Bulk rain

[benno]

Was just wondering, with all this rain coming down from townsville and north,
how long do you guys think until the cape is passable again.
Will the tag along be set back?
Still good to see a few drops though.
cheers
ben

[geoffjy]

Was just wondering, with all this rain coming down from townsville and north,
how long do you guys think until the cape is passable again.
Will the tag along be set back?
Still good to see a few drops though.
cheers
ben

No can give you an accurate idea on that one Benno. Rain may extend until into early May sometimes with the road still being unpassable. Other times you can travel back and forth in April however, more than likely it will be very muddy and you may have to wait on creeks until they go down. Also the going will be very slow and you will destroy the road further by cutting it up with your tyres.

This never used to be the problem a few years back as there was no bridge over the Wenlock. Because the Wenlock has steep backs (more than 10mt) and is narrow it used to take a couple of weeks for the water to go down. This was especially the case when it got to about 2 mt deep.

At this stage i would say that by the end of May onwards would be a safe bet on travelling up here although the road will still be wet and most of the telegraph track will not be passable so you people would need to take the bypasses.

As the Tag-a-long is scheduled in September, it will not affect the timing of the trip at all.

[geoffjy]

Also, Cairns and south is getting lots of rain and flooding while up here, we are only getting storms every now and then, mostly in the early morning and evening. Nowhere enough water to cause flooding however, the highest tides for the year are tomorrow. The Seisia carpark was once again flooded and a bit of erosion has occurred along the beaches to the westerlies at the moment which are blowing around the 20 knot mark.

[Nedly]

Hey Geoff,

Have the rains had much impact up there at all?
Seems every weather report we get down here says it's raining in Weipa, thought the rivers would be up by now.

Got to be hard living at Ingham at the momet, and by the sounds of it Home Hill is about to have some of the same.

[plucker]

Townsville is doing OK for now. The rain has been persistant and I think I have seen the sun and blue skies this year for a total of 5 minutes which was the other day.
Some of the lower reaches in South Townsville will be in real trouble tomorrow with water higher than they have ever seen.
The National Park boat ramp will be inaccessable by road and you will be able to boat over the car park tomorrow. Furthermore you could boat into many of the local streets around there too.
Currently the Ross River Dam is overfull by lots and the 3 spillways are all open which is to prevent major flooding.
Unfortunately this will raise the highest king tide by 1/2 a meter.

[barney]

Hi Nedly - Barney from Weipa here. We have been getting rain each day, but as Geoff says, mostly storms. The road out has been closed for a few weeks now, with Myall Creek up, and of course further south the Archer is up and Coen is cut off and getting food drops - fairly normal for this time of year. This was the wettest January on record for Weipa, but only about 700 mls, which is nothing compared to around Ingham and Townsville.
Weipa does feel the effect of the rain further south in terms of groceries - we have had no fresh fruit and veg for well over a week - nothing expected until next Friday, so that will be more than a fortnight. This week's barge delivery was late and only bread and milk, after we ran out of fresh milk early in the week - no other groceries or produce were delivered. The milk is sure to run out again, so hopefully Woolies has some stores of longlife stuff out the back - I'm not keen on the powdered variety!
Cheers

[plucker]

Good luck with the milk Barney, Townsville is without milk although you will probably get it from Malanda anyway.
You say 600mm which doesn't seem that much but I would imagine up that way it is heaps.
We have had over a meter in January which is way above average although it has only been an inch or two a day with the odd really wet day, which was 4 to 6 inches. The drainage here has coped really well unlike Ingham where the Herbert is miles over and keeps on going.
Most of the bridges in the North are a concerning point right now with Main Roads doing lots of tests before allowing traffic to flow. Some are monitored like the Burdekin bridge to Ch. Towers which is very suspect.

[Scorcher]

Hi all,

Australia certainly is a land of extremes.

I've been watching with interest all the rain activity the Cape and surrounds have been receiving, getting itchy feet to do a dash up there early this year to enjoy some of the run-off period.

Down in the south of the continent, we are getting barraged with extreme fire conditions.

I've just returned from a large fire on the NSW Central Coast, only to turn on the computor and read how badly Victoria fared today.

Scorcher

[campdog]

Scorcher,Ive watching the news on the fires closely. Its hard to believe some moron gets a thrill out of causing so much grief.Then you guys have to clean up.
John

[xina]

Just announced 50 dead so far in Victoria. With murder charges when some-one dies in a fire deliberately lit, surely the perps. won't just get a slap on the wrist this time?
xina.
6PM. Now 65 and rising. My Karma is in serious danger.

[Nedly]

Just announced 50 dead so far in Victoria. With murder charges when some-one dies in a fire deliberately lit, surely the perps. won't just get a slap on the wrist this time?
xina.
6PM. Now 65 and rising. My Karma is in serious danger.

Just watched the news, it defies comprehension what's going on down south.
I'm not normally an overly emotional type, but to hear of people perishing in their cars trying to escape the flames that some miserable, low life scumbag deliberately lit...............

[Scorcher]

And now it's up to 84, and 700 houses destroyed.

It's almost surreal watching some of the images of the destruction.

Whilst there has been an eliment of deliberately lit fires recently, a large proportion appear to have been the result of massive bands of lightning, which come out to bite us many days after they hit.

We had 2 start a few weeks back in my patch, 1 threatening a major Industrial Area. Both were due to poor maintenance of trees under power lines, causing them to arc and start the fires.

Mother nature seems to have it in for Australia at the moment !

Ok, back to my happy place (Cape York dreaming...)

Scorcher

[xina]

I know most of the fires started with Lightening Strikes, but some of them where people died were Arson, according to what I heard earlier this afternoon.
xina.

[Scorcher]

I know most of the fires started with Lightening Strikes, but some of them where people died were Arson, according to what I heard earlier this afternoon.
xina.

Xina,

Yes, it's bad enough having to deal with issues like Lightning Strikes & poorly maintained trees under power lines.

The lunatics that seem to get their jolly's out of deliberately lighting fires are another issue all-together. The hot weather always seems to bring out the "nutters" !

[Teabag]

Our thoughts go out to all those families affected by the bush fires and honestly hope there is no more loss of life. For the turkey who started the fire, well I hope they do him for murder of every victim and never sees the light of day ever again. Time to get tough with these clowns and noting his age is even more disappointing.......

Police say arsonists charged over Victoria's bushfires, could face murder charges

February 08, 2009 03:45pm

ARSONISTS charged over Victoria's bushfires could face murder charges, police say.
Thirty-five people are already confirmed to have died in the fires which struck communities across Victoria.

Police have warned to expect more fatalities.

Victoria Police Deputy Chief Commissioner Kieran Walshe has said some of the fires are believed to have been deliberately lit, but would not say which ones.

A police spokeswoman said anyone found to have lit the fires would likely be charged with murder or manslaughter.

"They can be charged with murder, it depends on the evidence that comes to hand," the spokeswoman said.

"They could be charged with manslaughter or they could be charged with murder."

The spokeswoman said efforts were currently being focused on disaster victim identification and recovery of bodies.

She said the investigation into the fires would begin at a later time.A very sad day.........

[geoffjy]

Hey Geoff,

Have the rains had much impact up there at all?
Seems every weather report we get down here says it's raining in Weipa, thought the rivers would be up by now.

Got to be hard living at Ingham at the momet, and by the sounds of it Home Hill is about to have some of the same.

Hi Nedly,

The rains have not had an impact up as of yet but as i mentioned earlier, we are still only getting storms and a bit of strong wind here and there.

The last 2 days have been reasonably dry if not hot though.

If you want to see some good pics of Ingham, go to the following web address - http://www.fishandboat.com.au/forum/showthread.php?tid=248&page=1

[geoffjy]

Hi all,

Australia certainly is a land of extremes.

I've been watching with interest all the rain activity the Cape and surrounds have been receiving, getting itchy feet to do a dash up there early this year to enjoy some of the run-off period.

Down in the south of the continent, we are getting barraged with extreme fire conditions.

I've just returned from a large fire on the NSW Central Coast, only to turn on the computor and read how badly Victoria fared today.

Scorcher

Hi Scorcher,

I have been keeping up to date with it as well.

In fact, yesterday, a friend of mine up here had a call from his cousin in NSW. They were in their house and before the fire even reached them the windows shattered and the curtains burst into flames. They were very lucky to get out.

[Hooley]

Hope they get control of the fires soon. Very worried for all you Australians at the moment and have had confirmation that my friends in Victoria are okay for now. They're quite close to Melbourne so don't think (well I hope) the fires won't get so close in to the city.

Those scumbags who started some of the fires need to be caught and dealt with to the very extent of the law. :-(

[plucker]

All the floods should start to subside and it should set the scene for a bumper couple of barra seasons. After the big wet in 99 you could just about catch a barra in the town pool they were that prolific. Took about 2-3 years for everyone to thin them out.

[Nedly]

Hi Nedly,

The rains have not had an impact up as of yet but as i mentioned earlier, we are still only getting storms and a bit of strong wind here and there.

The last 2 days have been reasonably dry if not hot though.

If you want to see some good pics of Ingham, go to the following web address - http://www.fishandboat.com.au/forum/showthread.php?tid=248&page=1

Thanks Geoff,

Had a look at the site, certainly was some water around.
They showed on the news down here some bloke fishing from the stairs to his front verandah, I think it was in Ingham.
Just standing on the stairs flicking a lure where his front yard would normally have been.

[Cookie1]

Hi people, this is my first post on this forum

I am a Nissan owner and have had 3 now starting with the trusty MQ, GQ & now the GU 3L but may move to the V8 TD 70 series next.

I've been planning a trip through the Simpson and up to the Cape but fear that we may need to abandon all plans due to the extensive flooding - we were planning to set off in May for the entire month.

Can anyone up there give us some updates on the conditions?

Cheers

[plucker]

Hi Cookie1, and welcome to the forum.
Dont know how far up the flooding really has gone as I believe Cairns to Bowen has seen the most of it.
Most of the creeks and rivers up that way would have flooded but that would be fairly typical of the Cape on an annual basis.
May is still a fair way away so lots of things can change between now and then.
I would plan like crazy with the chance that it would still be wet and at worst you might get held up. If a monsoonal low comes in closer to the due date then sorry mate but the trip is a gooner.

[yetti]

gday cookie1,

last week was the first decent rain nth of the jardine since the beginning of the wet. personally i was stuck from town tues till sat, but then got across the Larradinya. like plucker said, you should be right in may, but one system like Larry or Monica in April could stuff it till late June. Generally you should be right, but you won't necassarily be able to do all the OTL.

Mate your best bet will be RACQ website, and the cop shops at Laura, Coen, and Bamaga. Also hughy and the crew at Archer River roadhouse would be worth calling and Bramwell Roadhouse. Between all of them you should get a goood idea of whats going on.

Hope that helps,
cheers,
Bat