Many of you will have endured my unceasing complaints re the lack of rainfall in CQ this year, possibly with a mental note of 'It's dry *everywhere*, Artie !'. I decided to chase up some hard figures. I know this impacts gardeners of all persuasions, particularly those with tropical gardens, but I just dredged these depressing figures for Rocky (as at the GPO) from the Bureau of Meterology site. For a town which normally gets an average of 946.5 mm, we have received just 393.6 mm to date. The local shopkeeper assures me that Xmas Day will bring a deluge of biblical proportions, but I'm not sure that 500+mm in 6 days is something that we should be praying for ....

Jan, 76.2
Feb, 68.6
Mar, 40.6
Apr, 17.8
May, 4.2
Jun, 2.4
Jul, 4.0
Aug, 0.2
Sep, 15.2
Oct, 72.4
Nov, 20
Dec, 72
Total, 393.6

I know that some towns have fared even worse, particularly in the Central Highlands, but I dont know of too many communities of our size (Rocky + Capricorn Coast =~ 90,000 people), living this close to the coast, who would have figures this abysmal. We do have a magnificent reservoir called 'The Barrage', but everyone from Gladstone to Byfield seems to want 'in' on the Fitzroy freshwater reserves, so that may not be the inexhaustible crutch that we have come to rely on.

One thing which is coming to an end for many Rocky residents is 'free' water. When you see people idly hosing their footpaths and nature strips in a drought, you have to ask yourself what the mentality is in a town that sits squarely on the border with the arid interior of Oz. Personally, I refuse to 'waste' water on a lawn, but I do have to water my tropical section every few days, so I'm also in the firing line.

From June, 2005, residents will begin paying dearly for anything over 700 Kilolitres per annum (current average is 690Kl), but it may curb the habits of those of us who think water simply falls out of the sky in a steady stream ...

But here in Brissie in the City of Logan we pay very dearly for our water at 81cents a KL for every drop, how lucky you are to get 700kls of water per annum free before you start paying for it. I am on a 3/4 acre block and try to only water once a week, but that is very hard to do as the weather warms up in September and October and I often have to water twice weekly some of the garden beds when those winds come.

All my bath water goes in the ground, as does rinseing water but when it dosn't rain for five months even that does not help. We spend between $9-$10 a week on water, with two of us living here would you believe a bit more than what it cost to run my all electric house. But I like my Garden so I have to pay for it.

So far this year in my back yard we have had 955mm of rain and most of that we got Jan-March and from the end of Sept till now with no rain in between that is so much more than we have got in the last few years. Around our area NO ONE would even think of watering the lawn let alone footpaths. So I do hope that it does curb the habits of those water wasters up your way and everywhere.

Have a Happy Christmas Artie Cheers......MM.

um yeh rocky can turn it on i was supervisor at the mail centre when xmas 90 to new year 91 delivered a flood that kept us isolated for around 3 weeks. actually around those 6 years i was up there from 89 to 95 rain fall was pretty good with floods in bundaberg and mackay as well to deal with plus emerald and west was cut off with floods out there at one stage, amde my job of getting mail through very difficult didn't temper the mood of customers thought hey?

but anyway as the year aint over yet hey lol? we have attained 1200mm ytd to mid december against 1040 last year and this december so far is running 100mm below last year.

gotta go storms coming and yes i reckon we all are in for a wet xmas of sorts maybe local flooding but looks good for good general falls.

more later when the year ends.

the best to one and all for the season and the new year.

len

good little storm we got, but when rocky was flooded in at that time we were an island, isolated even from yeppoon. i remember getting ready to go to work for and afternoon shift and being just as wet after the shower and drying off as i was before. we where getting showers of between 2 and 6"s at a time now 6"s of monsoonal water is a lot of water.

depot hill was under water for weeks, food was getting short yet i still had to deal with a-holes who wanted their mail silly hey?

we had the etna creek prisoners helping ferry mail and necessisities across a 10 mile stretch of water between the golf course up near the old botanical gardens and somewhere near the mt morgan turn off on the highway, and to all concerned we never lost anything or anybody a top job to say the least.

there was a song in the top ten i think by an aussie singer something about the rain or can't stop the rain??? well everytime they played this song it poured hey, i think rocky people were on the verge of requesting the song never be played again.

enjoy the season

len

700Kl is the level at which Fitzroy Water will begin to penalise consumers, and that seems fair to me. See the link below for the official story.

misty morn I totally agree :) it sounds like youre in a similar situation to us, we get charged $500 a year and then we have to pay for water usage on top. I think most people over here have been very water wise over the last few years, but its very frustrating when our water corp is posting record profits, drought seems to be a nice little money spinner for the govt ;)

1225mm
132 rain days
this december is behind last december by 72mm (128 - 200)
last year we got 1040mm total & 104 rain days

so no complaints from these little black ducks.

happy new year to all

len

January 123.75, February 78.5, March 72, April 11, May 0, June 6, July 0, August 10.5, September 7.75,October 33.25, November 26, December 100.75. Total 569.5, total rain days 52. Every fraction counts!

Presumably it was the 33.25 in October that rescued the dam from going completely dry. A dam which has approached dryness closely three times in 26 years.

I couldn't work out how to find a figure for Mackay from the BoM but, for this year, I have an empty chart stuck to the fridge. Here's hoping.

Good to see Len's recollections of the flood/s. Found a story by Phil Jarratt in The Bulletin of the 1991 flood while cleaning out the filing cabinet; I think I'll keep that piece of paper.

Rocky floods closely connect with the Connors and Funnel floods across the old Sarina-Marlborough highway which bring back a lot of memories. Spent two days on the southern bank of Funnel Creek Dec 1972 dodging the mossies etc and making campfire coffee. The nearby landholders were angels, providing meat and so forth, to the stranded on many occasions.

Cheers
Rose

January 627 points, Feb.300, March 45, April 63. then nothing at all registered in May, Jun , July and August.
Sept.62, Oct.422. Nov.79 and December 465.
Making a total of 20 inches and 53 points.

Remember well the 1991 flood as well as quite a few others at least in 91 they had the raised railway and roundabout, used to be fun trying to get to Rocky from the south and West before that.
There is an amazing catchment for the Fitzroy River, from the north to the west and south west so it is nearly always full and the wonderful barrage keeps the salty tidal water out of the fresh water from the rivers up stream.
It is fun listening to the talk of Rockyites who are going onto water metres, it is almost as though they have had a large brown snake put in a box at their front gate. !!!!
Marion

that flood at xmas time when i was in rocky covered that round-a-bout and the railway line as i remember, they where ferrying food etc across a 10 mile stretch of water from near the mt morgan turn off to a playing field on the north side somewhere, and this went on for a couple of weeks. the mail trucks had to be unloaded and all mail put into boats to ferry it across and prisoners where used to help.

that was a lot of water.

len

Marion

yes exactly badly designed rail and road acted as a dams, they should have opted for a big & i suppose expensive viaduct and a lot higher, signs of very bad planning in this modern ara when a city can be isolated for that lenght of time, and the silliest bit where the dump is on lakes creek road is the flood plain for the fitzroy river so they are going to condense the water even more, would hate to be people in depot hill nowadays, not to mention other areas. real weird when you drive along the highway after the flood subsided and see dead cattle 20 or so foot up in the trees in some paddocks.

yes very muggy here all night around 25c humidity 91% lots of cloud coming from the monsoonal area the monsoon trough is locked into the local low trough so certainly looks good for lots of water from above, mayb rocky should be prepared???

len

I'm sure you've noticed that real estate agents dont seem to have any qualms selling in flood-prone sections of Rocky, and these areas certainly arent limited to Depot Hill. There is a creek roughly 300 metres from my home in Frenchville which has, in previous years, left owners of its leafy surrounds under several feet of water. Many people have very short memories in Queensland, IMO.

The 'it wont happen to me' attitude isnt restricted to Rocky : debate rages on regarding the possiblity of another '100-year event' leaving the occupants of Brisbane's most expensive homes flood-bound, but many of them werent there in '74, and dont believe that it could ever happen again. Nature repeatedly makes fools of us all.

realty the great floggers, and ppl who buy then try to pass there mistakes on though realty, yes we were in brissy in 74 it was all catchment flood created by reclamation of flood plains and swamps, and the reclamation has gone on lots of new sub's those concentration camp sorts you know where you have almost no land and the roofs nearly touch, those ones are all on raised flood land so the people around who have never been flooded are in doubt or should i say trouble? hey. brissy is ripe for another 74 and maybe with worse consequences.

and yes many hidden little places in rocky prone to severe flooding down the lower end of berserker st and lakes creek they even sold land with raised islands to build houses on down that way right on the fitzroy flood plain, but people are very naive and silly.

yup nature the great equaliser hey,wanna know how silly one might be try messing with nature i see it all the time.

len