1974 Brisbane flood
The 1974 Brisbane flood occurred in January 1974 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, when waterways in the city experienced significant flooding. The Brisbane River, which runs through the heart of the city, experienced the worst flooding.
Flood waters in Brisbane
It had been an exceptionally wet summer, and by late January most of southern Queensland's river systems were nearing capacity. Cyclone Wanda pushed the systems to the limit, and drew the Monsoonal Trough southward, providing the additional rainfall to the Brisbane valley to produce widespread and severe flooding.
Continual, non-stop, very heavy rain had fallen for three weeks, leading up to the flood, which occurred on Sunday, 27 January, 1974, during the Australia Day weekend. Large areas were inundated, with at least 6,700 homes flooded. Damage at the time was estimated at some $200 million (1974 Australian dollars). The 67,320 tonne Robert Miller unmoored and became adrift in the river. Two tugs were needed to control the large oil tanker.[1] A barge was sunk after becoming caught under and damaging the Centenary Bridge.
Loss of Life
16 people lost their lives. This included:
- Shane David Patterson, 1 months old, Yeronga. Swept from his father's arms in the floodwaters.
- Robert Adams, 14 years old, Newmarket. Suffered heart attack during evacuation of caravan park.
- Aiden Sutton, 7 years old, St Lucia. Drowned in own home after returning to collect eye glasses during the flood.
- James Smith, 2 years old, Ipswich. Fell down stairs in own home then drowned.
- Jim Huxley, 25 years old, Sand Bank. Trapped in his car and drowned.
Aftermath
The floods peaked at 6.6 meters according to the Port Office gauge at high tide at 2:15 am on January 29th.
After the flood, a series of flood mitigation measures were implemented in Southeast Queensland, expanding on previous works such as Somerset Dam.
The floods were a defining event for a generation of Queenslanders. 8500 homes were flooded in [Brisbane] and Ipswich. 6000 of these could not be recovered from an inland sea of 200km formed by the flood waters.
This flood also had massive economic implications due to loss of export infrastructure.
See also
References
- ^ Brisbane floods January 1974 pp 38–39. Bureau of Meteorology.