Flood of 1893 still highest

THE Mary River reached a peak height of 19.24 metres at 3am on Tuesday, ranking it as the 12th highest flood in this city since 1870.

Normanby Bridge floodwater slowly recedes yesterday in Gympie. Picture: Renee Pilcher

THE Mary River reached a peak height of 19.24 metres at 3am on Tuesday, ranking it as the 12th highest flood in this city since 1870.

The 19.24m flood peak puts this week’s event in the major flood category but well below the 25.45m high achieved on February 4, 1893.

The record–holding greatest flood of 1893 was followed less than two weeks later on February 17 by a flood which reached a height of 21.08m.

A scan of Gympie flood records since the March 11, 1870 peak of 21.61m shows many floods that reached heights of about 15m and above, have often been accompanied by another flood of similar height within weeks and sometimes days. Of the 30 such events, 17 have been within a few weeks.

Floods that have attained a height of about 15m or above have occurred on:

1870: 11/03– 21.61m

1889: 29/07 – 16.92m

1890: 25/01– 19.28m; 12/03– 17.40m

1893: 04/02 – 25.45m; 17/02 – 21.08m

1898: 11/02 – 22.00m; 18/03 – 21.49m

1927: 25/01 – 17.02m *05/03 – 13m;

*24/03 – 9.45m; *26/12 – 8.33m

1928: 21/02 – 16.26m; 20/04– 15.68m

1931: 06/02 –17.63m

1947: 02/03 – 16.46m; *14/02 – 13.87m;

*08/03 – 11.53m

1948: 02/05 – 14.99m

1950: 01/03 – 16.99m

1951: 01/02 – 16.84m

1953: 22/02– 16.03m; *24/03 – 12.65m

1954: 14/07 – 15.44m; *11/02 – 13.87m;

*21/02 – 10.74m

1955: 28/03 – 21.44m; *10/03 – 13.87m

1956: 12/03 – 17.75m; *10/02 – 14.3m

1958: 11/06 – 15.77m

1971: 19/02 – 15.90m

1972: 13/02 – 18.39m; 13/04 – 15.85m

1973: 09/07 – 19.61m

1974: 26/01 – 17.65m; 28/01 – 20.73m

1983: 23/06 – 16.75m

1989: 03/04 – 19.65m; 26/04 – 19.00m

1992: 22/02 – 21.40m; 17/03– 16.12m

1999: 10/02 – 21.95m

2011: 11/01 – 19.24m

* indicates other floods to follow the same year that didn’t reach the 15m mark.

Originally published as Flood of 1893 still highest