1974 Brisbane flood
Victoria Bridge during flood
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| Date | 7 days |
|---|---|
| Location | Ipswich, Brisbane |
| Deaths | 14 |
| Property damage | A$100 million |
The 1974 Brisbane flood occurred in January 1974 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It took place when the waterways in the city experienced significant flooding. The Brisbane River, which runs through the heart of the city, broke its banks and flooded the surrounding areas.
In total, there were 14 fatalities, 300 people injured, 8000 homes destroyed and an estimated A$68 million in damages.
It had been an exceptionally wet spring, and by the end of October most of southern Queensland's river systems were nearing capacity. Cyclone Wanda pushed the systems to the limit, and drew the monsoonal trough southward, providing the additional rainfall to the Brisbane River, Bremer River and Stanley River catchments to produce widespread and severe flooding. In the early morning of 25 January heavy rain began to fall on Brisbane. During a 36-hour period 642 mm of rain fell on the city. These torrential rains were caused by Tropical Cyclone Wanda, a relatively weak cyclone which did not even rate as a category 1 cyclone.
Continual, heavy rain had fallen for three weeks, leading up to the flood, which occurred on Sunday, 27 January 1974, during the Australia Day weekend. The floods peaked at 6.6 metres (22 ft) according to the Port Office gauge at high tide at 2:15 am on 29 January. The peak flooding in the location of the city gauge was approximately 5.5 metres (18 ft).
Large areas were inundated, with at least 6,700 homes flooded. Around 13,000 buildings were affected by flooding in some way. Buildings in the Brisbane central business district were particularly hard hit. Damage at the time was estimated at some $200 million. The 67,320 tonne Robert Miller unmoored at Kangaroo Point and became adrift in the river. Two tugboats were needed to control the 15 m high and 239 m long oil tanker. The Robert Miller was the largest ship ever built in Australia at the time. A barge was sunk after becoming caught under and damaging the Centenary Bridge. The most flood affected suburb of Brisbane was Rocklea.
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