Burdekin Falls Dam in flood - 15 January 2007

Growing up and spending most of my life in North Queensland (Bowen, Townsville, Mount Isa), the great economic myth was to dam the Burdekin River - a mighty river in full and unimpeded flood. Then one day it did get built. The pictures above are from a gallery of pictures of the current North Queensland floods which can be accessed at The Townsville Bulletin website.

Spent a bit of time on the phone yesterday afternoon checking family were OK. My son is OK - he lives in South Townsville and it does not seem to be affected by the flooding where he is - but then that is near the mouth of the Ross River. Similarly with my friends Don and Pam who also live in South Townsville. Spoke to my sister-in-law - and they're OK. Although my niece had to go home from work (Telstra) mid afternoon because their multi-storey building in South Townsville was leaking.

My niece's home backs down to Ross River just below the Ross River Dam so I think there will be plenty of people getting out their tyres for a float down the river .The pictures of streets in Thuringowa underwater (ie Rivergum Court and Alan John and Yvette Streets) bring no element of surprise. Actually surprised Hammond Way was not rating a mention. Some of those areas should never have been built upon.

We assume from the location of the flooding that the unit Herself used to own in Hyde Park has gone under again - it has flooded twice before. There are pumps that service the drainage system in that area but they habitually fail for one reason or another. So - as you can see from The Bulletin's gallery - a lot of people (with the exception of those with damaged vehicles) are enjoying the fun in typical North Queensland fashion.