Toowoomba drowns

Andrew Bolt,Herald Sun(Australia)
"The costs are astonishing:


THE financial toll of the Queensland floods -- predicted to cost $6 billion and leave a $5bn clean-up bill -- is expected to soar further.

Yesterday’s flash floods engulfed the urban areas of Toowoomba and Gympie and threatened to hit Brisbane.

One lesson - dams don’t just harvest water cheaply but help protect from floods:

A BODY of floodwater larger than Sydney Harbour threatens Brisbane, with only the Wivenhoe Dam’s 2.3km-long earthen wall standing in its path…

Wivenhoe was rising fast, but it had the potential to go past 200 per cent capacity before overflowing. Cr Newman said the dam was doing its job but could not fully protect the city because of the dimension of the floods.

Premier Anna Bligh is grateful for the dam:

Without a doubt the Wivenhoe Dam has already saved Brisbane from a catastrophic flood in the next 48 hours but we have to keep releasing water from it so it can keep doing the job it’s doing."