelter.[41]

On 30 March, Byron Bay's main street (Jonson Street) was partially submerged in floodwaters following another wave of sousing rain in northern NSW. A residential estate in Ballina was also submerged, flooding homes.[42]

On 30 March, after the all-clear had been given in Lismore less than 24 hours prior, an evacuation order was again issued for those in low-lying areas of the city as the levee overflowed as the

Tintenbar due to the flooding.[44]

Sydney

On 3 March, thousands of people in

Georges rivers began to rise after 100 mm (3.94 in) of rain fell over parts of Western Sydney overnight.[45][46] Warragamba Dam, Sydney's chief reservoir, was spilling at a rate in excess of 70 gigalitres a day on 3 March.[45]

On 8 March, another heavy deluge inundated streets in

Upper North Shore, the Roseville Bridge was flooded, in addition to a portion of a ceiling at Bondi Junction Westfield collapsing.[50]

On 7 April, the floods forced Picton, New South Wales to be placed under an evacuation warning as the Stonequarry Creek continued to rise. Camden, New South Wales was inundated as the floodwaters rose.[51]

On 2 July, Camden, New South Wales was ordered to evacuate for the fourth time of the year due more major flooding.[52]

Response

European Commission's European External Action Service activated the Copernicus Emergency Management Service – Mapping in order to produce delineation maps[53] 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."[54]

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.[55]

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 Australian Defence Force (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.[56] Scott Morrison, in particular, was subject to widespread criticism over his delayed response to the floods.[57]

On 9 March, around 100 infuriated locals in Lismore protested to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, but were denied meeting him face to face. They carried signs and chanted, "the water is rising, no more compromising" and "we need help".

Aboriginal community and others in Lismore, with financial support only following months later.[59]

On 9 March, Architects Assist, an initiative of the Australian Institute of Architects, extended the offer of pro bono consultations and architectural services to the flood victims.[60]

Relief efforts

Damage from floods was expected to reach almost A$1.5 billion, as additional ADF troops came to aid in clean-up efforts.

LGAs affected would gain from the next stage of support for the victims, which included $256 million for emergency relief, food relief and financial counselling services.[61]

Flood appeal

Hunters and Collectors, The Living End, Casey Donovan and Sheppard. The hosts included Seven's Natalie Barr, David Koch, Sonia Kruger and Mark Ferguson; Nine's Scott Cam, Sylvia Jeffreys, Andy Lee and Peter Overton; and 10's Carrie Bickmore, Dr. Chris Brown, Amanda Keller and Osher Günsberg. Proceeds from the telethon were donated to the Australian Red Cross, which provided support to those ravaged by the floods, and this will include evacuation support, staffing of relief centres and outreach services, in addition to helping people and communities recuperate and rebuild.[62]

See also

References

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External links

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