Floods - Stupid things journos say

[VladTepes]

Well, I've head a few crackers today (so far) and thought I'd share them with you because they are just so... special.

And the winners are......


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/01/938.jpg
Talking of Suncorp stadium...
"This is the home base of the Broncos, The Queensland Reds and Birsbane Roar. The playing surface is underwater. It will have a big impact on sport in this state. It's yet to be seen how this will affect the Broncos season".

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/01/939.jpg
Talking of the Performing Arts Centre and GOMA (gallery of modern arty farty bull****).
"These are iconic buildings in Brisbane, everyone identifies with them. The damage to them will impact on the psyche of Brisbanites for not just months but years to come".

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/01/940.jpg
but my personal favourite talking of the flood crisis in Brisbane, generally.
"Yes who would have thought that all this water has flowed down from Rockhampton to Bundaberg to Western Queensland and now into Brisbane itself, casuing such devastation along the way".

[korg20000bc]

Aren't the media just licking their lips about having another disaster to go on about? They want people to start crying at every opportunity.

Its bullcrap.

[bee utey]

Aren't the media just licking their lips about having another disaster to go on about? They want people to start crying at every opportunity.

Its bullcrap.

The mute button is my best friend...

[Bigbjorn]

I love the way they made water flow uphill. According to the Bruces and Sheilas of the press, the "inland tsunami" that roared along West Creek in the CBD and caused such devastation then flowed over the lip of the escarpment and flooded the Lockyer Valley. If someone had looked at a map or even the signs along creeks in Toowoomba they would have seen that West Creek flows into Gowrie Creek, then Oakey Creek on its way to the Condamine River. West Creek is in a gully that is considerably below the tip of the escarpment. The rain that caused flash flooding of the Lockyer was from the same torrential downpour but fell along the slopes of the range not 100' lower in Toowoomba CBD.

[weeds]

with live TV you have to expect some mistakes....nobody is perfect

[VladTepes]

Mistakes is one thing - stupid ill informed comment for the sake of filling air time is something else again.

[weeds]

Mistakes is one thing - stupid ill informed comment for the sake of filling air time is something else again.

good thing i don't watch TV........unless there is a kookaburra or sherrin involved

i have watched about an hour of news in the last four days...i'm betting you are seeing the same images over and over again

[F4Phantom]

I dont mind honest mistakes and some journos are doing well. But I have never had time for reporters saying things to people in possible stress to get an emotional result.

Today I saw a reporter go back to a flooded house with the owner, it was not to bad (compared with the other effected people of course) as the water was only about 1m off the floor and he had a lot of stuff up high and dry, he even said so. The owner was not emotional but the reporter made shocking sighing noises and comments about his poor house. It was shallow and silly. The owner was quite ok as he got of light no one was missing or injured from that house. This sort of reporting offends my sensibilities.

[Hamish71]

There are NO journalists left.

There are only "infotainment" hosts.

[WhiteD3]

I think the fact the QLD Police have to have a Facebook page where they post "Myth Busters" is a good example of how many idiots there are out there in society.

Have a look. It'd be funny if it wasn't :(

[VladTepes]

I dont mind honest mistakes and some journos are doing well. But I have never had time for reporters saying things to people in possible stress to get an emotional result.


Yes it's horrendous.

I went to Uni with a girl who lost her sister in the Lauda Air crash in Thailand.
Lauda Air Flight 004 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Flag_of_Austria.svg" class="image"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Flag_of_Austria.svg/32px-Flag_of_Austria.svg.png"@@AMEPARAM@@commons/thumb/4/41/Flag_of_Austria.svg/32px-Flag_of_Austria.svg.png
Some journos from "A Current Tonight" or "Today Affair" or wherever turned up and found her somehow. No doubt some other student pointed her out... :confused:

They started asking questions like "What's it feel like to hear that your sister was killed.." and so on, you can imagine. :mad:

No answers were given we just walked away, though I did tell them to "**** off and leave her alone". Funnily enough (not) that didn't make the news...

I was studying journalism at the time. Didn't for much longer. The more I looked into it the less interested in journalism I becamse. As Haish says there aren't many real journos out there any more.

[PhilipA]

I believe that they are trained to ask "what's it feel like etc " at the Communications courses to get the maximum "good television"

I liked the comment from the bloke in Norman Park who said "I bought the house in 1975 and thought I was OK for 100years." I think he was joking but the reporter lapped it up. Of course in 1975 he would have got it cheap.It took Oh 2-3 years for southerners and others to buy up Jindalee etc again.

Then there is the big article in The Australian saying that it is unfair that people who buy in flood prone areas should not be able to get cheap flood insurance and that the State Governments ought to provide it.

There is a little thing called "moral hazard" that means that if that were possible that every developer( even more so than now) would be building houses on mud flats.

IMHO, anyone who buys in flood areas know what they are buying and if they don't one has to wonder about their mental capacities and questioning ability. But then I lived in Ashfield st East Brisbane as a child(see Australian Gallery no 2 as at 4:30 PM 13/1) and used to ride my bike up to the forks in water around Norman creek just in a King Tide and often over at the Deshon after a good rain. And that is why my parent's house had 4 metre stumps, which the people who bought it promptly filled in underneath. They reaped what they sowed.
Doesn't something click when they are told "no flood insurance"?
Regards Philip A

[korg20000bc]

People generally buy where they can afford to. Just look at what happens in Bangladesh nearly every year.

[F4Phantom]

People generally buy where they can afford to. Just look at what happens in Bangladesh nearly every year.

Yeah the cheap land is away from the water up high, all the expensive stuff us on the water so perhaps floods on average effect the people most able to help themselves.

[VladTepes]

Yeah the cheap land is away from the water up high, all the expensive stuff us on the water so perhaps floods on average effect the people most able to help themselves.

No - overly simplistic. Riverside land may be expnsive but isn;t all at river level (cliffs etc) and further inland may be below river level - doesnt take long to flood !

As to "cheap land is up high" well point me at some please!!!

[F4Phantom]

No - overly simplistic. Riverside land may be expnsive but isn;t all at river level (cliffs etc) and further inland may be below river level - doesnt take long to flood !

As to "cheap land is up high" well point me at some please!!!

yeah I know its a bit simple but in cities you pay more closer to water. In the country you only need another half metre of water to open up a new flood plain.

[PhilipA]

People generally buy where they can afford to. Just look at what happens in Bangladesh nearly every year.

WOW! That is the best stretch I have seen, comparing penniless squatters in Bangladesh with people in Brisbane in one of the richest countries in the World who paid at least $100K or so even in 1975 ( my mothers house went for 149k very run down in 87), which is equivalent to about 600-800K today.
The point is - if people/councils/governments were a bit smarter then the prices would not be high in flood areas, particularly if councils put the equivalent of a NSW149 certificate on it, stating it was flood prone and this could happen in 2 years or 100years.
Ina ny cas ethe houses should never have been built ther e. ifyou look at the gallery I referred to in my last post, you will see most of the flooding in Norman creek is Heath Park and Churchie's sports grounds, and that's how it should be.
But in NSW all the coastal land holders are fighting this tooth and nail. In Byron bay The wealthy landowners in the spit are trying to outspend the council by bringing a $1Million suit and ditto on the Central Coast as it will affect their land values.
Regards Philip A

[vnx205]

That standard question, "How did you feel when (insert tragic event) happened to you?" has to be the most inappropriate, unnecessary question imaginable.

I want information in the news, not an attempt by some traumatised person to put into words the anguish they must be feeling. Apart from that, if I am incapable of imagining how they must feel to have their loved one, property or livelihood torn from them, then nothing they can say is likely to have any impact on me. I doubt that in their circumstances I could find the words to convey how I felt, even if I was thinking clearly enough to even understand how I felt.

I think that my vote for the most inappropriate question in the last couple of days was the journalist who, when the PM was explaining about what the Federal Government was doing and was prepared to do for flood victims, asked about that might mean a possible delay in returning the budget to surplus. Surely even the most rabid anti-Labor listener would have preferred to have information about the flood crisis and the government response rather than listen to some smart alec "journalist" attempt to score cheap political points.

[korg20000bc]

WOW! That is the best stretch I have seen, comparing penniless squatters in Bangladesh with people in Brisbane in one of the richest countries in the World who paid at least $100K or so even in 1975 ( my mothers house went for 149k very run down in 87), which is equivalent to about 600-800K today.
The point is - if people/councils/governments were a bit smarter then the prices would not be high in flood areas, particularly if councils put the equivalent of a NSW149 certificate on it, stating it was flood prone and this could happen in 2 years or 100years.
Ina ny cas ethe houses should never have been built ther e. ifyou look at the gallery I referred to in my last post, you will see most of the flooding in Norman creek is Heath Park and Churchie's sports grounds, and that's how it should be.
But in NSW all the coastal land holders are fighting this tooth and nail. In Byron bay The wealthy landowners in the spit are trying to outspend the council by bringing a $1Million suit and ditto on the Central Coast as it will affect their land values.
Regards Philip A

So, you saying that people generally buy where they cannot afford?

[Lotz-A-Landies]

good thing i don't watch TV........unless there is a kookaburra or sherrin involved ...I love wildlife shows, and kookaburras and the other kingfisher type birds, but I'm not sure what sort of animal a sherrin is? :confused: :wasntme:

[Ratel10mm]

I dont mind honest mistakes and some journos are doing well. But I have never had time for reporters saying things to people in possible stress to get an emotional result.

Today I saw a reporter go back to a flooded house with the owner, ...
The owner was not emotional but the reporter made shocking sighing noises and comments about his poor house. It was shallow and silly. The owner was quite ok as he got of light no one was missing or injured from that house. This sort of reporting offends my sensibilities.

Agreed. It really is offensive. Also depressing as there seem to be plenty of people with small enough IQ's that they don't notice what's being done.

[Disco44]

What about unaffected residents ringing authorities and complaining about noisy choppers.
Selfish mongrels IMHO.

[VladTepes]

Really? Bloody hell.

[Col.Coleman]

My 3 personal favourites are,

They guy trying to lock in his hubs in flood water in Toowoomba. Buy a landy.

The blonde channel 9 reporter showing a photo from facebook of a crocodile, alluding to it being in Brisbane, untill being corected by the presenter and having to back pedal.

Grant Denyer talking to a "home owner" of a freshly cleared house about to be innundated and asking her "how do you feel?" only to have her quip "well we only rent this place, but we have been her 5 years, so I suppose it feels like home"

On the subject of the land that has flooded. Apart from the Goodna area, most of the land was basically cheap up untill 1988. Then with the Bi-Centennary a change began. Alot of people with the tall ships arrival noticed all this inner city riverside cheap land and bought it to redevelop starting with Bulimba. West End, Chelmer, Bulimba, Rosewood, Yeronga, Milton all became innercity trendy spots through redevelopment. This is what has now gone under, as it did before, plenty of times. These areas where normally working class suburbs and industrial areas.

I feel for the people who have lost things. I only hope the trendites that now inhabit these suburbs, learn that possesions are NOT all that important, and gain the sense of others and go back to being decent human beings.

I have witnessed the change of suburbs like bulimba go from being hard working class suburbs, but with curteous and genuine people, be overtaken by the look at me and what I have got self absorbed types. This should be a reality check. As I said I do not wish them ill as well as feeling genuinely bad for them. I just hope they evolve a sense of community and some manners from this debacle.

CC

[pohm66]

My favourite is the media keep refering this as a "once on a 100 year event.....".

its happened twice in 37 years!!!!!!!

[isuzurover]

My favourite is the media keep refering this as a "once on a 100 year event.....".

its happened twice in 37 years!!!!!!!

You can have a 1 in 100 year event twice in 2 consecutive days. Still doesn't stop it being a 1 in 100 year event. That's statistics for you ;)

However many people have the same (erroneous) belief.

However, given there have been 4 major floods in ~120 years, I wonder if this flood will be sufficient to change the long term stats...

[Utemad]

I laughed so hard at the crocodile twitter thing on ch9.
Don't believe everything on the internet!
They haven't mentioned it since.

[hook]

Queensalnd Flood toll @15?:twisted:

They have so QUICKLY forgoten the 12 that died before SE-QLD flooded. :angrylock:

Thats right nothing else matters out side Brisvagas

[It'sNotWorthComplaining!]

Did you know that the unfortunate Queenslander are in flood, it seems that Julia Gillard had to stress that, in her media speech with Bligh, she used the word Queensland probably a thousand times (well many times anyway) in the short 5min of speech, yes Julia, we know it's in Queensland.

on the segment with Kochie on Sunrise, they atually had a reporter on the Brisbane river watching and filming what was floating down the river, ie Church pews, fridges etc. Must have been real newsworthy.A good paying gig for the reporter.

[Col.Coleman]

on the segment with Kochie on Sunrise, they actually had a reporter on the Brisbane river watching and filming what was floating down the river, ie Church pews, fridges etc. Must have been real newsworthy.A good paying gig for the reporter.

The 7 coverage wasn't too bad until this turkey arrived this morning. The co-ordination of the chopper was quite good.

What they all do really bad is bring in the "popular" host who knows nothing of the area, stuffs up names and locations and tries to pretend they know and are being informative.

ABC just ran the same stuff in a loop. So dissappointing.

What I must say is, the pollies and powers that be have done a FANTASTIC JOB. Up to date info, a co-ordinated effort and things are happening SO quickly. We will lead the world on disaster management on this one, mark my words.

CC

[Bushie]

You can have a 1 in 100 year event twice in 2 consecutive days. Still doesn't stop it being a 1 in 100 year event. That's statistics for you ;)

However many people have the same (erroneous) belief.

However, given there have been 4 major floods in ~120 years, I wonder if this flood will be sufficient to change the long term stats...

Hmmm - now how many hundreds of years of statistics do we have on the Brisbane River ;);)


Queensalnd Flood toll @15?:twisted:

They have so QUICKLY forgoten the 12 that died before SE-QLD flooded. :angrylock:

Thats right nothing else matters out side Brisvagas

Was thinking along them lines today - Rockhampton, Gympie lots of other places seem to have miraculously disappeared.


Martyn

[korg20000bc]

Let's hope that the floods will continue for a few weeks or a couple of blokes get stuck somewhere. That way they'll be able to treat us like dunderheads and bore us to tears like they did with Beaconsfield and then the fires.

"What emotions are you feeling?" journalism is a pile of excrement. Who do they think is interested?

[Blknight.aus]

I like that the images of the cars getting bumped and launched by the water in the toowoomba floods is still being used to promote the brisbane river floods.

my favorite... From the most of the TV newsomercial hosts.

Of course those of you who cant see this on the TV you can goto our website blahhdy blah.blurg. OR......

yes because computers dont need electricity or power or phone lines or of course the requirement of the person who cant see this on the TV to know what your website is.

[F4Phantom]

that koshie bloke to a disaster is like a rat up a drain pipe, if we are going to have shallow personalities on tv at least make em female and blond

[isuzurover]

Hmmm - now how many hundreds of years of statistics do we have on the Brisbane River ;);)

Well at least 170 years I would imagine. I am no hydrologist, however I believe there are ways of obtaining information of previous floods from other records - e.g. coral cores (but that won't give height data).

I don't know for sure that the 4 floods in the last ~120 years were all classified as 1 in 100 year floods??? Some may have been 1 in 50 or 1 in 200???

[bee utey]

In other less well organised parts of the world, hundreds die in floods:

More than 250 dead amid Brazil floods - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/13/3112044.htm)

Philippine floods, landslides kill dozens - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/13/3112442.htm'section=justin)

Deadly flooding worsens in Rio - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/13/3111721.htm'section=justin)

18 dead in Sri Lankan floods - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/12/3111646.htm'section=justin)

Easier to ignore when they aren't in front of your journalistic nose.

[neil-d1]

good thing i don't watch TV........unless there is a kookaburra or sherrin involved

i have watched about an hour of news in the last four days...i'm betting you are seeing the same images over and over again


how good is the cricket:)

[uninformed]

unfortunately its a good representation of the general publics mind set :( watching media watch is a great leveler of commerical press.

I mostly watched ABC 20 for news and spoke to people on the ground in Toowoomba who have more than a pea brain...

[Ivan]

What hacks me about the floods is that the rest of the world seems forgotten. Was there much reporting about the floods in Tasmania? How about Victoria and NSW?
I get really p*sssed off because 7,9,10 and ABC only report what is happening in QLD bugger the rest of the country!
Ivan

[NomadicD3]

LMAO,Ok Vlad time for a little more reporter/news bashing. Now i hear you all complaining about how the eastern states media treats the viewers like idiots, wellll i bet you can't top our lot here in Perth. They actually brought on a highly trained Hydrologist who was asked and i quote "So what's going on in Qld?" To which she replied, and i'm serious " Flooding":D But to further elaborate she then went on to explain what flooding actually was ROTFL. So for those who may not know:p, "flooding is when too much rain falls in a short period of time and the run off can not be handled by the areas river system"
Took us 10 mins to stop laughing at work and gave us great material for the rest of the day.

[hook]

From the Lord Mayor Brisvagas
He states in his early news confrance 1000hr 11 Jan, tells everyone "the Wivenhoe dam will do its job and we won't see another 74 flood".

he changed his tune at about 1800hrs that day, to people to get ready.

All he did is slow people down with his un truths.
This is when the dam is at 140%, where do you think the water is going to go.
I now the dam got to 190%

[Reads90]

From the Lord Mayor Brisvagas
He states in his early news confrance 1000hr 11 Jan, tells everyone "the Wivenhoe dam will do its job and we won't see another 74 flood".

he changed his tune at about 1800hrs that day, to people to get ready.

All he did is slow people down with his un truths.
This is when the dam is at 140%, where do you think the water is going to go.
I now the dam got to 190%

Umm i am not a fan of him but to give him credit he gas been saying and warning since October that we will have a flood like 74 some time this wet season so I find that statement very hard to believe


Sent from my iPhone

[vnx205]

LMAO,Ok Vlad time for a little more reporter/news bashing. Now i hear you all complaining about how the eastern states media treats the viewers like idiots, wellll i bet you can't top our lot here in Perth. They actually brought on a highly trained Hydrologist who was asked and i quote "So what's going on in Qld?" To which she replied, and i'm serious " Flooding":D But to further elaborate she then went on to explain what flooding actually was ROTFL. So for those who may not know:p, "flooding is when too much rain falls in a short period of time and the run off can not be handled by the areas river system"
Took us 10 mins to stop laughing at work and gave us great material for the rest of the day.

I think that is fair enough. :)

I have been led to believe that there has been no worthwhile rain in southern WA in living memory. There must be a lot of young people in WA who have never seen rain, let alone flooding, so it was probably a good idea to explain those phenomena to viewers. :):D:p

[isuzurover]

I think that is fair enough. :)

I have been led to believe that there has been no worthwhile rain in southern WA in living memory.

Actually, the south west corner of WA has about the most consistent rainfall in OZ. They may not get as much as brisbane on average, but it turns up without fail every winter.

However, Perth doesn't even have stormwater drains worth mentioning :o that shocked me when I first got here. The gutters just run into soakwells (small holes in the ground) - if that! The rain just soaks into the sand - even that day a couple of years back when we got 100mm in 2 hrs - about the same as toowoomba got a couple of days ago.

[VladTepes]

What about when the council has the study done, then covers it up?
Former Brisbane councillors did just that: article link, to see graphics (http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/alarming-report-on-brisbane-river-risks-covered-up/story-fn7ik8u2-1225987231243)




Quote
Alarming report on Brisbane River risks covered up

* Hedley Thomas
* From: The Australian
* January 12, 2011 11:00PM

Source: The Australian

A SECRET report by scientific and engineering experts warned of significantly greater risks of vast destruction from Brisbane River flooding - and raised grave concerns with the Queensland government and the city's council a decade ago.

But the recommendations in the report for radical changes in planning strategy, emergency plans and transparency about the true flood levels for Brisbane were rejected and the report was covered up.

The comprehensive 1999 Brisbane River Flood Study made alarming findings about predicted devastation to tens of thousands of flood-prone properties, which were given the green light for residential development since the 1974 flood. The engineers and hydrologists involved in the study warned that the next major flood in Brisbane would be between 1m and 2m higher than anticipated by the Brisbane town plan.

The study highlighted how the council had permitted the development of thousands of properties whose owners were led to believe they would be out of harm's way in a flood on the scale of 1974.

The study was leaked to this reporter in June 2003 by a high-level public servant, who revealed that the local and state government at the time were less concerned with flood risks and more interested in seeing property development in low-lying areas.

"The flood immunity of properties is less than previously assessed. The average flood damages associated with flooding will be significantly higher. There are potential legal implications for council by allowing development to occur in higher-risk areas. As a minimum, developers and residents may need to be advised of the actual flood risk on their property," the study says. "All elements of the study have been subjected to independent peer review because the key findings have significant implications for council.

"The major finding of this study is that the calculated one-in-100-year design flood flow . . . is about 1m to 2m higher than the current development control in the Brisbane River corridor. The simple option of saying that the current development control level represents the one-in-100-year flood level is not valid."

But after receiving the study in 1999 the council adopted a "no change, maintain status quo" strategy -- despite its expert review advising that such a strategy was "poor" because it would reduce flood immunity, increase council's liability and cause the loss of Natural Disaster Relief funds. In the debate that followed its leaking it emerged that misplaced faith by governments and residents in the flood mitigation potential of Wivenhoe Dam played into the hands of property developers, who were profitably turning low-lying swaths of Brisbane into expensive housing.

The Crime and Misconduct Commission investigated the cover-up of the study and recommended better transparency for ratepayers.

The then Labor lord mayor, Tim Quinn, and others in the civic cabinet at the time had known about the study for four years but withheld its existence from ratepayers -- until its leaking forced it into the open. Mr Quinn said then that the study was a "draft" and incomplete and that was why neither he nor his predecessor Jim Soorley had acted on its findings.

Mr Quinn was ousted as lord mayor months after the furore by Campbell Newman who campaigned against secrecy over the flood study and radically overhauled policies to warn the public of the severe risk of another major Brisbane River flood.

Mr Newman, an engineer, said at the time: "A vital study of immense public importance has been kept secret from the community for four years. The council has had this knowledge since 1999 and yet there has been no change in development or building rules reflecting the recommendations in the study. The effect of this is to leave a lot of innocent purchasers of riverfront property exposed who need not have been exposed.

"How can it be 'buyer beware' when the council is not providing the necessary information to purchasers.

"This is totally unacceptable given that people rely on their council for information to assist them when it comes to property matters and particularly safety.

"It's a case which could have a huge impact on people's lives."

[pando]

I don't know for sure that the 4 floods in the last ~120 years were all classified as 1 in 100 year floods??? Some may have been 1 in 50 or 1 in 200???

I believe that the term "1 in 100" isn't statistically derived, but more of a term to describe a significant event against the average regardless of when or how often it happens.

I'm not sure mother nature has this sort of thing marked on her calendar...:)

[isuzurover]

I believe that the term "1 in 100" isn't statistically derived, ...

Sorry, but your belief is incorrect...


A one-hundred-year flood is calculated to be the level of flood water expected to be equaled or exceeded every 100 years on average. The 100-year flood is more accurately referred to as the 1% annual exceedance probability flood, since it is a flood that has a 1% chance of being equaled or exceeded in any single year.[1] Similarly, a flood level expected to be equaled or exceeded every 10 years on average is known as a ten-year flood. Based on the expected flood water level, a predicted area of inundation can be mapped out. This floodplain map figures very importantly in building permits, environmental regulations, and flood insurance.


Probability

A 100-year flood has approximately a 63.4% chance of occurring in any 100-year period, not a 100 percent chance of occurring. The probability Pe that a certain-size flood occurring during any period will exceed the 100-yr flood threshold can be calculated using Pe = 1 – [1-(1/T)]n where T is the return period of a given storm threshold (e.g. 100-yr, 50-yr, 25-yr, and so forth), and n is the number of years. The exceedance probability Pe is also described as the natural, inherent, or hydrologic risk of failure.[2][3]

Ten-year floods have a 10% chance of occurring in any given year (Pe =0.10); 500-year have a 0.2% chance of occurring in any given year (Pe =0.002); etc. The percent chance of an X-year flood occurring in a single year can be calculated by dividing 100 by X.

The field of extreme value theory was created to model rare events such as 100-year floods for the purposes of civil engineering. This theory is most commonly applied to the maximum or minimum observed stream flows of a given river. In desert areas where there are only ephemeral washes, this method is applied to the maximum observed rainfall over a given period of time (24-hours, 6-hours, or 3-hours). The extreme value analysis only considers the most extreme event observed in a given year. So, between the large spring runoff and a heavy summer rain storm, whichever resulted in more runoff would be considered the extreme event, while the smaller event would be ignored in the analysis (even though both may have been capable of causing terrible flooding in their own right).

[pando]

Sorry, but your belief is incorrect...

wow, I'll shut up then.......

[DanW]

Sorry, but your belief is incorrect...

you mean "according to wikipedia your belief is incorrect"

[MickS]

I love wildlife shows, and kookaburras and the other kingfisher type birds, but I'm not sure what sort of animal a sherrin is? :confused: :wasntme:


Aussie rules football :)

I saw Gillard on the news last night, and I noticed for the first time...how ****ing big are her ear lobes???? **** me dead. You could cover a 5 piece lounge suite with them :eek::eek:

[isuzurover]

you mean "according to wikipedia your belief is incorrect"

:angel:

Umm, no... I mean:

According to:

Wikipedia,
All these references that wikipedia cites:

References

1. ^ a b Holmes, R.R., Jr., and Dinicola, K. (2010) 100-Year flood–it's all about chance U.S. Geological Survey General Information Product 106
2. ^ Mays, L.W (2005) Water Resources Engineering Hoboken: J. Wiley & Sons[page needed]
3. ^ a b Maidment,D.R. ed.(1993) Handbook of Hydrology New York:Mcraw-Hill[page needed]
4. ^ Water Resources Council Bulletin 17B Water Resources Council Bulletin 17B "Guidelines for Determining Flood Flow Frequency,"
5. ^ See article in Science Magazine: Stationarity is Dead
6. ^ Babbitt, Harold E. and Doland, James J., Water Supply Engineering, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1949
7. ^ Simon, Andrew L., Basic Hydraulics, John Wiley & Sons, 1981, ISBN 0-471-07965-0
8. ^ a b Simon, Andrew L., Practical Hydraulics, John Wiley & Sons, 1981, ISBN 0-471-05381-3
9. ^ Linsley, Ray K. and Franzini, Joseph B., Water-Resources Engineering, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1972
10. ^ Urquhart, Leonard Church , Civil Engineering Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1959
11. ^ Abbett, Robert W., American Civil Engineering Practice, John Wiley & Sons, 1956
12. ^ United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Design of Small Dams, United States Government Printing Office, 1973

[edit] External links

* "What is a 100 year flood?". Boulder Area Sustainability Information Network (BASIN). URL accessed 2006-06-16.

and the undergraduate hydrology/hydraulics I can still remember.

But no, you got us, we made it all up...

:angel:

EDIT - and just for the hell of it, one more - just grabbed an old text "Hydraulics in civil and envionmental engineering by chadwick and morefett, 1993. Chapter 10 deals with how to determine the 5, 10, 50, 100 etc year flows for a given catchment/river system.

[cjc_td5]

Must admit I had a laugh at the comment from the resident who bought in 1975 and did not expect a flood for another 100 years!!

The misguided belief that a 1 in 100 year flood occurs every 100 years is one reason why flood engineers etc now talk in terms of Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP). A 1 in 100 year event, or an event with an Average Recurrence Interval (ARI) of 100 years, is better termed as having a 1% Annual Exceedance Probability(AEP), or it has a 1% chance of occuring in any given year. A 1 in 50 year (ARI) event would have an AEP of 2% etc.

I recall when I lived on the south coast on NSW, we had one small catchment that had two 1% AEP events on one year, about 3 months apart. It is possible but very unlikely!

Cheers,
Chris

[Blknight.aus]

like the new bridge that was built from the back of RAAF amberly into one mile..

not supposed to go underwater except in 1/100 year floods and it went under a month after it opened and again inside of 6 months later and now less than 2 years after that....

love to see how they use that in statistics....

the bridge that was only ment to go under once every hundred years or so has now been flooded out on average once every 8 months since its construction was finished.

[Barra1]

I'd like to compliment, and, express my sincerest thanks to all you blokes based in the flood areas.

Your posts have given me a better understanding of what was going on and how it was affecting the people of the flood areas.

The TV and media in general was becoming very repetitive and as noted on this thread - at times downright stupid!

My staff and colleagues were always asking me to "get onto your Land Rover mates so we know what is going on" .

Not to mention the camaradie that has shone through. They reckoned the tug-boat skipper was a hero, well we have a few heroes amongst you blokes.

[DanW]

:angel:

Umm, no... I mean:

According to:

Wikipedia,
All these references that wikipedia cites:

and the undergraduate hydrology/hydraulics I can still remember.

But no, you got us, we made it all up...

:angel:

EDIT - and just for the hell of it, one more - just grabbed an old text "Hydraulics in civil and envionmental engineering by chadwick and morefett, 1993. Chapter 10 deals with how to determine the 5, 10, 50, 100 etc year flows for a given catchment/river system.


Thanks - I would have settled for an in-text citation, but have considered your appeal and will allow your point, and return the marks I deducted for improper referencing....:)

As you were....:blush:

[maca]

Was thinking along them lines today - Rockhampton, Gympie lots of other places seem to have miraculously disappeared.

Martyn

Forget Rocky and Gympie, what about the towns west that were completely submerged Emerald, Theodore and all the others? And forget Australia what about Sri-Lanka, Philippine and Brazil?

The flooding in Rocky was relatively minor and just an inconvenience for 99% of the town. I feel for the 1% but it was no where near as bad as the media made it out to be.

One story of devastation from one of the blokes at work was that when he went out to brecky with his misses, they were served toast instead of croissants (Oh the humanity).

[rijidij]

A reporter on TV today said.........."several helicopters have made their way up to Queensland from Victoria, crossing Bass Straight on their way" :eek:

[biggin]

A flood, like any natural disaster, brings out different things in different people.
For TV journalists: a chance to get their face on telly
For politicians: a chance to increase their popularity (and to get their face on telly)
For sportsmen: a chance to show that the spurious claim of their heroism may not be so misplaced.
For the general public: a chance to show the world that you are a caring and generous people with no regard to race, religion or nationality, irrespective of what is reported in the media to the contrary.
To the poor victims: that it will take more than this to make them bend and break.
Good luck to all you guys up there.

PS: Sorry, this is a bit off the subject of the post, but I got it off my chest anyway:)

[87County]

A reporter on TV today said.........."several helicopters have made their way up to Queensland from Victoria, crossing Bass Straight on their way" :eek:

must have gone to uni :)

[pando]

A reporter on TV today said.........."several helicopters have made their way up to Queensland from Victoria, crossing Bass Straight on their way" :eek:

maybe it was a metaphor for the amount of water they had to cross to get from Vic to QLD was "like" crossing Bass Strait?

Like the one I heard from the tele that the "floods covered an area bigger than Germany and France combined".

Geez, thanks, I had no ruddy idea how big the floods were until you put it like that......

[cal415]

You know its happening in Australia when the journo is interviewing a local doing a clean up and they mention how some who cant do the physical labour and running around delivering food and then goes on to mention getting bear and pizza to the workers! even through a crisis like this, aussies still know what they like :)

[Blknight.aus]

pando, dont go picking on the other country size quotes, its not for us its a sound bite for the international news shows and viewers.

if I told you an area the size of london was on fire in england it wouldnt mean as much to you as if I said an area in england the size of the ACT is on fire.

I like that one of the reps had the balls to go back to the old bloke who told ruddy that hed have a schnapps and beer waiting for him, was interviewed again after and poked fun to not say "I told you so" was then taken up on his offer of the schnapps and just for a change they actually drunk it on air....

[LOVEMYRANGIE]

Actually, the south west corner of WA has about the most consistent rainfall in OZ. They may not get as much as brisbane on average, but it turns up without fail every winter.

However, Perth doesn't even have stormwater drains worth mentioning :o that shocked me when I first got here. The gutters just run into soakwells (small holes in the ground) - if that! The rain just soaks into the sand - even that day a couple of years back when we got 100mm in 2 hrs - about the same as toowoomba got a couple of days ago.

What about the rain that came with the hailstorm in March??? IIRC that was the biggest single dump ever recorded in Perth. I sat at my office watching Kewdale Rd slowly flood in both directions. Our yard went underwater inside 10 minutes and we had the pits half full in 30 and they are both about 15m x 1 x 1 in size. The concrete humps into the workshop couldn't hold back the influx.
Meanwhile out the front, the verge and median strip were filling up with drowned cars!


Sent from my mobile tellingbone using rock carvings.

[zulu Delta 534]

I was fascinated to watch the report that showed a woman who was documenting all her losses for insurance purposes as she threw them out and the footage showed a wheelbarrow full of DVDs.
Does the water get into the movie somehow?
A lot of panic and Hoo Har about no milk on the shelves! Has everyone forgotten about powdered milk that does not require refrigeration?
One good story I heard though involves a friend of ours with an apartment in a block in Brisbane that went under. He went to the local hardware, bought a couple of boxes of silicon stuff, sealed his doors and windows with it then vacated the premises.
Came back yesterday, cut the silicon and walked into a pristine unit!! All others on the same level were ruined.
Refreshing to hear that common sense and a bit of "outside the square" thinking still exists amongst one or two of our general public.
Regards
Glen

[Ace]

What ever sells papers and gets the viewers.

The false ceiling in the movie cinemas her collapsed on the 3rd of January. In cinema 4 and 5 the whole ceiling collapes on movie goers and came down like a plunger.

There was this one clown who wasnt even in there but was hanging around outside trying to get in by using his Rural Fire Service ID who managed to some how get interviewed by one of the local news channels and he said something to the effect of "Yeah, it was crazy, it was like afghanistan".

I found it amazing that the channel actually allowed this to get to air. Firstly how does he even know what its like in afghanistan and secondly how would he know what it was like in the cinema he wasnt in there.

[PhilipA]

I was fascinated to watch the report that showed a woman who was documenting all her losses for insurance purposes as she threw them out and the footage showed a wheelbarrow full of DVDs.


Yes I noticed a couple chucking out an impressive queen size bed head and base made of wood and cast steel, in the SMH photo gallery
A good time to refurnish the house ( on insurance) I guess.
Regards Philip A

[PhilipA]

Not journalists but victims I am afraid.
Couple at Goodna who were at their house after the water had been OVER THE GUTTERING and this was a Queenslander on stumps.
They said to the interviewer that they were devastated because they had bought the Queenslander because they were told it was floodproof.
Now remember this flood was lower than 1974.
Regards Philip A

[350RRC]

Not journalists but victims I am afraid.
Couple at Goodna who were at their house after the water had been OVER THE GUTTERING and this was a Queenslander on stumps.
They said to the interviewer that they were devastated because they had bought the Queenslander because they were told it was floodproof.
Now remember this flood was lower than 1974.
Regards Philip A

Obfuscation of the truth is the biggest growth industry in Oz. It does come back to bite practitioners on the **** , unfortunately after too much needless damage has happened to innocent believers in basic human values.

cheers, David L

[Ace]

Not journalists but victims I am afraid.
Couple at Goodna who were at their house after the water had been OVER THE GUTTERING and this was a Queenslander on stumps.
They said to the interviewer that they were devastated because they had bought the Queenslander because they were told it was floodproof.
Now remember this flood was lower than 1974.
Regards Philip A

Never believe a realestate agent of a used car salesman.

[Utemad]

Spent the day going door to door with a mate and a crew that just formed from a bunch of strangers. Some people just kept the minimum and wanted everything else gone while others went through stuff meticulously and cleaned everything they could. Some laid out books on the lawn to dry even though they were obviously stuffed.

I too was surprised at the CDs and DVDs getting thrown out. Would be easy to wash them but no one did.

Everyone deals with it differently.