Looking at the sheer size of the areas underwater (in the Brisbane area) the equivalent of Germany + France....I should imagine that would be impossible.

The Vultures are already circling!

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/pr...122-1a0s6.html

Well you wouldn't have to raise the whole area, just where there are buildings and homes.

Man, some people just have no concept of decency, do they. :shifty::nope:

Umm...2 million people in the greater area, probably 5 million people in the South East corner, occupying 300 milles x 200 miles; that's a lot of dirt to raise the population even an inch.

The river snaked it's way through the city, about 100 miles of waterways through one of the largest geographical cities in the world. Again, probably impractical to raise.

I don't want to sound rude to the outside world, but Australians, in general, expect these things to happy. You live in the bush, you expect fires. You live in Qld, you expect 4-5 cyclones (hurricanes) a year. It's a harsh hostile environment, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Tragedy strikes and makes us sad, houses and lives get taken and we weep, but there is something unique about the Australian spirit.

Truth be told, we probably got it from our troops in places like Kokoda, Gallipolli and The Some. :salute:

I'll add Rabaul. If I have my information straight, yesterday was the anniversary of the Japanese assault on the Aussie base there in 1942. Had this all planned out and forgot to post a tribute...

Off to check the notes to see how bad my memory really is these days. :)

EDIT: I was close! Today is the anniversary! January 23rd, 1942 marked the beginning of the Battle of Rabaul.

Yeah like I said you don't raise the whole area. Building houses on stilts or atop car garages would go along way toward limiting flood damages too.

Personally if I were living in a flood plain like that I'd consider rebuilding in such a way that minimizes my future risk. Its got nothing to do with toughness or nationality either. New Orleans and many other areas in the US could do the same.

New Orleans ain't got **** on Australia.

Just read an article that a town down there has Sharks swimming the streets now.

http://news.discovery.com/animals/sh...d-streets.html

Yeah, go loot something now. :nope:

Certain parts of Idaho, a good portion of Iowa, probably northern Missouri. The ragers that hit Idaho from time to time... people build right on the sandbars in some places there - but the flooding is mostly restricted to the fast rivers in the mountains. Iowa gets hit pretty much every year, with Missouri being south of us and sharing some rivers. All this flat land and lack of good runoff makes for a potential bathtub. Heavy rains throughout the spring add to the snowmelt, and by summer we start getting flash flood watches along with the usual severe t-storm warnings. Not unusual to see corn fields sticking up out of lakes that formed overnight. Year before I think it was Cedar Rapids was mostly underwater. Last year it hit a good portion of Ames and pretty much submerged... I think it was Colfax?? Started with a "C", anyway. Small portions of Des Moines took some damage, too.

Problem is, from what I've been able to determine, it's a crap shoot. One year the water hits somewhere upstate, next year it hits in the east, year after that it might not even affect our state. Keeps one guessing at times. Pretty much depends on where the rains fall the heaviest and how well the natural and manmade runoff can handle the deluge.

I'd have to agree with you on elevated constructions. But toughness and human pride... well, you know. Probably ain't gonna happen. :haha:


EDIT: Come to think of it, the floods in Idaho aren't devastating on a grand scale. Just seems to be a habit of building too close to areas that naturally flood out from time to time, like the sandbars I mentioned. When the floods do come then you have people crying over the cabins they just lost to the river. Buh...

Places like South America and the BFE regions of China could do with better emergency services, but I guess that's not something we can help out with on a large scale.

Posting as is. Flame away. :P

Plus a large helping of British ancestry :DL

Building codes and insurance requirements tend to trump toughness and human pride! :D

I couldn't see the link until I quoted.
The said McDonald's in the article is the same one in the pic near my brothers house.

Ha! I hadn't thought of that. Very true, very true. :haha:

Kidding aside, i've been looking at flood proof houses and there are some wild designs out there. For example:

http://www.architecturezine.com/sust...o-peek-ancona/

http://www.architecturezine.com/wp-c...eek-Ancona.jpg

http://www.architecturezine.com/wp-c...eek-Ancona.jpg

***Most** Queensland houses are built to a flood code. The traditional house is on stilts (poles) VJ roofs (high peaks) and vernadah's (wraparounds) If you've been down to Galveston think of the "breakaway" houses with the tidal surges, same concept.