Brisbane Floods

The past week has seen an outpouring of aid and donation for the Brisbane flood victims. As the water recede, there is time to reflect on the lead up to the national catastrophe. The flood was not within anyone's anticipation. But post-mortem usually finds the least expected. A small matter could have made a world of difference.

Topmost on Australians's minds is coming to terms with the disaster and recovery. However, this does not rule out opportunists from seizing on allegations to make claims for their losses sometime in the future.

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Engineer Michael O'Brien told The Australian the river flood and the devastation of thousands of homes was inevitable after a decision to release relatively low volumes of water from the Wivenhoe Dam on Friday, January 7, and over the ensuing weekend.

Scrutiny of official water-release and dam volume data shows the flood would have been moderate at worst in Brisbane had there been larger releases in the days before the deluge.

Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek said people deserved to know all of the circumstances around the flooding.

"But today is not the day for that and now is not the time for it to be beginning," he told reporters."It's definitely too raw to be going into a blame game. "

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/brisbane-river-flooding-avoidable-20110117-19tha.html