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Tasmanian Floods, Photos from this morning.


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Here's a few photos that  took this morning from a few places where I could get to the Mersey & Dasher Rivers. One dairy farmer who I know very well had 300 dairy cows swept from his property early this morning when the river rose well above what was predicted. He had moved them to higher ground too, but in the end it just wasn't high enough. I was hard seeing them struggling in the flooded water, with most of them not making it. I did see several that had made it out, these were scattered in several paddocks some two kilometers down stream. I reckon he may have lost at least 250 head though which was a shame. It's something I hope not to see again at all, very distressing that's for sure. We were cut off at both ends of Sheffield early this morning from farm dams over flowing big time. A few roads and bridges were also washed away, 216 mms of rain in 9 hours.

 

 I have put a few photos of the same areas to compare the difference from normal river flow to major flooding.

 

Dasher River, fine weather conditions.. (Medium).JPG

From this .. Dasher River.

Dasher River after record rainfall, Paradise. (6-6-16) (Medium).JPG

To this..

Lower water after Dasher flooded (Medium).JPG

Dasher River on a normal day..

Lot of water coming down the Dasher River after heavy rain. (6-6-16) (Medium).JPG

Dasher River today..

Massive flooding, Dasher River at Claude Road. (6-6-16) (Medium).JPG

To think I normally wade up through here, but usually when it's 3.0 meters lower.

Reasonable flow, Dasher River.(24-3-15) (2) (Medium).jpg

The Dasher on another normal day..

Dasher River in full flood, Claude Road. (6-6-16) (Medium).JPG

 Much different today..

High water, Mersey River opening of trout season. (Medium).JPG

The Mersey River at Merseylea, this was taken early August, the river is still a meter or so higher than normal..

Largest flood on record as Mersey river floods, Merseylea. (6-6-16) (Medium).JPG

The same area today..

Mersey River floods in record rainfalls.. (6-6-16) (Medium).JPG

The new bridge well under water, the last bridge was washed away three years ago when they said it was a 100 yr flood, they're saying the same again today.. 

Does this mean we get a 100 yr flood every three yrs now???

Major flooding at Merseylea. (6-6-16) (Medium).JPG

This road is where I go and fish above the old wooden bridge at Merseylea.. can't get near it today.

A couple of dairy cow that made it to one bit of high ground at Merseylea. (6-6-16) (Medium).JPG

I zoomed in to where the bridge is supposed to be and spotted two survivors which was good to see, they should be okay where they are hopefully.

Note the bridge handrail on the RHS, that's all what's above the water..

Dasher River at Claude Road. (6-6-16) (Medium).JPG

 Wattle tree down on the bridge over the Dasher River..

Mersey River in full flood at Merseylea.(6-6-16) (Medium).JPG

 Pump shed under water as is the farm house on the RHS just out of picture, the owner was with me and I didn't want to take a photo while he was there. 

He was very distressed, poor bugger has had this property on the market for three years now, will be tough selling it after this..

Mersey River spills into paddocks at Merseylea.(6-6-16) (Medium).JPG

 Mersey River spills into farmland, crops all under water.

 

 
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I heard one of the dairy farmers on the radio this morning and he said that they've recovered around 100 of the 300 dairy cows now. Also they have found quite a few more in paddocks further downstream but not sure who they belong to until they are scanned. Another farmer lost 50 beef cattle as well. all up I think there were some 500 dairy cows & cattle swept away. Won't really know the full amount of loss as most areas are still inaccessible. The photo of the two cows where the bridge is under water, well that bridge is now gone. The problem with the dairy cows that are stranded is that they haven't been milked for two days now, not only that there's no power & the milking sheds are still under water. Vets are being called in to see what can be done with them now. They may have to dry the milking cows out. There's something like 150 roads closed across the state at the moment and several bridges washed away as well, I'm glad that I have taken photos of the old wooden road bridges over my time in the rivers.

The river has dropped a little from yesterday too which is good. I'm going to check it out again later this morning.

 

cheers

Adrian

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Season opens on the 6th August, will be a tough season too as I'm sure this flood will have wiped out quite a lot of the fish stocks in the rivers.. Larger fish will probably survive but the smaller ones will get washed away.. just have to wait and see I suppose.. Here's few photos from this morning when I went back to see how much the river had dropped overnight, good to see it was down by a couple of meters.

Flood damage as Merseylea Bridge is gone. (7-6-16) (Medium).jpg
 Merseylea bridge half gone..
Road washed away at Merseylea. (7-6-16) (Medium).jpg
 Road damage near the bridge.
The lone survivor, made it back home. Merseylea. (7-6-16) (Medium).jpg
 A lone survivor makes it's way back to the dairy..
Flood waters have finally receeded at Merseylea.(7-6-16) (Medium).jpg
 All green again..
Megaliters of floodwater at Merseylea. (7-6-16) (Medium).jpg
Still plenty coming down..
Mersey River flood level receeds at last. (7-6-16) (Medium).jpg
Land ahoy at last as the river level drops..
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Thanks for the pictures to keep us up to date with the situation in Tassie, Adrian. It must be tugging at your heart strings, to see the damage and knowing that many fish have been washed away. I hope that Tassie can soon get back to something as close to normal as is possible. For you, Adrian, I hope you soon find a big trout that wasn't washed away but is just waiting for you to come along. All the best to you and Tassie from Alan.

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Thanks guys, the good thing is that we haven't had any more rain since and the river levels  (in our area) have dropped very quickly which happens with the shorter rivers. So that's a good thing for all concerned.

I'll head back again later today to check both the Mersey & Dasher rivers out too see how much more they've dropped. Launceston further to the East is coping the floods now as the Sth Esk river peaks, it one of the longest rivers here I Tassie and it's taken quite some time to reach there. Several small towns ( Perth & Longford) along it have all been flooded over the past few days as it peaked on it's way down to the Tamar Valley Gorge & Estuary. There's around 4,000 homes & businesses at risk at this stage.. Good thing is that it's hitting the estuary on a low tide.. May be a problem when the tide starts to run in, high tide is at 3.00pm.

 

cheers

Adrian

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The power of nature once again testing the human resolve to just keep on going. 

So much devastation from the one thing that we need to live and ironically sort of brings all of us together here on the forum. 

Hopefully the worst is done and the damage is less then estimated. 

Stay safe out there while your taking photos mate. 

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Mother Nature can be a fickle bitch at times....

Stay safe mate.

I have many relatives living along the coast in NSW, things have not been easy.

My heart goes out to those who have lost their lives, homes, belongings, pets, not to mention the livestock you saw being swept away, and elsewhere.

And I know this will have quite an impact on the fish stocks in your local streams and rivers, I really hope they recover quickly Adrian, fingers and toes crossed.

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Headed off back to the Mersey River again this afternoon, checked out Merseylea, Kimberley & also Weegena. Weegena is some 20 kms further up from Kimberley. Once i was within three kilometers of Weegena there was a road closed sign on the road. Still enough room to one side to drive through as the locals still had to get through & so did I. I drove down to within 700 meters of the bridge, didn't want to go down too far as there was a lot of mud etc down the bottom end. Use the zoom lens on the camera. Looks to me that this wooden bridge has also been washed away from what I could see. From where i had parked one can normally see the white guard rails on the bride. I could only spot a small section of them on the LHS, nothing on the right, that ute was on the opposite side of the river. It's the second time this bridge has been washed away, the last one went in the 1970 floods. When i was at Kimberley I noticed that the railway line had been washed away as well, that's going to take a while to replace, I could also see the main structure over the river had collapsed as well. good thing is that the river has dropped by some 10 feet, there is more rain forecast over the next few days but nowhere what we've just experienced..

 

Here's a few more pic's from today...

 

Plenty of flood damage at Weegena. (8-6-16) (Medium).JPG

 First close up at Weegena, the river would have to risen by at least 20 ft to flood through the paddocks & across the road...

Long distance photo, Weegena bridge gone.. (8-6-16) (Medium).JPG

  Zoom shot from 700 meters.

Looking over Kimberley & Merseylea. (8-6-16) (Medium).JPG

Looking back towards Kimberley & Merseylea on way back from Weegena.

Train line washed away, Kimberley. (8-6-16) (Medium).JPG

 Railway line washed out at Kimberley, no freight for a while now..

Massive flood water, Mersey River at Kimberley. (8-6-16) (Medium).JPG

Looking downstream from the bridge at Kimberley..

Flooded Mersey River at Kimberley.(8-6-16) (Medium).JPG

 Upstream from the Kimberley bridge..

Water level finally dropping, Mersey River at Kimberley. (8-6-16) (Medium).JPG

River level has receded to what it was..

Flood damage to bridge at Merseylea.. (8-6-16) (Medium).JPG

 Flood damage, bridge at Merseylea.

Flood levels decrease, Mersey River, Merseylea..(8-6-16) (Medium).JPG

  River level has dropped.. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Here's Lake Cethana spilling over, it's 20kms from Sheffield, flows down into Lake Barrington... This is nothing to the water that's going over the Trevallyn Dam at Launceston then into Cataract Gorge. 


They said on the radio this morning that there was 2,300 tons of water going over the dam wall every one second.. Now that's a lot of water..


Lake Cethana.jpg


Lake Cethana-1.jpg


Lake Cethana-2.jpg


 


cheers


Adrian


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Here's Trevallyn Dam spilling over today  followed by Cataract Gorge then the Tamar River...

 

Trevallyn Dam spilling over 8-6-16.jpg

 2,300 tons of water per second going over the dam wall...

 

Cataract Gorge today. 8-6-16.jpg

Flood water cataract gorge..jpg

Great day for white water kayaking or rafting in a rubber ducky... :D

 

Boats in Tamar River...jpg

Not a good day for the boaties.. :(

 

cheers

Adrian

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I just found out that 5 of 8 bridges on the Mersey River have been washed away, one more may also have gone too and that's the wooden bridge up at Liena. It was under water the other day but can't get access to the area at the moment due to severe road damage. The Hoggs Bridge which was below the wooden Merseylea Bridge was a solid concrete bridge too.. Most of my access areas to the Mersey River have been washed out.. going to be a very tough trout season ahead that's for sure..

 

IMG_0216 (Medium).JPG

This is what Hoggs Bridge looked like early this year.. 

 

cheers

Adrian

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The Kentish Council (Sheffield)  Lord Mayor (an ex- Sth Aussie) Don Thwaites was on ABC radio this morning and said the costs will be in the millions, each of the Mersey River bridges will cost around a million dollars to replace for starters then there the roads etc..that need repairing & replacing. There's also small bridges that have been washed away on the Dasher & Minnow rivers too.. will take 12 months to replace all these bridges I reckon. Hope there's no more floods for some time either, thing is we're just into the start of Winter too so nothing will get done to replacing them during this time. 

The pollies will promise the world with the elections not that far off I suppose.. they're all full of pi#* & wind too..

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Here's the timber bridges that are no gone for ever, will more than likely be replaced with concrete ones I would think.. Glad I've taken photos of them too, always good to look back on.

 

5.05pm start on the Mersey River, Merseylea.(21-10-14) (Medium).JPG

Merseylea bridge at Merseylea.

Barrett's Bridge (Medium).jpg

Barretts Bridge, Meander River.

Bridge over the Minnow River.(26-5-15) (Medium).JPG

Lower Beaulah Bridge, Minnow River..

Copy (1) of Dynan's Bridge - Weegena (Medium).jpg

Dylans Bridge, Mersey River at Weegena.

Liena Bridge  (Medium).jpg

Liena Bridge, Mersey River at Liena.

Old wood bridge over the Leven River. (Medium).JPG

Taylors Flats Bridge, Leven River at Loongana.

Union Bridge.(Medium).JPG

Union Bridge, Mersey River at Mole Creek.

 

cheers

Adrian

 

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Hydro Tasmania is run by a pack of idiots, this isn't the first time it's happened either. As for Mr Groom the so called Energy Minister, well he's no better either as he's got a lot to answer for too over the running of Hydro Tasmania..

It costs $100,000 each time they cloud seed an area.. 

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Good news, one of the wooden bridges as reported by the ABC that was said to have had been washed away is still standing.. I went for a drive this morning and drove around the road closed sign and continued on for 8 kms to find the bridge still there across the Mersey River. It was the Union Bridge near Mole Creek that was reported to have been washed away. I must admit it must have been very close to going after seeing how much damage there was to the river bank on both sides of the river. The water had flowed over the bridge as the bitumen surface had been washed from the bridge. I reckon they will assess how bad the damage to the bridge is once the river drops to a safe level so it can be inspected more closely.. The river was so high the it took a shortcut across the paddocks that were once full of hardwood plantations.  Here's a few pic's from there today..

 

cheers

Adrian

 

Damaged river banks, Mersey River at Union Bridge.(12-6-16) (Medium).JPG

 Looking downstream from the middle of the bridge..

Massive wash outs during record floods, Mersey River, Mole Creek. (12-6-16) (Medium).JPG

A lot of the river bank is gone as the river flooded across the paddocks. 

Union Bridge still standing after record floods. (12-6-16) (Medium).JPG

 Good to see at least there's one of the wooden bridges left, for now any way..

 

 

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Finally we've had a few nice days of sun and only a light breeze, here's the scene at Merseylea at week later, great to see the river levels a lot lower too, Now it's the big cleanup...

 

After the flood at Merseylea.. (15-6-16) (Medium).JPG

Good to see the Mersey River has receded at Merseylea. (15-6-16) (Medium).JPG

Hard to believe that the water was right back to those trees in the distance..

Merseylea Bridge that was washed away.. (15-6-16) (Medium).JPG

Here's the other half of the Merseylea Bridge..

All that's left of the Merseylea Bridge. (15-6-16) (Medium).JPG

And here's the other half that's still standing..

 

 

 

cheers

Adrian

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Headed on over to Weegena where another bridge has been washed away on the Mersey River, a lot of damage here as well and it's going to take some time to fix this lot too..

 

Where Dylan's Bridge once stood on the Mersey River at Weegena. (18-6-16) (Medium).JPG

 Where Dylan's Bridge once stood..

Dylan's Bridge at Weegena. (18-6-16) (Medium).JPG

 What's left of it today..

Another section of Dylan's Bridge on opposite river bank at Weegena. (18-6-16) (Medium).JPG

Looking across the river to see another section of the bridge against the river bank..

River banks severely damaged from record floods, Mersey River. Weegena. (18-6-16) (Medium).JPG

River banks severely damaged by flood waters..

Massive washout at Weegena after record floods.(18-6-16) (Medium).JPG

Massive washout well inland and around 6 meters above the normal river level..

Flood debris some 7 meters above the Mersey River at Weegena. (18-6-16) (Medium).JPG

Flood debris some 7 meters above the river..

Some seven meters above the Mersey River after the June floods, Weegena. (18-6-16) (Medium).JPG

And more flood debris..

One suvivor of the record floods, brown trout in the Mersey River. (18-6-16) (Medium).JPG

Good thing was I did spot a nice solid brown in the shallows on the road to recovery..

Solid brown trout, survivor of record floods, Mersey River,Weegena. (18-6-16) (Medium).JPG

Same fish, was that tired it didn't even dart off when I got so close to it.. I even managed to put my hand under it & rubbed it's belly..

 

cheers

Adrian

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