‘No comparison’ to 2011 as Wivenhoe Dam releases explained

Authorities have doubled down on assurances that controlled water releases from Wivenhoe Dam won’t create the same devastation South East Queensland experienced in 2011.

Authorities have doubled down on assurances that controlled water releases from Wivenhoe Dam won’t create the same devastation Brisbane experienced in 2011.

Seqwater was pressed by reporters at a press conference on Sunday about why authorities hadn’t made precautionary releases of water from the dam network, given the expected rainfall, to avoid similar impacts of the 2011 floods, which inundated the city.

“To release water from a dam, particularly if you make a decision to release large volumes of water from a dam, you can’t get it back,” SEQ Water’s Mike Foster said.

Water being released at Wivenhoe Dam. Picture: Claudia Baxter / The Queensland Times

“Once you release the water, it’s gone. So if you’ve got forecasts that are telling you that there is a massive amount of water coming in, say the forecast doesn’t eventuate, we have put large amounts of water into the mid Brisbane River, what we’re doing is exacerbating the flooding.”

When the water management authority was asked about the comparisons to the devastating flooding in 2011, Mr Foster said: “I’m not going to get into a compare and contrast because we are managing the event as we speak”.

He said he was confident, based on the forecasting, that the release plan was working.

“We are able to continue to use the flood compartment as we have and we will continue to fill that flood compartment,” he said.

“We have the luxury of a very large flood compartment that allows us to better manage the size of the flows we are required to make downstream.”

The inner city suburbs of Yeronga and Fairfield were inundated by flood waters after the Brisbane River reached 4.46 metres in 2011. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

Wivenhoe Dam has reached 160 per cent and its 2 million-megalitre flood storage facility is more than 40 per cent full.

A “rain bomb” lingering over southeast Queensland has now prompted Seqwater to undertake controlled water releases.

The water releases in the midst of rising floodwaters has drawn fearful comparisons with 2011, where thousands of homes were inundated as a result of the negligent management of the dam.

Boats and debris have slammed into Milton Terminal. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Earlier on Sunday Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk assured residents the flood emergency facing southeast Queensland was ”not the same situation as 2011”.

“What we’ve seen is those extraordinary levels of water going into our SEQ grid, but also into Wivenhoe as well,” she said.

“We had an inquiry following the 2011 floods, the dam manuals have been updated and I have been absolutely assured that those dam manuals are being followed and that means controlled releases. That is safety for SEQ residents.”

Controlled releases have occurred since 4am and Seqwater has reminded residents it takes between 16 and 24 hours for the released water to travel downstream.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in the operations room at the Kedron Emergency Services Complex with Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski and Commissioner Katarina Carroll. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water Director-General Graham Fraine said the releases would be timed to have the smallest impact on water levels.

“Seqwater continues to work closely with the Bureau and also with local governments to monitor exactly how that flow release will roll out over time and will continue to adjust that to suit,” he said.

Mr Fraine said people would recall in the lead up to 2011 was a “high level of saturation in the ground from a long wet Autumn period and a long wet winter period that year”.

Eagle Street Pier at high tide. Picture: Adrian Schrinner

He said Wivenhoe’s capacity was at a “much higher level” than the 58 per cent recorded last week and declared authorities were “monitoring the releases on a regular basis as the weather adapts”.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said this was a “unique event” different to the one 11 years ago.

“It is different to 2011 in 2011 we saw the rain had stopped while the river continued to rise … right now we’re seeing rain bucketing down,” he said.

“We have a rain bomb above southeast Queensland and it continues to come down.”

Originally published as ‘No comparison’ to 2011 as Wivenhoe Dam releases explained