Floodgates can’t handle the disasters

IT IS concerning that Townsville has the highest flooding risk in Australia.

The disaster that impacted this community six weeks ago is a possibility again next week with Cyclone Trevor threatening to drag the monsoonal trough into our environs.

No procedure in the operation of the Ross River Dam floodgates is of any use in reducing impacts from another major storm event.

On the last week of January 2007 the Ross River Dam was being “upgraded” and the concrete spillway had been lowered to existing height.

The floodgates had not been installed so there was an open spillway and the dam was very low. There were four days of less than 24 hour Average Recurrence Interval (ARI) Q10 year Design Rainfall Intensities (Australian Rainfall and Runoff 1987) and the dam still filled.

The reason for the “upgrade” was the earth wall was moving at the rate 100mm a year. Collapse of the dam wall was inevitable unless repaired and at the time this information was withheld from the Townsville community.

The cheapest and most vital flood mitigation solution in Townsville is to firstly breach the three weirs in Ross River and as conditions allow totally remove them.

The connection of Ross Creek to Ross River again by cutting a 600m canal through Bicentennial Park landfill may assist in allowing Ross River to drain more effectively.

KEVIN PARKES, West End.