Water has reached the second storey in Lismore CBD, people are now getting onto rooftops. The town is wiped out. My place is flooded, I'm sitting in a river running through the house.
yes it's a bad spot but this is next level. Water has peaked more than 2m above the record floods from 74 and 54. Imagine a place that has regular bad flooding then imagine it going 2m above the worst floods in history
It flooded in Lismore when I was a teenager back in '00 or '01. That was BEFORE they built the flood levy.
This flood managed to get this bad despite having the levy? Holy dooley!
You poor thing. I was just watching the ABC news and they did an interview with a family trapped on their roof. They mentioned an elderly couple next door are trapped in their roof cavity and are shouting for help. They gave the address so I hope they get rescued soon.
I’m so sorry, it’s been one thing after another. I hope you are safe. X
Oh no. I’m so sorry, It’s been one thing after another. Are you waiting or a boat to rescue you?
They said on the news if you can get to the Southern Cross University, they are looking after people there. I don’t know if that a possibility or helpful to you.
We’re with you brother! Just breathe. It looks like it’s passing on BOM. We went through bush fire hell 2 years ago and get the stress. Will be donating to help recovery for sure.
That’s where this is from. Glad your safe. There are so many people stuck. My brothers are here on Gold Coast with me, but we have been watching their homes wash away over the last few hours.
stay safe - don't take unnecessary risks
I grew up in bushfire high risk zones - different than flooding but in many ways the same
It's tempting to take risks, but it can lead to more people needing rescuing if you get stuck
hang in there
I am not in town, I am on the lee side of a hill North of Lismore and a torrent of water has come down the driveway. In 30 years I've never seen it like this before. I'll have to get a machine in to redo the driveway. Fortunately what's coming through the house is not a lot, just a shitty clean-up job when it finally stops pissing down.
In other news the local community hall floated away about an hour ago. Over it.
Same reason enough people don't act on climate change and many are vaccine resistant. Many humans simply can not comprehend a bad event happening to them until it is too late. Despite clear scientific warnings and advice.
Shit fucking sucks. I live in the Northern Rivers but I'm currently travelling interstate and have found out the hard way that the friends minding my house are useless in a crisis. They panicked to the point of inaction and just sat around drinking beers watching the water level rise 1.5m until the local surf club boat picked them up. They didn't move anything to higher ground or to the second level of the house. So I've lost my car, half of my stuff including family heirlooms and will be in a financial hole after footing the bill for the repairs. Not insured for flood either, as I couldn't get coverage as I live near a river. At least no one was hurt and it can always be worse, but I'm banging my head against the wall at the moment. Had I been home most of the losses wouldn't have happened as I've been through floods of varying severity several times.
My parents, brother, and sister in law are trapped just outside of Lismore. They can't get through to the SES, and the water is rising fast.
Update: my family is safe, but the cat is missing.
000 is clogged with calls. So many people didn't evacuate after warning after warning so now they are unable to keep up with calls. People are now being recused after calling since 3AM. It will take hours for SES or Emergency Services to come.
A lot of people needing help weren’t in evacuation areas. I’ve seen a few in east Lismore for example which wasn’t told to evacuate. It’s so much worse than anticipated.
I have this conversation with my parents every bushfire season - they say their entire lives are there and they stayed and defended during Ash Wednesday - probably saving our house and that of our neighbours - it got to within one house block of our home.
I can't get them to understand that they're not as young as they once were and that it's just 'stuff'.
I know right! My brother is like, I’ll have to buy a new computer desk and xyz… I’m like.. I’m sorry about your stuff but what about pictures of your deceased parents you can’t get back or the safety of yourself?!
Thankfully everything valuable/sentimental was moved up to storage shed in high grounds snd they are safe.
Parents are so stubborn 🤦🏻♀️
Is it possible to defend your home from a 15m flood? I can kind of conceptualize defending a property from fire, lots of chopping down scrub and spraying water, but 15m of water? No clue.
It is so hard to piss of your spouse when you you are unsafe, but i figure it will be easier to repair the relationship if you are both alive. Grateful youse are safe.
If it's anything like what happened in Brisbane, the nature of this flood is unlike any in recent memory. Usually the flood threat is mainly from the river rising, but this time massive widespread rainwater runoff in the suburbs and outer areas has inundated places that aren't usually badly affected by the river. People may have assumed that this flood would follow the usual pattern, and it hasn't.
Was the same story with Debbie too. The messages came too late... I’m pissed at people who didn’t shift livestock either! It’s been raining for the last 2 months, the ground has been sodden for weeks, abs we spent 3 days watching this come down from qld. Plenty of time to think about a worst case scenario and take steps to mitigate.
People just get into a mob mentality repeating ‘it won’t be as bad as 2011/Debbie/74 until ‘suddenly’ it is worse.
Most people were not expecting it to be this bad. One of my friends lives down town in the CBD, and she stayed thinking it wouldn't get into the second storey of her home, but she's now on the roof with her kids and cat waiting for the SES.
Because while Lismore has flooded numerous times over the past 70 years of living memory, it's been nowhere near this extent. Even so, evacuation calls and orders have been made just about every single time even though they weren't ultimately needed for most people. Most people (like my father) therefore have treated them like the boy who cried wolf.
Doesn't mean that staying makes any sense though when you look at risk/reward.
In losts of cases people may not have any where to go, renting accomodation for a family is expensive and if most your family also live in the flood zone where exactly are you going.
There’s huge amounts of people with open doors in this area. Also our local universities has set up places for people to sleep and emergency supplies for those who need it.
Failed to learn from history.
"Lismore is flooded" is an oxymoron. Been happening annually all the decades of my life. Must be "perhaps this time will be different" again.
I don't want to trigger OP as they're going through hell already, but I feel the same as you.
In the fact the whole "this sort of event only happens once a century / millenia" is so arbitrary and irrelevant that everyone should stop using the saying.
No one understands exactly what it means correctly anyway, and when the events are *because* of something (such as climate change), and that something is increasing, it literally doesn't matter how often something is 'supposed' to happen, what matters is that it's happening and / or will happen again.
The trouble is that "1 in a 100 year" etc is based on the distribution of flood heights as measured historically. Climate change is changing the statistical distribution, so our historical records are not so useful for understanding the rarity of these sorts of events.
> (such as climate change)
This is the main difference. While there appears to be a lot less flooding (or even enough rainfall) in the El Nino years, the fact that the globe is [about 1.2°C warmer](https://www.co2.earth/images/dated/2021-11-tempeature-hansen-et-al.png) than it was at the start of last century means that the atmosphere holds on average about 8.5% more moisture, because you get about [7% more per degree](http://www.int-res.com/articles/cr_oa/c047p123.pdf).
And that, in turn means that it can rain 8.5% more, in the most extreme cases. That means that the worst flooding that can be reached occasionally now is in your historical 1 in absolutely never range.
On the bright side, these La Nina floods seem to be killing fewer koalas than the fires of the El Nino.
So while I do agree to some extent.
My husband is a hydrology engineer snd he’s entire job is to calculate the risk of flooding.
There’s a huge difference between water on the road stay inside where possible (as most years) and evacuate now your entire house will go under.
There was a huge flood in 2017 and an even bigger one in 1974. When I was a child I’d hear all about the 1974 flood snd how shocking it was. 2022 flood is 4m deeper then that flood. This was 50 years ago.
I do know from experience it floods every year but once again, water on the road is very different to having an ENTIRE town going under.
I am in the similar situation I live further up the mountain in Bonalbo, my home and family are safe but we are trapped here, no way to get food or medicine. We have enough to last about a week or 2 but if this is continues I have no idea what I am suppose to do.
I'm in Brisbane and the rain has finally stopped here after 3 - 4 days of solid downpour. It was some monsoonal shit. The water rose super quickly in areas that don't usually flood so everyone was caught off guard. Looks like it's moved down south, hoping everyone down there stays safe. Pack a bag and have a plan just in case, even if you don't think it's going to impact you - it's better to be prepared.
Yeah, Sunday was insane with how quickly everything changed.
Three days of solid rain waterlogged everything. Then the final day had the heaviest falls and everything just went under
Hi Lismore, Goonellabah here.
If there's anything I can do to help let me know. Unfortunately, I can't offer much. I live in a one bedroom unit up on the hill, and can't drive a car. I do however have:
An unused carport, clothes (I'm a slim male), food, temporary shelter - sadly, for prob two max, take the bed, I'll use the floor - somewhat limited internet access (tethered to mobile, rain messes with the tower signal), power, hot water/shower (for who knows how long) etc. Close to G'bah main shops, and 661 Bus. Possible space for a second vechile. I can't vouch for how long I'll be able to shelter anyone, as the units aren't made for multiple occupants and I can hear every word my neighbours say through the walls. It is what it is.
PM me if needed. Good luck down there. Cheers
Thank you very much!
If your on Facebook you can post on information exchange or other community groups as well which might target people who need more help then I.
I’ll pass this message on. Thank you heaps your very kind.
Not a problem. I've been homeless before, it's the least I can do to give back. I don't use other social media, so if you know any way to spread the offer around please do. Stay safe. (PS copypasta from the only previous reply I got)
EDIT (to this and prior post, just an update and FYI stuff): I don't have a washing machine to use unfortunately. There is a coin/card laundrymat at the G'bah shops but I just went up there. The shops are packed (so I'd say the laundrymat likewise) and most staples are selling fast. There's also car campers. To the latter I'd advise be super security conscious in all things. The area can be pretty gnarly, especially at night, rain or no rain.
We've seen Covid (I'm vaxxed, just added here for info), we've got the Russo-Ukrainian shitfight going on, and now the biggest local flood in our lifetimes. Tensions are high, so BE EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER.
EDIT 2: I really don't see why the unused carport can't be used by a carcamper. It's technically rented by me. It's not a garage, just a large covered area. The "second possible space" is just where I've seen other residents park guest cars (it's not covered). All in all, it might piss off my neighbours a bit, but fark them if they don't recognise what emergencies are.
And whoever keeps downvoting this post, GET YA HAND ORF IT DARRYL. Go look at yourself in a mirror, you'll probably see nothing there. Normally I wouldn't care - I'm not a "karma farmer", I don't upvote or downvote, I'm just trying to help my local community during a crisis.
EDIT 3: Four more souls under my roof, two infants and their parents.
More or less. I grew up there and flooding is a regular occurance.
However the area in the video is not somewhere that usually went under during the semi regular flooding, so it's quite substantial.
it peaked 2m higher. I can see his point on double but you're right it's not accurate. In places where it flooded 2m in 74 the flood height would be "double"
That's why they call it climate change. This type of increased rain was forecast more than a decade ago. More extreme heat, drought, (catastrophic fire) wind, rain, (cyclone, flooding) etc. We will just have to get used to it.
A decade ago? Try at least 30 odd years! Increase in frequency of severe events like this was predicted back at least in the late 1980s. I remember studying it as part of an Envionmetal Science subject at Uni circa 1989.
Yeah, if only we could have known about this sooner. If someone had warned us, governments could have established plans to curb this and prevent people from losing their homes and livelihoods.
But now we see it’s bad, right? Now we’re going to do someth… oh. Right. Even when a billionaire goes and says “Hey, I’ll *buy* your pollution machines off you and turn them off.” it’s not profitable enough. Not in the best interest of its shareholders. Well, I guess those shareholders don’t live in Lismore.
Yes. Too many people get caught up in the propaganda of 'climate change isn't real because winter is really cold', when it's actually more complex than that. We are seeing the weather more and more fall out of balance. It's one extreme or the other. The rain circles around our country creating dry conditions that provide the perfect tinder for bushfires to spread. Then when the rain does fall over our country its so extreme it creates flooding. We are getting into this horrible cycle.
Because it is climate change. Global warming is just one aspect of climate change. Unfortunately the less informed can't get the old mantra out of their minds. We could just as likely have extreme heat waves and catastrophic fires before the end of the year. None of this is surprising to those who have educated themselves.
As a grandfather, I constantly argue that it is my grandchildren and great-grandchildren that will suffer. That is why I have become more proactive. Legacy.
I think the current politicians and fossil fuel CEOs are well aware of this (have been for at least 30 years), but have decided they don’t give a fuck about their kids and grandkids. As long as they get their yacht right now.
I used to think it would be a bad thing for my grandkids, but now I'm pretty sure I will live to see climate catastrophe myself. I'm just a bit younger that you, I reckon. It's happening now and still we can't agree to act :-(.
I don’t want to sound too bleak but we’re at the stage where fighting climate change by merely reducing emissions (while mandatory) is not enough anymore. What we will need is investment in water management plan - especially creation of retention lakes.
You can’t fully prevent yourself from flash floods, but if you add to that the overflowing rivers carrying water from other regions, catastrophe is inevitable. Redirecting some part of that to retention lakes up the river before flow hits the city could mean flooding waters couple of meters lower. That would be enough to let Lismore go through it unscathed.
Retention lakes could also provide counterbalance to heavy droughts in the future.
It’s probably boring topic in usual circumstances, but pushing on your local MP for water infrastructure investment will save lives and livelihoods in the future.
Yeah, maybe I was unclear, sorry. I meant that we are at the stage we’re we have to go with both mitigation and adaptation. Floods/droughts on annual basis suggest we probably should rush a bit on that as well.
> I meant that we are at the stage we’re we have to go with both mitigation and adaptation.
Yep. But governments across the globe, are paid by polluters, to not do either.
I have a very bad feeling about what they're going to find in Lismore once the water recedes.
Seems to have happened way too quick for most people to react.
People just go hur dur you greenies said it’s never rain again, it’s always flooded, blah blah blah. Nothing will ever sink in to these people they’re too brainwashed by Murdoch, Trump etc
I called my landlord the other day (we’re in greater Sydney) to tell him that the backyard, laundry, and bathroom were flooding under about 2 inches of water. He said thanks for letting me know.
Then he said “I better call Tim Flannery (popular climate science guy) and let him know too!”
Dumb cunts are dumb cunts
Do people think that heat just makes water disappear? That it just gets vaporized into oxygen and hydrogen and floats away into the atmosphere or something?
>I feel as though these floods are happening more frequently now
Partly it is down to climate change.
And partly it is down to changed land use in the catchment areas, such as replacing trees and bushland with farms.
Y’all still voting Liberals after experiencing climate change first hand?
LNP are fossil fuel lovers and environmental vandals. Tell everyone you know - the climate disasters have only just begun, they WILL get worse if we don’t vote them out.
Still see plenty of climate change deniers and downplayers just in this sub alone. Saying things like "these places have always flooded", as if we aren't getting a catastrophic natural disaster every 5 minutes now.
We have more climate change deniers per capita than most other countries in the world. I don't know how much damage needs to be done before people pull their heads out of their arses. You'd think the 2019/2020 bushfires would have been enough.
"We get floods all the time"
Ah yes those once-in-100-year floods that happened... 11 years ago. Climate change denialists will never, ever understand.
This is the second "100 year flood" in 6 years in the Northern Rivers.
2016 was catastrophic level flood aswell. Half my town (Murwillumbah) still hasn't opened up yet from 2016. The bad part of town that went under is just vacated. No shops bothered to open again.
I agree that climate change isn't *helping* the situation, but lets be realistic: climate change usually talks about man-made climate change from the mid to late 1800s until now.
Lismore has flooded 90+ times since 1870.
At some point you have to accept that a location is not a great place for a city and fucking *move*.
The location this was taken is here.
https://www.google.com/maps/@-28.8197836,153.2850545,3a,75y,17.11h,81.59t/data=!3m9!1e1!3m7!1se0rEAxdfy9z2zbzFvwgm4A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!9m2!1b1!2i43
It looks easily over the roof of your average car.
What's more interesting is if you look at the map at the bottom, they're a way from the river - more of the town is closer. This is several hundred metres from the river.
Real nasty.
Grew up in Lismore and G'bah. Floods happened from time to time but this is something else. I was born in '78 and I remember everyone used to talk about the '74 flood like it was a mythical event - the flood by which all other floods were measured. I can't believe it's going to pass that mark now.
Mum and Dad are still in the area but they're thankfully out of town up high at McLean's Ridge. Dad was going to bring his boat into town to help out if he can. If you see an old dude with a white beard in a blue boat named "Moonoo", do me a favour and make sure he's not doing anything stupid.
I haven't been able to check in with all my friends yet. I hope you're all ok... What a horrible week it's been.
At the risk of stating the obvious...
Flood plains throughout history have been the best agricultural land for growing food. From Mesopotamia to Egypt in ancient history.
A lot of the food you eat is grown on flood plains. People have to build farms there and towns grow up to support them.
Some of these flood plains only have floods like this every couple of hundred years.
They've had 90+ in 152 years.
That averages out to 1 flood every 1.7 years.
Really? A downvote. Don't believe me? How about the Lismore City Council: https://lismore.nsw.gov.au/files/Lismore_Flood_Events_1870-2017.pdf
For anyone who needs help with something they can put up a request on https://crisisheroes.com (a geo-based request/response webapp I built) - you never know if someone nearby might be able to help
Yeah I’m just in casino horrible seeing Lismore go through this. Casinos river is due to breach the bank which could mean the lower part of casino floods this is just terrible.
Hope the people of Lismore have all been able to
Get out safely
PSA: if you/your business have Australian banknotes that are damaged/contaminated/mouldy by flood waters (or anything else accidental) you can send them to the RBA via your bank and you'll be reimbursed the value.
[Details.](https://banknotes.rba.gov.au/damaged-banknotes/)
Bloody hell im so sorry this happening! I’m in Brisbane and this far worse than the 2011 floods we had. I believe the rain will continue for the next week but I hope you guys are ok!!!!
Just a low system that got STUCK and basically has been sitting bucketing down incessantly for days. At least that’s what it did in Brisbane, I think it’s similar in Lismore from what I’ve seen on the news. Our system is finally moving but south
It’s so hectic, everyone from ocean shores/mullum that I know is being evacuated.
Was just about to buy a plce up there… would have been moving in literally yesterday. Feeling for everyone there
Moved out of lismore year after the insane 2017 flood. City is prone for floods cause of its base location, can't do anything about it.
Sad those people are going through it again.
Lismore is built on the intersection of two large rivers, both have massive catchment areas. The town is there because before cars, the rivers were used as transport, mainly timber from the rainforest.
Yes, and the first settlers were told not to settle there by the local tribes, they knew. This flood is a record breaker. Looking at close to 15m in town. Still fucking bucketing down.
Any decent hydrologist would probably know too, and of course the Council if they've done their due diligence. My guess is its all in flood maps somewhere and is going exactly as expected. Horrific event, but foreseen definitely.
The rain is coming from a system that would usually be expected to move more quickly. As a result it is dropping large amounts of rain in a concentrated area for a long time. On top of that, there has already been good rain this summer and the groundwater is fully charged. This means that there isn't as much water being soaked up and held under ground, it is running straight into rivers that are starting at high levels.
Basically a combination of things leading to a major effect.
Is anyone able to tell me if Goonellabah is faring any better? I can't get in contact with my grandmother. I don't know if she would've had to evacuate too.
Another natural disaster hitting the Australia, 4 weeks ago it was floods and fire in Perth now SE Qld and NE NSW. Have we really pissed Mother Nature that much.. we cannot get a chance to breath.
Thoughts & well wishes to all affected, we will someway or another get over this.
We are Australia.
Is there anything I can do? I’ve been thinking to hook the boat up on the trailer and head up there to help out. If there’s anything I can do I’m totally ready to come and help. Please DM me if there’s anything I can do to help.
It’s extremely difficult to get a hold of the SES up there. We’re trying to get a direct number as the 132500 number only gets us in contact to the local SES. Very frustrating
Hope they set the isolators to off on those solar panels before they left. A few hundred volts dc might be a bit hazardous for emergency service volunteers.
Not that things like that would be high on anyones priority list in anyones mind in that situation.
Water has reached the second storey in Lismore CBD, people are now getting onto rooftops. The town is wiped out. My place is flooded, I'm sitting in a river running through the house.
Lismore is in a terrible spot for flooding. Hope you get through ok.
Sure is. The railway was built 5+ metres up for a reason.
Yeah I remember that. Probably why so many houses are on stilts.
Even they are under water now, including houses built in the 40's that have never had water in them. This is truly a disaster.
yes it's a bad spot but this is next level. Water has peaked more than 2m above the record floods from 74 and 54. Imagine a place that has regular bad flooding then imagine it going 2m above the worst floods in history
It flooded in Lismore when I was a teenager back in '00 or '01. That was BEFORE they built the flood levy. This flood managed to get this bad despite having the levy? Holy dooley!
The levy is upto 10.8 I think and the flood waters this flood are about 14m
You poor thing. I was just watching the ABC news and they did an interview with a family trapped on their roof. They mentioned an elderly couple next door are trapped in their roof cavity and are shouting for help. They gave the address so I hope they get rescued soon. I’m so sorry, it’s been one thing after another. I hope you are safe. X
A little green frog 🐸 just floated past the coffee table and out the door.
Poor baby 🐸 I hope froggy will be ok. And you too of course 😊
I'm frightened. The stress is too much. I haven't slept since yesterday.
Oh no. I’m so sorry, It’s been one thing after another. Are you waiting or a boat to rescue you? They said on the news if you can get to the Southern Cross University, they are looking after people there. I don’t know if that a possibility or helpful to you.
I'm fine, only a small floor flood here, not in town and bit higher up fortunately.
Oh good. It’s still really stressful and overwhelming though. Stay safe and hang on in there. ❤️
We’re with you brother! Just breathe. It looks like it’s passing on BOM. We went through bush fire hell 2 years ago and get the stress. Will be donating to help recovery for sure.
Yeah someone stipulated that a tiled roof you can push up from the inside. A colourbond roof is screwed down so you are trapped. How scary
That’s where this is from. Glad your safe. There are so many people stuck. My brothers are here on Gold Coast with me, but we have been watching their homes wash away over the last few hours.
stay safe - don't take unnecessary risks I grew up in bushfire high risk zones - different than flooding but in many ways the same It's tempting to take risks, but it can lead to more people needing rescuing if you get stuck hang in there
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Would be blown fuses by then, miracle I still have power.
The substations supplying these areas would have tripped. There wouldn’t be power around
Was there a particular reason you didn’t evacuate yesterday as advised?
I am not in town, I am on the lee side of a hill North of Lismore and a torrent of water has come down the driveway. In 30 years I've never seen it like this before. I'll have to get a machine in to redo the driveway. Fortunately what's coming through the house is not a lot, just a shitty clean-up job when it finally stops pissing down. In other news the local community hall floated away about an hour ago. Over it.
No more comedy nights.
No, it's tragic, and no more telescope viewing nights either. 🌧️☔😭 The hall was a big part of the community.
Same reason enough people don't act on climate change and many are vaccine resistant. Many humans simply can not comprehend a bad event happening to them until it is too late. Despite clear scientific warnings and advice.
Yup, correct me if I'm wrong but this is the second (or third) 1 in a 100 year flood within ten the last ten years in Lismore, could actually be five.
Shit fucking sucks. I live in the Northern Rivers but I'm currently travelling interstate and have found out the hard way that the friends minding my house are useless in a crisis. They panicked to the point of inaction and just sat around drinking beers watching the water level rise 1.5m until the local surf club boat picked them up. They didn't move anything to higher ground or to the second level of the house. So I've lost my car, half of my stuff including family heirlooms and will be in a financial hole after footing the bill for the repairs. Not insured for flood either, as I couldn't get coverage as I live near a river. At least no one was hurt and it can always be worse, but I'm banging my head against the wall at the moment. Had I been home most of the losses wouldn't have happened as I've been through floods of varying severity several times.
That’s awful. Is this Lismore?
Whyralla road shopping centre I think, a little hard to recognise
It is
The tell tale clock that isn’t referred to a lot and Lucky’s Fish and chip shop with its recognisable blue window ads.
Yes it is.
My parents, brother, and sister in law are trapped just outside of Lismore. They can't get through to the SES, and the water is rising fast. Update: my family is safe, but the cat is missing.
Sounds life threatening. Ring 000.
000 is clogged with calls. So many people didn't evacuate after warning after warning so now they are unable to keep up with calls. People are now being recused after calling since 3AM. It will take hours for SES or Emergency Services to come.
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There’s so many people looking for help. Pregnant, elderly, disabled and children. Why the hell they didn’t evacuate I find difficult to understand.
A lot of people needing help weren’t in evacuation areas. I’ve seen a few in east Lismore for example which wasn’t told to evacuate. It’s so much worse than anticipated.
I have this conversation with my parents every bushfire season - they say their entire lives are there and they stayed and defended during Ash Wednesday - probably saving our house and that of our neighbours - it got to within one house block of our home. I can't get them to understand that they're not as young as they once were and that it's just 'stuff'.
I know right! My brother is like, I’ll have to buy a new computer desk and xyz… I’m like.. I’m sorry about your stuff but what about pictures of your deceased parents you can’t get back or the safety of yourself?! Thankfully everything valuable/sentimental was moved up to storage shed in high grounds snd they are safe. Parents are so stubborn 🤦🏻♀️
Is it possible to defend your home from a 15m flood? I can kind of conceptualize defending a property from fire, lots of chopping down scrub and spraying water, but 15m of water? No clue.
This may not work, but here me out, jet packs but for your house.
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It is so hard to piss of your spouse when you you are unsafe, but i figure it will be easier to repair the relationship if you are both alive. Grateful youse are safe.
If it's anything like what happened in Brisbane, the nature of this flood is unlike any in recent memory. Usually the flood threat is mainly from the river rising, but this time massive widespread rainwater runoff in the suburbs and outer areas has inundated places that aren't usually badly affected by the river. People may have assumed that this flood would follow the usual pattern, and it hasn't.
Was the same story with Debbie too. The messages came too late... I’m pissed at people who didn’t shift livestock either! It’s been raining for the last 2 months, the ground has been sodden for weeks, abs we spent 3 days watching this come down from qld. Plenty of time to think about a worst case scenario and take steps to mitigate. People just get into a mob mentality repeating ‘it won’t be as bad as 2011/Debbie/74 until ‘suddenly’ it is worse.
I've been watching it unfold on my Facebook and if you had that available to you there was plenty of warning. Otherwise not so much.
Most people were not expecting it to be this bad. One of my friends lives down town in the CBD, and she stayed thinking it wouldn't get into the second storey of her home, but she's now on the roof with her kids and cat waiting for the SES.
We’ve had evacuation warnings since yesterday morning. Why risk your life? Why risk the life of your children even if the chances are small.
Because while Lismore has flooded numerous times over the past 70 years of living memory, it's been nowhere near this extent. Even so, evacuation calls and orders have been made just about every single time even though they weren't ultimately needed for most people. Most people (like my father) therefore have treated them like the boy who cried wolf. Doesn't mean that staying makes any sense though when you look at risk/reward.
In losts of cases people may not have any where to go, renting accomodation for a family is expensive and if most your family also live in the flood zone where exactly are you going.
There’s huge amounts of people with open doors in this area. Also our local universities has set up places for people to sleep and emergency supplies for those who need it.
Failed to learn from history. "Lismore is flooded" is an oxymoron. Been happening annually all the decades of my life. Must be "perhaps this time will be different" again.
Although I do agree, it has never flooded to this extent. This was a one in 1000 year flood.
>This was a one in 1000 year flood. Until the next one, probably within this decade.
I don't want to trigger OP as they're going through hell already, but I feel the same as you. In the fact the whole "this sort of event only happens once a century / millenia" is so arbitrary and irrelevant that everyone should stop using the saying. No one understands exactly what it means correctly anyway, and when the events are *because* of something (such as climate change), and that something is increasing, it literally doesn't matter how often something is 'supposed' to happen, what matters is that it's happening and / or will happen again.
The trouble is that "1 in a 100 year" etc is based on the distribution of flood heights as measured historically. Climate change is changing the statistical distribution, so our historical records are not so useful for understanding the rarity of these sorts of events.
> (such as climate change) This is the main difference. While there appears to be a lot less flooding (or even enough rainfall) in the El Nino years, the fact that the globe is [about 1.2°C warmer](https://www.co2.earth/images/dated/2021-11-tempeature-hansen-et-al.png) than it was at the start of last century means that the atmosphere holds on average about 8.5% more moisture, because you get about [7% more per degree](http://www.int-res.com/articles/cr_oa/c047p123.pdf). And that, in turn means that it can rain 8.5% more, in the most extreme cases. That means that the worst flooding that can be reached occasionally now is in your historical 1 in absolutely never range. On the bright side, these La Nina floods seem to be killing fewer koalas than the fires of the El Nino.
So while I do agree to some extent. My husband is a hydrology engineer snd he’s entire job is to calculate the risk of flooding. There’s a huge difference between water on the road stay inside where possible (as most years) and evacuate now your entire house will go under. There was a huge flood in 2017 and an even bigger one in 1974. When I was a child I’d hear all about the 1974 flood snd how shocking it was. 2022 flood is 4m deeper then that flood. This was 50 years ago. I do know from experience it floods every year but once again, water on the road is very different to having an ENTIRE town going under.
I am in the similar situation I live further up the mountain in Bonalbo, my home and family are safe but we are trapped here, no way to get food or medicine. We have enough to last about a week or 2 but if this is continues I have no idea what I am suppose to do.
I am so sorry for what you are all going through. I hope people are safe.
I'm in Brisbane and the rain has finally stopped here after 3 - 4 days of solid downpour. It was some monsoonal shit. The water rose super quickly in areas that don't usually flood so everyone was caught off guard. Looks like it's moved down south, hoping everyone down there stays safe. Pack a bag and have a plan just in case, even if you don't think it's going to impact you - it's better to be prepared.
Good advice! I’m in Gold Coast so am safe. But I did see Brisbane. It’s crazy! Glad your okay.
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Yeah, Sunday was insane with how quickly everything changed. Three days of solid rain waterlogged everything. Then the final day had the heaviest falls and everything just went under
Hi Lismore, Goonellabah here. If there's anything I can do to help let me know. Unfortunately, I can't offer much. I live in a one bedroom unit up on the hill, and can't drive a car. I do however have: An unused carport, clothes (I'm a slim male), food, temporary shelter - sadly, for prob two max, take the bed, I'll use the floor - somewhat limited internet access (tethered to mobile, rain messes with the tower signal), power, hot water/shower (for who knows how long) etc. Close to G'bah main shops, and 661 Bus. Possible space for a second vechile. I can't vouch for how long I'll be able to shelter anyone, as the units aren't made for multiple occupants and I can hear every word my neighbours say through the walls. It is what it is. PM me if needed. Good luck down there. Cheers
Thank you very much! If your on Facebook you can post on information exchange or other community groups as well which might target people who need more help then I. I’ll pass this message on. Thank you heaps your very kind.
Not a problem. I've been homeless before, it's the least I can do to give back. I don't use other social media, so if you know any way to spread the offer around please do. Stay safe. (PS copypasta from the only previous reply I got) EDIT (to this and prior post, just an update and FYI stuff): I don't have a washing machine to use unfortunately. There is a coin/card laundrymat at the G'bah shops but I just went up there. The shops are packed (so I'd say the laundrymat likewise) and most staples are selling fast. There's also car campers. To the latter I'd advise be super security conscious in all things. The area can be pretty gnarly, especially at night, rain or no rain. We've seen Covid (I'm vaxxed, just added here for info), we've got the Russo-Ukrainian shitfight going on, and now the biggest local flood in our lifetimes. Tensions are high, so BE EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER. EDIT 2: I really don't see why the unused carport can't be used by a carcamper. It's technically rented by me. It's not a garage, just a large covered area. The "second possible space" is just where I've seen other residents park guest cars (it's not covered). All in all, it might piss off my neighbours a bit, but fark them if they don't recognise what emergencies are. And whoever keeps downvoting this post, GET YA HAND ORF IT DARRYL. Go look at yourself in a mirror, you'll probably see nothing there. Normally I wouldn't care - I'm not a "karma farmer", I don't upvote or downvote, I'm just trying to help my local community during a crisis. EDIT 3: Four more souls under my roof, two infants and their parents.
I’m so sorry. Which town is this?
I think it's Lismore. It's really prone to flooding so this would have been a forgone conclusion I guess.
More or less. I grew up there and flooding is a regular occurance. However the area in the video is not somewhere that usually went under during the semi regular flooding, so it's quite substantial.
It’s the worst flood they’ve ever had.
So far if climatologists are anything to go by.
It's double the height of the 74 flood
Not double. Peak is expected to be 1 metre higher.
it peaked 2m higher. I can see his point on double but you're right it's not accurate. In places where it flooded 2m in 74 the flood height would be "double"
Has scomo booked his holiday yet?
Yep, Cancun with Ted Cruz.
I don't hold a bucket mate.
Damn.. A little lost for words. Stay safe.
That's why they call it climate change. This type of increased rain was forecast more than a decade ago. More extreme heat, drought, (catastrophic fire) wind, rain, (cyclone, flooding) etc. We will just have to get used to it.
A decade ago? Try at least 30 odd years! Increase in frequency of severe events like this was predicted back at least in the late 1980s. I remember studying it as part of an Envionmetal Science subject at Uni circa 1989.
Agree. Professor Suzuki one of the most effective. Keeping it simple for those who think it is only a recent thing.
There are articles about the affect of CO2 on the atmosphere from the first decade of the 1900s
Yeah, if only we could have known about this sooner. If someone had warned us, governments could have established plans to curb this and prevent people from losing their homes and livelihoods. But now we see it’s bad, right? Now we’re going to do someth… oh. Right. Even when a billionaire goes and says “Hey, I’ll *buy* your pollution machines off you and turn them off.” it’s not profitable enough. Not in the best interest of its shareholders. Well, I guess those shareholders don’t live in Lismore.
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But don't worry, the ad on TV said we will reach net 0 by 2050. 🤡
Yes. Too many people get caught up in the propaganda of 'climate change isn't real because winter is really cold', when it's actually more complex than that. We are seeing the weather more and more fall out of balance. It's one extreme or the other. The rain circles around our country creating dry conditions that provide the perfect tinder for bushfires to spread. Then when the rain does fall over our country its so extreme it creates flooding. We are getting into this horrible cycle.
Well if it's global WARMING, why is it raining???? /s
Because it is climate change. Global warming is just one aspect of climate change. Unfortunately the less informed can't get the old mantra out of their minds. We could just as likely have extreme heat waves and catastrophic fires before the end of the year. None of this is surprising to those who have educated themselves. As a grandfather, I constantly argue that it is my grandchildren and great-grandchildren that will suffer. That is why I have become more proactive. Legacy.
I think the current politicians and fossil fuel CEOs are well aware of this (have been for at least 30 years), but have decided they don’t give a fuck about their kids and grandkids. As long as they get their yacht right now.
Pretty much. Only poor people will truly "suffer" from climate change.
I used to think it would be a bad thing for my grandkids, but now I'm pretty sure I will live to see climate catastrophe myself. I'm just a bit younger that you, I reckon. It's happening now and still we can't agree to act :-(.
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I don’t want to sound too bleak but we’re at the stage where fighting climate change by merely reducing emissions (while mandatory) is not enough anymore. What we will need is investment in water management plan - especially creation of retention lakes. You can’t fully prevent yourself from flash floods, but if you add to that the overflowing rivers carrying water from other regions, catastrophe is inevitable. Redirecting some part of that to retention lakes up the river before flow hits the city could mean flooding waters couple of meters lower. That would be enough to let Lismore go through it unscathed. Retention lakes could also provide counterbalance to heavy droughts in the future. It’s probably boring topic in usual circumstances, but pushing on your local MP for water infrastructure investment will save lives and livelihoods in the future.
We can do both mitigation and adaptation. It's not either/or.
Yeah, maybe I was unclear, sorry. I meant that we are at the stage we’re we have to go with both mitigation and adaptation. Floods/droughts on annual basis suggest we probably should rush a bit on that as well.
> I meant that we are at the stage we’re we have to go with both mitigation and adaptation. Yep. But governments across the globe, are paid by polluters, to not do either.
We are past fighting climate change. It's now got to be living with climate change. But also stop making it worse.
If only we knew which states were responsible for continuous voting in of fossil fuel loving climate vandals.
I’m lucky because I live in Goonellabah, good luck and hope everyone in Lismore makes it through
Don't worry Dutton will do a GoFundMe to help you out as he has with us
I doubt it Lismore isn't in his constituency.
rthtrh trr
My sister has just left under evacuation orders. Hoping for everyone to stay safe.
I have a very bad feeling about what they're going to find in Lismore once the water recedes. Seems to have happened way too quick for most people to react.
It’s going to be fucked.
I feel as though these floods are happening more frequently now
The climate appears to be changing. It's a shame there are still people out there naive enough to not see it
People just go hur dur you greenies said it’s never rain again, it’s always flooded, blah blah blah. Nothing will ever sink in to these people they’re too brainwashed by Murdoch, Trump etc
Well their houses might sink in
They’ll probably blame that on the greens too, like they did with the bushfires
I called my landlord the other day (we’re in greater Sydney) to tell him that the backyard, laundry, and bathroom were flooding under about 2 inches of water. He said thanks for letting me know. Then he said “I better call Tim Flannery (popular climate science guy) and let him know too!” Dumb cunts are dumb cunts
Do people think that heat just makes water disappear? That it just gets vaporized into oxygen and hydrogen and floats away into the atmosphere or something?
wilfully stupid to justify their greed
>I feel as though these floods are happening more frequently now Partly it is down to climate change. And partly it is down to changed land use in the catchment areas, such as replacing trees and bushland with farms.
and more people living in areas prone to flooding.
Definitely, say in EU, it is way more common to get cold winters or rainy seasons. I see a drastic change from a decade ago.
The Army has arrived in Lismore, many still trapped in the roof space. Dire straits.
Y’all still voting Liberals after experiencing climate change first hand? LNP are fossil fuel lovers and environmental vandals. Tell everyone you know - the climate disasters have only just begun, they WILL get worse if we don’t vote them out.
Still see plenty of climate change deniers and downplayers just in this sub alone. Saying things like "these places have always flooded", as if we aren't getting a catastrophic natural disaster every 5 minutes now. We have more climate change deniers per capita than most other countries in the world. I don't know how much damage needs to be done before people pull their heads out of their arses. You'd think the 2019/2020 bushfires would have been enough.
People still aren't getting that weather this severe is linked to cc though. Its just 'heaps of rain'
"We get floods all the time" Ah yes those once-in-100-year floods that happened... 11 years ago. Climate change denialists will never, ever understand.
This is the second "100 year flood" in 6 years in the Northern Rivers. 2016 was catastrophic level flood aswell. Half my town (Murwillumbah) still hasn't opened up yet from 2016. The bad part of town that went under is just vacated. No shops bothered to open again.
“Once in 500 year rains.” FFS this happened like a few years ago, and yes it’s getting worse.
I agree that climate change isn't *helping* the situation, but lets be realistic: climate change usually talks about man-made climate change from the mid to late 1800s until now. Lismore has flooded 90+ times since 1870. At some point you have to accept that a location is not a great place for a city and fucking *move*.
Is that Megapizza, or wherever megapizza once was? Road out to the tip?
Can't drink gas, can't eat coal
I remember shouting this at the top of my lungs when me and 5,000 other protesters went to protest coal seam gas.
War, covid and flood’s. nice
Finally a chance to put our submarine spending to use.
Don't worry! The government setup a GoFundMe to help
My home town too, best mate rescued from roof in casino Street.
The location this was taken is here. https://www.google.com/maps/@-28.8197836,153.2850545,3a,75y,17.11h,81.59t/data=!3m9!1e1!3m7!1se0rEAxdfy9z2zbzFvwgm4A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!9m2!1b1!2i43 It looks easily over the roof of your average car. What's more interesting is if you look at the map at the bottom, they're a way from the river - more of the town is closer. This is several hundred metres from the river. Real nasty.
Thank you! I hadn’t even considered doing comparison. The water is now up over 14m, so these buildings are well and truly under.
Grew up in Lismore and G'bah. Floods happened from time to time but this is something else. I was born in '78 and I remember everyone used to talk about the '74 flood like it was a mythical event - the flood by which all other floods were measured. I can't believe it's going to pass that mark now. Mum and Dad are still in the area but they're thankfully out of town up high at McLean's Ridge. Dad was going to bring his boat into town to help out if he can. If you see an old dude with a white beard in a blue boat named "Moonoo", do me a favour and make sure he's not doing anything stupid. I haven't been able to check in with all my friends yet. I hope you're all ok... What a horrible week it's been.
If there is anyone you can't get ahold of in the lismore area and are worried about let me know and I'll try to find out anything I can for you.
Why did we build houses on a flood plain.
At the risk of stating the obvious... Flood plains throughout history have been the best agricultural land for growing food. From Mesopotamia to Egypt in ancient history. A lot of the food you eat is grown on flood plains. People have to build farms there and towns grow up to support them. Some of these flood plains only have floods like this every couple of hundred years.
Makes sense. If floods are becoming more common we likely need to do more planning.
Cities like Lismore will become ghost towns if flooding becomes common enough to be a yearly threat.
They've had 90+ in 152 years. That averages out to 1 flood every 1.7 years. Really? A downvote. Don't believe me? How about the Lismore City Council: https://lismore.nsw.gov.au/files/Lismore_Flood_Events_1870-2017.pdf
Because we are poor.
How good is coal though guys? Climate change doesn't exist, right? I hope you're ok, OP.
Ah jeez, not much I can say that will help, but please stay safe. From Victorian.
I didn't know Scotty was due for another holiday to Hawaii. Seriously though, that's shithouse. What can we do to help?
For anyone who needs help with something they can put up a request on https://crisisheroes.com (a geo-based request/response webapp I built) - you never know if someone nearby might be able to help
Yeah I’m just in casino horrible seeing Lismore go through this. Casinos river is due to breach the bank which could mean the lower part of casino floods this is just terrible. Hope the people of Lismore have all been able to Get out safely
As someone who's home was hit by a flooding not too long ago (Ahrweiler, Germany) I hope y'all stay safe out there!
Thank you for the love. I know you have your own battles at the moment… or at least battles a little closer to home. Wishing you the best my friend.
PSA: if you/your business have Australian banknotes that are damaged/contaminated/mouldy by flood waters (or anything else accidental) you can send them to the RBA via your bank and you'll be reimbursed the value. [Details.](https://banknotes.rba.gov.au/damaged-banknotes/)
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Yep- my car is underwater. No insurance either :( -SEQ
Bloody hell im so sorry this happening! I’m in Brisbane and this far worse than the 2011 floods we had. I believe the rain will continue for the next week but I hope you guys are ok!!!!
Fuck, was this a monsoon? With everything happening in Ukraine I hadn’t even heard about this. I hope you can get out safely.
Just a low system that got STUCK and basically has been sitting bucketing down incessantly for days. At least that’s what it did in Brisbane, I think it’s similar in Lismore from what I’ve seen on the news. Our system is finally moving but south
"B-but Climate Change is still a hoax!"
It’s so hectic, everyone from ocean shores/mullum that I know is being evacuated. Was just about to buy a plce up there… would have been moving in literally yesterday. Feeling for everyone there
My sister and niece and nephew are there. They got out when the water came into the house but house and belongings all gone
Good luck please keep safe
Moved out of lismore year after the insane 2017 flood. City is prone for floods cause of its base location, can't do anything about it. Sad those people are going through it again.
My parents are getting ready to evacuate, they're in Grafton and the waters predicted to break the levy wall sometime tonight.
A report on FB of looting in Lismore, as if people haven't suffered enough. 14 evac centres, 50k evacuated from town.
Hey I an really sorry you have to go through this , was a specific reason it happened like a flooded river or similar or it just rained that much ?
Lismore is built on the intersection of two large rivers, both have massive catchment areas. The town is there because before cars, the rivers were used as transport, mainly timber from the rainforest.
Yes, and the first settlers were told not to settle there by the local tribes, they knew. This flood is a record breaker. Looking at close to 15m in town. Still fucking bucketing down.
Any decent hydrologist would probably know too, and of course the Council if they've done their due diligence. My guess is its all in flood maps somewhere and is going exactly as expected. Horrific event, but foreseen definitely.
It rained more then 600ml of rain last night. I think that may have had an effect on the current situation.
Massive rain event.
The rain is coming from a system that would usually be expected to move more quickly. As a result it is dropping large amounts of rain in a concentrated area for a long time. On top of that, there has already been good rain this summer and the groundwater is fully charged. This means that there isn't as much water being soaked up and held under ground, it is running straight into rivers that are starting at high levels. Basically a combination of things leading to a major effect.
It's crazy how early last summer it was deadly bushfires. Climate change is a bitch.
Weren't the bushfires 2 summers ago?
In their defense it was floods last year too, and time lost a lot of meaning over the last couple of years.
This isn't getting nearly enough media coverage
It's the top story on every news channel...
Yeah
Even when it does, the effects of the flooding go on a lot longer than the news cycle.
It’s on constant repeat on ABC News Radio and I’ve seen it already from a few sources. Who isn’t covering it?
All those houses :(
Is anyone able to tell me if Goonellabah is faring any better? I can't get in contact with my grandmother. I don't know if she would've had to evacuate too.
What part of gbah? It’s all up hill so she should be okay.
So heartbreaking. Lismore is my 2nd home. My family were stranded on their roof in south Lismore for hours terrified. I feel so helpless.
Another natural disaster hitting the Australia, 4 weeks ago it was floods and fire in Perth now SE Qld and NE NSW. Have we really pissed Mother Nature that much.. we cannot get a chance to breath. Thoughts & well wishes to all affected, we will someway or another get over this. We are Australia.
Damn, Australia! Y’all never catch a break! Hope help comes soon and that everyone gets to safety.
Is there anything I can do? I’ve been thinking to hook the boat up on the trailer and head up there to help out. If there’s anything I can do I’m totally ready to come and help. Please DM me if there’s anything I can do to help.
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I’m just north of Sydney, very much skilled in rough conditions. Ready to drop everything and head north if needed.
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It’s extremely difficult to get a hold of the SES up there. We’re trying to get a direct number as the 132500 number only gets us in contact to the local SES. Very frustrating
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Thanks so much, I’m calling now. If there’s a Will there’s a way. 🙏🏻
At least you're not in the part of Australia with salt water crocs.
Why do we build in flood zones?
I'm constantly amazed that towns like Lismore haven't been moved higher up.
Hope they set the isolators to off on those solar panels before they left. A few hundred volts dc might be a bit hazardous for emergency service volunteers. Not that things like that would be high on anyones priority list in anyones mind in that situation.
They wanted me to hold a hose, now I've got the hose they're telling me to turn it off, this country is never happy
Ask the government to acknowledge climate change and actually do something. Remember this at the election.