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Flooding in Rocky

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Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts · joined Oct 2008 ·

#820690
Hey everyone.

As I'm sure you're all aware Queensland has been really copping a flogging with all the rain, bad weather and flooding.
I hope that this hasn't affected too many of the dubbers on here.

I currently cannot attend work as it is a lovely little island in the middle of a swamp on the outskirts of Rockhampton.

Here's a few pictures of work.


The main slab area where all the sheds are built is raised up around 2-3m above the level of the surrounding land. As I said above, work is built of a swamp 😀

You can see stacks of off highway truck tyres in the middle of the picture. These are 3-4 high. There were a few single ones left sitting around, I have been told that they have floated 😁 , not sure how far, but I certainly wouldn't want a 3m tall tyre floating through my front yard ❗





Another shot where you can see some slightly smaller wheels have floated away, two have crossed the street and are near the house at the bottom right ❗





The water tanks in the foreground give an indication of the depth, only the tops are just poking out of the water.





The water is only a few inches deep in the workshop, with some sections being over a foot deep.





Our brand new parts warehouse (you can tell by the roof)
is one of the only places that's high and dry, just.





Because work is literally the only high spot for kilometres around I've been told that the sheds are full of hundreds of snakes, in the last flood that was this height in 1991 Steve Irwin came up to the workshop and caught most of them. Perhaps Bindi is due for a visit in a few weeks time?











And now here's some pictures of Rocky.














This is Depot Hill, the area of Rocky that has been hit the worst.





Callaghan Park Horse Racecourse.





The river.











Here's a shot of the barrage, this image to me really show the sheer quantity of water that is flowing down the river. I've been trying to find a comparison shot with the river at normal height but no luck so far.
Normally the water flows through the barrage and drops a few metres into the river. At the moment it's flowing pretty well straight through with no change in level.






Smiley 😎
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Trendy Commited Dubber

73 posts · joined Sep 2010 ·

#820693
You know what they say about water. If it's brown drink it down. If it's black , send it back. I consider my self lucky. I am surrounded by water and have been for quite some time. Though i am living on an island. I can still get to work by ferry. My boy is in Townsville and says some foods running out in the shops. I have a old mate in Rocky but is lucky his hostel is high and dry. Pictures say a lot words cannot!
1960 Beetle sedan (Bubbles)

donn Wolfsburg Elder

3,515 posts · joined Nov 2005 ·

#820694
Bloody hell mate you are sure coping it rough up there, hope all comes out ok.
I dream of a day when a chicken can cross a road without being asked for it's motive!

11CAB If ya got it....Baja it

4,674 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#820696
So Smiley, does this mean you have more buggy building time?....... :P
65 Meyers Manx
68 Country Buggy (KO 367)
68 Country Buggy (KO 669)
68 Country Buggy (KO 789)
68 Country Buggy (KO 815)
68 Baja Bug
76 Baja Kombi Twincab

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts · joined Oct 2008 ·

#820704
11CAB wrote:So Smiley, does this mean you have more buggy building time?....... :P
All of the workers are meeting at one of the local sports clubs. Hastings Deering has set up offices in the conference rooms.

We have all been volunteered for community service to help with the flood. So far we haven't really had any jobs at all. Just a couple of small things that only required half a dozen or so people.

The floodwaters at currently at their peak, and there's not much to do but wait for it to start dropping.

The river peaked at 9.2m on Wednesday-Thursday of last week. And was still up at 9.1m this morning. It is very slowly starting to drop away.

Once the waters recedes I can see us getting very busy very quickly with cleanup beginning around the city.


And to answer your question yes. So far when we've met in the mornings we've gone straight home afterward. But I've been working on my Baja. Putting it back together.
I had a bearing collapse and lost a front wheel on one of the local forestry tracks in the middle of nowhere.

Took us 4 hours to get it out far enough that a tow truck could take her home.

It's a story for a different thread, but here's a little teaser.






Smiley 😎
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Pumba Veteran Volks Folk

2,138 posts · joined Jan 2007 ·

#820705
Wow its hard to believe thats rocky,i lived in gracemere for 2 years and worked in rocky,my sister inlaw still lives there and works for highway 1 truck centre,hope all works out better soon thanks for sharing the pictures,have you got any of gracemere i would be keen to see it looks???
cheers shane.
69 Beetle
66 Beetle
56 Beetle

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts · joined Oct 2008 ·

#820711
helbus wrote:In the second picture, is that a real life size TONKA truck that is under water with just the top of the tip tray poking out of the water?
Not the whole truck, that's just the tray sitting on the ground.

Because they are too big to be transported on the road with the trays we never fit them. There's no point. They are transported separately to the truck.

We do have a few trucks in the floodwater though.

Two of which are Caterpillar 797F dump trucks. They are brand new from America, and have been getting put together at work down the back. These trucks haven't even been started since being in the country, are brand new and are worth around 4-5 million dollars apiece. The 797F is the largest dump truck in the world with a 400t rating and 4000hp on board.

If you look very closely at the 7th picture down you can see them right off in the distance at the top of the picture slightly to the right of center just up from the row of trays.

Imagine the insurance claim on that!!

Though the water being a few metres deep they won't go underwater. That are a truly massive piece of machinery the center of the hubs with the wheels fitted is probably around 2-2.5m off the ground.

Once things dry out I might be able to get some picture to post up.


Smiley 😎
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts · joined Oct 2008 ·

#820712
vwmad wrote:Wow its hard to believe thats rocky,i lived in gracemere for 2 years and worked in rocky,my sister inlaw still lives there and works for highway 1 truck centre,hope all works out better soon thanks for sharing the pictures,have you got any of gracemere i would be keen to see it looks???
cheers shane.
I don't personally, but if you jump on The Morning Bulletin's website ( http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/ )and have a look through the gallery's I'm sure there'll be some on there. Rocky and Gracemere are currently cut from eachother, the big roundabout and the highway are all underwater.


Smiley 😎
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

65standard Officially Full-On Dubber

373 posts · joined Apr 2009 ·

#820731
I didn't think that much rain could pour down in one hit. I know the damage and losses wil be great, but hopefully over time (not too long) that the clean up gets underway and normality (whatever that is) sets back in.

I'm sure all here and everywhere else send their best wishes to all of you guys (even though you're Queenslanders) and hope for a speedy recovery.
If it ain't broke, fix it till it is!

beetleboyjeff Custom Title Time!

1,790 posts · joined Feb 2009 ·

#820734
It's all not surprising realy - I haven't seen a drought yet that didn't end in rain.
From your ole' mate Jeff

beachbuggy61 Seriously Crusin Dubber

162 posts · joined Dec 2009 ·

#820736
Amen to that 65, hope it comes good eventually Smiley.

By the way, ouch that musta hurt when the front wheel came off!

Cheers, Marc.
Baja
1915cc's of raw power 🙅
Turbocharger
Intercooler
EFI
Crank fired Ignition
Runs E85
Engineered

"The Lord does not subtract from the life of a man, the hours spent on his Volkswagen" Anon.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts · joined Oct 2008 ·

#820778
beachbuggy61 wrote:By the way, ouch that musta hurt when the front wheel came off!

Cheers, Marc.
Luckily I was only doing about 1km/h, it was very slow and gentle.

helbus wrote:I looked up Utube and a search for

"797 tire changing" shows just how big these tyres are.

These are the first ones that we've ever had on site at Rocky branch. It's truly staggering to stand in front of something that is so big in every proportion.
I'll definitely do a thread with some pictures and specs in the future.


Smiley 😎
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

The_Bronze. Minister of Volkswagenism

1,922 posts · joined Sep 2002 ·

#820798
Thank Smiley for the photos. Truly amazing indeed.

Bugger about the snakes. I'd be happy to catch them for you but I now live in Lake Macquarie (NSW).

My Mum and Step Dad live at Alton Downs NW of Rocky near the Airport and have been stranded for about three weeks now. They can access Gracemere but its an 80k drive. The first couple of times they drove it they got lost because its all back roads and through private properties.

My Dad is a Beef Farmer at Emerald, 3 1/2 hours drive west where I grew up. He has also been cut off for three weeks but he has choppers to get him around they use for mustering. He enjoyed the peace and quiet of floods. Gives him time to read instead of dealing with day to day hassles.



The Fairbairn on the Nogoa River has been running for three months now and isn't going to let up anytime soon. They just got another 14 inches above the Dam and it now running harder than ever before. This then flows into the Dawson and then the Fitzroy which means a drop than flows over the Dam today will pass through that barrage in the last week of February.

I call my parents, and brother, also in Rocky and they have some fairly interesting stories. I remember as a kid growing up in Emerald my Dad used to make me swim our round trees in the swollen river so he could lay fish nets. Nothing else to do but catch fish to eat. I don't think we ate red meat for about 7 months. He bought and filled 4 freezers. Ah, memories.

B.
Bronze.

Rathmines, Lake Macquarie, NSW.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts · joined Oct 2008 ·

#820844
The_Bronze. wrote:My Mum and Step Dad live at Alton Downs
So does the owner of the local VW shop.

I want parts!!! 😂😂😂


Smiley 😎
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.