No rain just yet, but Brisbane gets on front foot with first sandbags at the ready
Brisbane residents will be given sandbags more than a month before the wet season normally begins with council concerned about floods with a high chance of a third consecutive La Nina.
Queenslandās capital copped 795 millimetres of rain ā the cityās wettest week since records began in 1840 ā when floods killed 13 people and damaged 18,000 homes and businesses across the stateās southeast in February and March.
There is a 70 per cent chance a third consecutive La Nina will bring above-average rainfall to eastern Australia this summer, the Bureau of Meteorology says.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said sandbags will be available for residents to pick up over the next three weekends from depots in Zillmere, Newmarket, Morningside and Darra.
The wet season doesnāt usually start until late October, but he said council workers have already packed 150,000 sandbags, triple the standard stockpile.
āWhile we canāt prevent severe weather, we can be better prepared, and thatās particularly important given predictions of another season of severe La Nina conditions,ā Schrinner said in a statement on Tuesday.
āSo weāre stepping up how we help residents prepare by opening our depots for the next three weekends.
āOur super sandbag weekends will not only give residents the opportunity to have sandbags at the ready, they will give them the chance to learn from the experts how best to lay sandbags.ā
The lord mayor is particularly concerned about the low-lying suburbs of Karana Downs, Archerfield, Sherwood, Toowong, Yeronga, Yeerongpilly, Chandler, Bracken Ridge and West End.
The BOM is due to publish its next La Nina forecast on Tuesday, and says the phenomenon has only occurred in three consecutive years three times since 1900.
The councilās move comes after the Liberal National Party mayor last week called for the state government to build more water supplies so dam operators wouldnāt need to worry about supplies when deciding to release water ahead of forecast floods.
Operators of Wivenhoe Dam, Brisbaneās main water supply, conducted a series of flood mitigation releases during the February-March deluge, which critics claim intensified flooding.
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Water Minister Glenn Butcher brushed off the mayorās concerns, saying water supply compartments of major dams were full, but the flood compartments were empty.
He said dam controllers needed to guarantee water supplies, and it was too early to know if flood releases will be needed this summer.
The government is still considering a report on its preparations and management of the floods handed to them by the stateās Inspector-General of Emergency Management last week.
Butcher said he hadnāt read the report, but suggested āthere could be opportunitiesā to increase the capacity of flood compartments for some dams.
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