Rain, Hail, Blue and Orange Alerts
January 1st, 2007 at 02:55am
Living in reid, and receiving some mild showers with a nice lightning show, it is hard to believe that only a few kilometres away in the Tuggeranong area there has been a huge hail storm, causing plenty of property (mainly roof) damage, and even a mudslide which has closed the Monaro Highway.
Whilst I have been keeping an eye on the storm situation (this was the third storm in as many days), I was powerless to do anything about reporting on it as I was offline for most of the day.
An “orange alert” was issued by the Emergency Services Authority, and in theory this should have prompted the broadcast of the Standard Emergency Warning Signal (all to familiar from the 2003 bushfire), I didn’t hear it anywhere…I did hear and see the warning being broadcast, but as far as I can tell the SEWS was not used, which should be enough to prompt a reprimand from the Emergency Services Authority.
I unfortunately need to signal out 2CC for a reprimand here, as they haven’t even bothered to update their weather reports to reflect the storm warning. The warning was cancelled at 11:10pm by the Bureau of Meteorology, however a blue warning is still in place from the ESA. Whilst 2UE did their best to keep 2CC listeners informed, 2CC should really have, at the very least, broadcast the warnings with a local presenter or newsreader. They have done well on the other storm days, but the latest effort was shocking and non-existent.
This website does not come under the provisions of broadcast media regulations, and as such I am not required to publish storm warnings, however I do aim to do so when possible. I do, in fact, have the SEWS on standby, and if I had been online I would have recorded the warning and embedded it on the page, along with a transcript of the warning. Whilst I hope to never actually have to publish an orange or red level emergency warning, inevitably it will happen, and I will do my best to bring the information to you. I apoligise for not being able to do so in the latest storm.
As for 2CC, as it was late in the afternoon on new year’s eve when the storm struck, I can understand why they may have had trouble getting someone in to handle the situation. That being said, they have a responsibility as a broadcaster, and I hope they seriously evaluate their response to the storm.
The ABC had a couple interesting updates on the storm, at 8:04pm they wrote:
Emergency service crews have been inundated with calls for help this afternoon as the ACT is pounded by a third severe thunderstorm in as many days.
Police say several houses have been affected by flash flooding in Tuggeranong and there are reports of motorists trapped in their cars by rising flood waters in Belconnen.
A mudslide has blocked the Monaro Highway between Calwell and Royalla.
At 12:18am they wrote:
Canberra’s storm warning has been revised down to a “blue” alert, with emergency services believing the worst of the hail storms that hit the city overnight are behind them.
Emergency services were inundated with calls for help this afternoon as the ACT was pounded by a third severe thunderstorm in as many days.
A mudslide has blocked the Monaro Highway between Calwell and Royalla in New South Wales.
Many of Canberra’s suburban streets were flooded, but the water has since receded.
Tony Graham from the ACT State Emergency Service says they have received more than 140 calls for help.
“The rain was so heavy and some areas, particularly the southern suburbs of Canberra, had a fair amount of hail,” he said.
“It hit so heavily that there was a fair amount of roof damage and then following on from the was some localised flooding.”
Samuel
Entry Filed under: Canberra Stories
12 Comments
1. John B1_B5 | January 1st, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Got 35mm of rain at my place.
2CC needs to receive a severe reprimand (from somebody).
Seems there were folks in Tuggeranong who copped a certain amount of damage from the storm . (I wasn’t one of them).
2. 2CC-Senior Cleaner | January 1st, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Most radio statons need to get with the times, many referring to the mornings Daily Telegraph for news. I must commend 2CC though as during the Canberra bushfires, they alerted the general public to the fact that the fires were approaching Duffy, when infact the Serice Station had burnt down 5mins previous, most radio stations were 15mins behind. I lay blame solely on Stanhope government though, and that is my opinion, cherrio Bill.
3. Samuel | January 1st, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Well John, they are still running the same weather update they were running last night…apparently we have a chance of a thunderstorm “for your new year’s eve”. Either they have mastered long-range forecasting or incompetence.
This morning’s breakfast show was a disaster. 6am news finished, music return played (seemingly with the intention of introducing 2UE’s breakfast show)…silence, long ad break, and then music until 6:30.
6:30 news was followed by a Mike Jeffreys highlights package.
7am news was followed by “The best of the John Laws year”
I then had a nap, so I don’t know what happened after the 8am news, but I do know that at either 8am or 9am the 2UE breakfast feed kicked in and Steve Liebmann was heard on 2CC.
I suspect Steve’s show started after the 9am news for 2CC, as that would be the (strangely adapted for summer) John Laws feed kicking into action.
Bill, I’m skeptical about you being a cleaner at 2CC, mainly because people who work for Capital Radio have generally been told not to post anything here (that was under different management though). That being said, if you really are a 2CC cleaner, welcome.
4. John B1_B5 | January 1st, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Could somebody suggest a suitable punishment for 2CC ? (besides tarring and feathering).
5. Samuel | January 1st, 2007 at 1:50 pm
I would probably suggest a financial one if I didn’t think it might make them “go under”.
Knowing ACMA, if there is any punishment, it will probably be an increase in the local programming and news quota…which I suppose is a financial punishment of sorts.
6. John B1_B5 | January 1st, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Yes, we certainly wouldn’t to see them go down the gurgler !
7. John B1_B5 | January 1st, 2007 at 3:27 pm
But let me just say this – I’m getting sick and tired of hearing them play “The Sound of Silence” every time they come back from a news break !
8. John B1_B5 | January 1st, 2007 at 4:03 pm
I’ve heard “The Sound Of Silence” being played 15 times in the past 2 hours !
They’re now playing it whenever thay go to an ad break as well.
Somebody obviously needs a swift kick up the rear end !
9. Samuel | January 1st, 2007 at 4:29 pm
It’s the emergency tape John…I hear it every now and then during New Day Australia, but today has been an absolute shocker for 2CC.
They obvious haven’t bothered to employ a panel operator today, they are automated, and either the pulses aren’t coming through from Sydney, or somebody killed the 2CC computer, or forgot to program the ad breaks…but that’s irrelevant, 2UE traffic and weather are coming through during the news, they need a panel operator for this show, and don’t have one.
I thought it was bad when they scheduled half the Christmas day ad breaks to be a minute overtime, drowning out 2UE with a cacophony of noise, but today is clearly worse.
I’m very disappointed with 2CC today, and for a fair bit of the last week, I’m surprised that the program director (whoever it is these days) didn’t recognise the need for a panel operator today.
In my opinion, senior staff should be monitoring the station, and the emergency tape should be setup to send a text message off to someone if it gets started…and if something like this happens, somebody should go to the station and fix things up.
In all seriousness, if I was a panel operator for 2CC, I would be making my way into 2CC right now (well, about two hours ago) to either panel until 6pm, or fix the automation.
2CC have been doing very well for the half a year or so, with minimal problems, and a strong commitment to making the station sound good…they should be ashamed of this latest effort…or lack thereof.
And I’m sorry, but the irony of “The Sounds Of Silence” being on an emergency tape triggered by 15 seconds of silence has well and truly worn off.
The only good thing about this afternoon is that we haven’t heard yesterday’s weather report since Murray Olds started, but I would prefer to hear it than yet another repeat of the bloody sounds of silence.
10. John B1_B5 | January 1st, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Hmmm … so that’s why we keep hearing that depressing song all the time.
It’s an absolute disgrace. Makes them sound like a ‘Mickey Mouse’
station.
And all because they’re too mean to hire a panel operator for the afternoon ?
God, looks like that person (no names mentioned) who accused 2CC of being a “mob of pennypinchers” wasn’t far off the mark !
11. Samuel | January 1st, 2007 at 4:51 pm
It’s the only logical explanation unfortunately…anybody who was actually on site at 2CC would be desperate to get the ads back on the air.
When I checked in 2005, 30 second ads at 2CC were going for $30 each, most 2UE feed programs have 12 minutes of ads each hour, which works out at up to $720 per hour of income. Murray’s four hour program is therefore worth $2880 to 2CC…that’s a lot of lost revenue, and when you consider that when I last checked, the top pay rate for a panel operator on a public holiday was about $30 per hour, $120 for a panel operator is surely better than losing $2880.
Short sighted penny pinching may have just cost them thousands of dollars.
12. John B1_B5 | January 1st, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Wow. That’s what I call poor management !