Let the rivers run

from w
Peceli and I took several photos yesterday of the Moorabool and Barwon Rivers and the floods particularly at Fyansford and Queen's Park. There is no danger of houses going under because Geelong is planned in such a way that the flood-prone areas are recreational or parklands. Maybe a few factories in South Geelong get wet in the worse floods. The Breakwater Bridge was inaccessable to us but there is water all over the road there. It is marvellous to see all the water, but the traffic is rather bad as drivers find alternative routes. The Geelong Advertiser journalist wrote up the story as follows: and there are at least 69 pictures of the flood on their website. Ironically there are some cute signage - e.g. 'Children Crossing' - on flooded road, 'Water Restrictions in Place', etc.

Water at highest level in five years
Peter Begg | September 7th, 2010

GEELONG has been hit by its highest flood levels in five years, as rain yesterday continued to unload on the region. Floodwater on the Barwon River through Geelong was expected to peak yesterday afternoon, having closed Breakwater and Barrabool roads and almost submerging the temporary cycling bridge at Queens Park.

The Barwon broke its banks all along the Geelong section of the river, but there were no reports of assets threatened as the floods peaked. The rowing sheds near Moorabool St remained above the floodwaters, but the sporting fields opposite on Belmont Common were partly under water.

The Moorabool River also appeared to be flowing for the first time in two years, while Barwon Water reported two of its reservoirs on the Moorabool catchment were 100 per cent full and spilling.

People for a Living Moorabool co-ordinator Cameron Steele said the continued rain had brought a healthy flow to the river. Mr Steele said he was fairly sure the Moorabool was flowing through to Geelong at Fyansford, but said he was yet to conduct a test of putting a water filled balloon in the river at Fyansford to see which way it flowed. "This is one of the few times it has flowed to Geelong in the last decade," Mr Steele said.

The West Barwon dam was yesterday 70 per cent full, lifting overall storages to 62.9 per cent. The Leigh River also added to the Barwon's flows, breaking its banks at Inverleigh on Sunday.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued an updated flood warning for the Barwon River yesterday morning, saying there had been minor to moderate flooding on the Barwon and Leigh rivers. The bureau said the Barwon River at Geelong was expected to peak around 2.7m yesterday afternoon, 0.4m below the moderate flood level of 3.1m.
etc. etc. Picture of Breakwater Bridge flooding from Geelong Advertiser.