Survivor’s tale: over-warned is better than under-prepared

JK says:

01:12pm | 03/02/11

Over-warned,?  tsk…. There is a comment on FB this morning that Anna Bligh ‘cried wolf’‘.  No, Anna Bligh (if she is solely responsible) most probably saved lives.  So pleased the impact of the storm wasn’t as intense as predicted and very happy that you David and your family are safe and sound after a night of terror.
Over-warned ?- they can over warn me anytime under the same circumstances - though I doubt ‘our’ Kristina has the same nous as your Anna.

PatC says:

01:44pm | 03/02/11

I don’t think we can be “over warned” in terms of the quantity and range of warnings but I’m sure we can be under warned in the quality of the warnings given.

So far the cyclone warnings I’ve seen here in Queensland have been excellent, meaningful and factually without speaking down to people. Having the warnings signed for the hearing impaired gives Anna an extra dose of kudos.

Warnings that are too general and full of “might’s” maybes’ and “perhaps’s” are soon ignored or forgotten. A case in point is this. The flood warnings for our area was worded the same as the initial flood warnings for Lockyer Creek. Our event was a little inconvenient, Lockyer Creek was tragic.

Stephen says:

01:54pm | 03/02/11

Cyclone chose to squeeze between 2 major populaition centres.  Storm surge was on low tide due to slowing of cyclone.  Thats just luck luck luck, that it didn’t hit on high tide & also (no offence to the small communities) both Cairns & Townsville were spared the brunt.  How can you over warn people about 285kph winds, where the final destination and eta were in the hands of fate?  I am sure there are people alive in Tully & Cardwell today due to being over warned.  Overwarned to leave their low lying homes, swamped by the surge, even at low tide, at Cardwell, and sheltering in Evac centres whilst their roofs were ripped off their houses in Tully.

Perhaps we should have followed the 74 Tracy model - ignore the over warnings & die when the house gets ripped apart?

Steve says:

02:39pm | 03/02/11

Very impressed with Bligh.  A lot more impressive and credible Premier than that woman in NSW with a strange hair cut (what’s her name?)

Mary Monica Roche says:

03:35pm | 03/02/11

Only Mount Isa, Birdsville and maybe the Gold coast has yet to be flooded in Queensland which has beautiful Inland Sea one day and a Perfect Inland Sea the next.
Are there any broncos,lions,and cowboys left in Queensland?
Queensland beautifully flooded one day and perfectly flooded the next.

Sheedy's Left Foot says:

03:45pm | 03/02/11

Must admit I am starting to get pissed off with some of the terminology used to maximise the shock value and terror.

It is unprecedented the amount of times unpresedented has been used.
I have been inundated by inundated when flooded is perfectly acceptable if less horrific sounding.
I am sick of ‘events’ it is not a ‘weather event’ it is a cyclone.

Listening to some of the scare stories in the media yesterday and watching the coverage, you could see the palpable disappointment in the eyes of the TV presenters when they realised the cyclone would hit land in the dark.  In fact, the only thing 7 needed yesterday was a ‘Countdown to Cyclone Death’ clock.

Even the QLD govt fell into the trap of hyperbole. I absolutely agree with the way the managed the disaster, the planning and the effort that has so far in remarkably little, if any, loss of life. They have done a fantastic job, but telling us to brace ourselves for unprecedented loss of life, from an unprecendented weather event was, well just a bot crap.

I don’t think they cried wolf, they could have simply left the hype to the media.

youdy beaudy says:

04:10pm | 03/02/11

To be quite honest I am sick of Channel 9 and the others making mountains out of molehills with regard to so called disasters and americanizing every thing that comes along. It just feeds fear into people when there is nothing to fear. I was born in queensland and i have seen and been in many cyclones over my life and yes they are dangerous. But it is the central pressure of the cyclone that causes most damage and houses can explode in the situations coming from the pressure made by the storms and the old rule was to leave windows open on the opposite side to the storm to equalize the pressure.

But the media hype is unjustified. They have moved on from Brisbane Floods now, remember them a week ago to the new pickings of his cyclone and of course they have the same old same old boring media idiots on there with channel 9 as superficial as ever and of course building the fear just to make more ratings. God their news is boring.

Yes people Cyclones come here from time to time and yes usually there are high winds but in the center it is less concentrated and the damage is usually at the edge so if the eye goes over you you will get high winds and in the eye the sun is out and the sky’s clear and then the winds come again on the other side. But although big this cyclone wasn’t anywhere near the damaging force of he one that destroyed the Gold Coast and Brisbane in 1974. We had quite a number that year and the big one washed away all of the foreshore and dropped buildings into the ocean and the waves off Nobbys Beach about 1 km were peaking at 100feet high. Yes that was the biggest one I can remember but even with all that i don’t think we were talking about people being killed etc etc.

We just have to accept that cyclones happen and really now that the weather patterns of those years are returning there will be more coming. But to build it up and sensationalize it before the fact and run a campaign of fear and overkill like they do in America is false reporting. So, they lost the cane and bananas and now the big hype is that bananas will be unaffordable, well who cares, we wont suffer if we can’t buy bananas will we?. God it’s pathetic. This whole thing about evacuating whole towns and cities is ridiculous. Go and sit in the bathtub and wait and before you know it the cyclone will have passed over.  Sure, there will be some damage to roofs and houses that are badly built may be damaged but if your house is strong and tied down then it’s only a few hours that you have to wait and it is all over.

It’s not nice at all to have flooding and damage and yes, people worry about losing their lives but but if caution and planning are taken then usually all goes well. The rains that were in our suburb during the recent flooding dumped one half of a meter of water on us and we got water in the house and I was out at 2am digging drains through the yard to run it all off, but we are still here and we also had high winds etc. I am sorry for those who have had damage, it’s not nice, but in Queensland it happens each year and will keep happening forever. The climate is changing back to the same patterns of old so we can expect more to come. So, as they say, we should batten the hatches and get prepared for the next round.

TChong says:

04:21pm | 03/02/11

Far better plans and people to be not needed , but ready, rather than the alternative.
Glad for evryone there that the reality didnt quite meet the forecast.

Flood survivor says:

04:45pm | 03/02/11

I have to admit the media does blow things out of proportion - which is why whenever something like this is about to happen everybody gets pretty cynical & complacent. It’s actually quite damaging, as people these days will never believe how serious it is until it actually happens and aren’t as prepared as they could be.

Vicki PS says:

05:27pm | 03/02/11

@David Pierce:  Whatever real or imagined grievances you think you have with the government of Anna Bligh (and why the blame for sitting in the dark waiting out a cyclone should be laid at her door I do not know), the truth is that the Queensland public sector is only now experiencing the full effects of 25 years of listening to people like you, who are pleased to call themselves “management consultants”.  Corporatisation, managerialism, business modelling, structural efficiency, whatever—after over two decades of successive governments paying external consultants to tell them how the public service can ape the worst deficiencies of the business sector, now you have the two-faced gall to complain about ineptitude and bleat about ‘cutting the fat’?  You have exactly what your type handed to the Queensland people, a public service led by ‘management consultants’, opportunists, show ponies, ministers’ cronies and careerists.  Congratulations, David, you’ve got exactly what we paid for!
(P.S.  But damn Anna anyway for not planning to avoid the floods and cyclones altogether, eh?)

All says:

05:28pm | 03/02/11

The media seems to crave a disaster and if it is not going to pan out that way they will create a drama.
PM on ABC last night journalist on site breathlessly saying to her Australia wide audience that a high tide of 4m coupled with a 3m storm surge would result in a 7m wall of water rushing through Townsville. Desk based PM anchorman then stated that besides the hurricane there could now be a tsunami as well.
A high tide is just that it does not mean that its height is above the seawall it means it is a high tide level within the normal range. A 4m high tide does not mean that 4m of water rushes through town each week. Wishful thinking on the journos behalf that a 7m tsunami was rushing in with the cyclone. Frankly listening to journos at disaster sites is cringeworthy, “How do you feel, will you lose everything, will you starve, will you die, is everything lost” Generally the reply from the poor interviewee is ” she’ll be right, we’ll get by” not “woe is us yes we will all starve and die”  Stop trying to create dramatic headlines by misleading and loaded questions just report the truth.

Bethany says:

05:34pm | 03/02/11

Given the potential for widespread destruction suggested by the satellite imagery, it would have been criminally irresponsible not to make absolutely certain everyone took it seriously. I think Anna Bligh has done a sterling job over the last couple of days.

Huey says:

07:03am | 04/02/11

It was a good result. Timely warnings and advice of a specific and reasonable nature obviously helped.  Bushfires like Canberra and others of recent and not so recent times are not so amenable to preparation or evacuation. They happen in hours and overwhelm emergency services..no calm and measured appraisal and tracking is possible. Cyclones and Riverene flooding are ‘Disaster by Appointment ” and should be handled well in a First World Country.  One comment..  if people really were turned away from evacuation/shelter centres and told to go back home and bunker down…that’s a system fail!

Bon says:

10:59am | 04/02/11

Watching Sunrise yesterday morning, I couldn’t help but feel that Grant Denyer was just a little too enthusiastic in his reporting on the damage to property in Innisfail.  It was all a bit Steve Irwin-ish “Crikey! Have a look at this!  This house has been ripped in half! What a beauty!” He probably didn’t intend to come across that way, but I felt uneasy just watching his excitement.  It is so obvious that the networks, particularly 7 and 9, are competing for ratings and to see who can get the “best” disaster coverage and therefore win a Logie or some other news award.  I can just picture the news execs sitting in meetings saying to each other “There’ll be an award in this!  Not to mention sweet sweet ratings!”

charles says:

12:10pm | 04/02/11

Lets just say that this event was publicised more than any I can think of and it wasn’t even that bad.

This has everything to do with politics and nothing else. We have been forced to be cynical by the current government. I’m sure you all know the answer why.

Bush Techie says:

10:34pm | 04/02/11

Interesting to see some comments from uninformed people in Brisbane who have just been through the floods. I would take a flood anytime over 24+ hours of gale force winds that battered North Queensland with this cyclone. Most cyclones last around 6 to 8 hours over the area (such as Althea) and are gone. The drone from the wind over the 24 hour period was amazing, we were out in the streets at 6,30am starting the cleanup, and had to give up when the winds became too strong and the danger of more branches coming down from trees became real. Today we cleaned up the last of the mess on the street and it was a community effort with everyone joining in. I was using my chainsaw to cut branches up and others were dragging them away. We were bunkered down during the night, but the sound of the wind and breaking trees made it impossible to sleep. I spoke to a man who went to Darwin to clean up after Tracy and he mentioned that it was enough to make grown men cry and he had been through Althea but this was intense for such a long period of time that it made it more frightening. In our area in Townsville there are power poles snapped off laying on the road, trees over houses, Trees were across the roads everywhere, but people have just got stuck in and started cleaning up. We will not have power for another couple of days and some places it could be a couple of weeks. I stress we are in Townsville and not even close to the eye of the storm. I honestly cannot believe some of the comments on here about Anna Bligh grandstanding. I’m not a fan of hers however she has shown empathy and has been there for weeks on end enduring every known question from the media with a calmness and straightforwardness that has been refreshing from a politician, unlike a certain wooden pm who needs to show some emotion. We could never be overwarned for an event like this. It was a little strange seeing the countdown to crossing on tv whilst we had power, but honestly we made our way to our bunker at around 9pm to ride it out. To go around today as I took my wife to work at the hospital and see numerous giant trees ripped out by the roots and about 50 metres of steel fencing near the hospital blown over and the concrete ends sitting up in the air was enough to convince me that it was incredible that no-one was killed. Bravo to the premier and emergency services who have done an incredible job. Also to the army and to the Ergon guys running around at 8pm tonight to check the lines. However in saying that it can only be said that the true spirit of Australians comes up when times are tough and people join together to get the job done. My heart goes out to those further north who have been devestated by this event and I know that people will stand up to be counted in the days and weeks to come because we are Queenslanders and we are very strong and proud Australians.