The Emergency Services Authority has issued a Yellow Warning due to the weather bureau issuing a storm alert for a storm, potentially as bad as the one last night. Update 9:29pm: Bureau no longer expects that storm to touch Canberra End Update
If you don’t have an emergency kit prepared, now is the time to do so…battery operated radio, torch, first aid paraphernalia etc.
Hopefully the storm won’t be as bad as what we saw last night, but it is better to be safe than sorry.
As long as it is safe to do so, and my electricity and Internet connection work, I will provide updates.
The weather radar shows a rain band that might be headed this way, but last night’s storm developed so quickly and so close to Canberra that I wouldn’t rely to heavily on the radar if I were you.
Weatherzone’s radar view is the best one, if you turn on roads and borders you can pinpoint your house and work out whether the rain is coming you way or not.
Updates to follow.
Update 6:55pm: Direct from the Bureau.
NSW/ACT SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
for LARGE HAILSTONES, DAMAGING WIND, VERY HEAVY RAINFALL and FLASH FLOODING
For people in the
Illawarra,
Hunter,
Central Tablelands,
Metropolitan,
ACT and parts of the
Northwest Plains,
Northwest Slopes,
Central West Slopes,
South Coast,
Northern Rivers,
Northern Tablelands,
Mid North Coast and
Southern Tablelands Forecast Districts.
Issued at 6:19 PM Wednesday, 28 February 2007.
Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging winds, very heavy rainfall and flash flooding in the warning area over the next several hours. Large hailstones also possible especially in the south.
Major locations within the warning area include Gosford, Grafton, Newcastle, Parramatta, Nowra, Bowral, Batemans Bay, Orange, Mudgee, Bathurst, Canberra and Goulburn.
The State Emergency Service advises that people should:
* Move your car under cover or away from trees.
* Secure or put away loose items around your house, yard and balcony.
* Keep clear of fallen power lines.
* Keep clear of creeks and storm drains.
* Don’t walk, ride your bike or drive through flood water.
* Unplug computers and appliances.
* Avoid using the phone during the storm.
* Stay indoors away from windows, and keep children and pets indoors as well.
* For emergency help in floods and storms, ring the SES (NSW and ACT) on 132 500.
The next warning is due to be issued by 9:10 PM.
This warning is also available through TV and Radio broadcasts, the Bureau’s website at www.bom.gov.au or call 1300 659 218. The Bureau and State Emergency Service would appreciate this warning being broadcast regularly.
End Update
Update 9:06pm: The radar is almost free of rain, looks like we won’t have to deal with anything similar to last night’s storm after all…thankfully. End Update
Update 9:29pm: The Bureau’s latest Storm Warning update does not include Canberra or any areas within a couple hundred kilometres. End Update
Instead of taking more photos today I caught up on a lot of missed sleep from the last few days.
I do have some news for you though. The Canberra Centre was closed all day today and is expected to reopen tomorrow at 11am with the carpark opening at the usual time of 7am. Eight stores have been declared “right offs” write-offs, including Socrates which had a ceiling collapse.
Update 8:57pm: I took Nattie for a walk around the outside of the Canberra Centre this evening. The section with Dendy, Borders Books etc currently has no power, a group of people are using portable floodlights in there while they try to mop up. Construction works on the old City Markets site are continuing (I was able to see in, lots of concrete columns but nothing being built), mopping up is continuing in other area, and I had a chat with the staff (possibly owners) of the Angus & Robertson book store. They had a section of collapsed ceiling on display outside the store and it was quite clear that the floor and books were soaked. End Update
Well that was quite a storm last night, here is what happened.
Approximately 8:40pm a storm cell developed without warning to the west of Canberra and rapidly moved south-east whilst growing. It produced quite a bit of rain in the Tuggeranong and Weston Creek areas, but dissipated after a while. Before it was gone though, a new storm cell developed about half way between here and Yass, it rapidly moved in the same direction as the previous storm, but was destined for the inner north and west parts of Canberra.
This second storm produced lightning at an amazing rate (one flash every couple of seconds), and produced an immense amount of light, the light show went on for a while and I spent some time watching it through my bedroom window. Around 10:30 things really started to pick up with a small amount of rain and hail, it gradually got worse, and with a complete lack of any information from the Emergency Services Authority and broadcast media, I decided to contact the Bureau of Meteorology (by mobile, not landline)…the local office was shut so I called its Sydney parent office, I informed the meteorologist of the size of the hail and he then, after checking my location, informed me that it was going to get a whole lot worse…the radar was telling him that 6cm hail was less than a minute from my house…he was right, and before I knew it the roof and various windows were under attack…the upper floor was abandoned as there was no way to know whether or not the roof was going to hold, some walls could be felt shaking slightly under the constant pounding.
Just before 11pm I decided to do something about the lack of broadcast information and call Stuart Bocking on 2UE, and therefore 2CC…they had the news coming up, so they rang me back after the news, by which time the hail had (more or less) stopped and I gave Stuart a run-down of what had happened. My call then opened the flood gates as people started ringing in with their storm stories.
After this I went and took a whole heap of photos…I also recorded a video but I haven’t had a chance to review it, so I’ll make do with the photos for now.
First up inside the house, the spot where the tree hit in December 2005 still leaks a bit in heavy rain, but it has never soaked the toilet roll before (reminds me of the time I poured water into a tissue box in year 4 and found that they all stuck together…the teacher was not impressed).
Not a great photo, but looking down at the hail.
The backyard
The front yard
I then emailed a couple photos to Stuart Bocking and this website, before setting out to explore the hail wonderland
Even an undercover carpark had hail in it
Ainslie Avenue was interesting, the median strip was flooded for a little while, as was the other side of the road…it had mostly cleared by the time I got there. The melting hail was also creating a fog, which was slowly getting thicker.
The fire brigade and the SES were kept busy all night with over 110 calls for help, the fire brigade’s lights looked interesting in the fog.
There was a bit of a mudslide.
An elderly lady who lives near me had water flood her roof, and pour out of various spots, including a smoke detector! I managed to get the SES team who were finishing up across the road to come over and help.
I would like to condemn the Emergency Services Authority for not issuing any “All Hazards Alerts” at all, even after a storm warning from the Bureau (first time they haven’t responded to one of those for a while), and effectively therefore not getting the media on standby, and the public (at least to some extent) prepared…if the ESA had been doing their job, local media would have had people at work before the storm struck, and they would have had the all hazards siren alerts broadcasting everywhere…instead it was a pure surprise to just about everyone. Update 6:44pm: ESA are blaming Telstra and Optus for not getting the text messages out to journalists…doesn’t quite explain the website, but under the circumstances I would be willing to exonerate them. They have admitted that they need to improve the efficiency of they emergency communications though.End Update
I would, however, like to highly praise the SES, Fire Brigade, Roads ACT and the Police who have been busy all night with the storm recovery…they all deserve every bit of praise they get, and probably more.
I’ve heard some reports of damage in Civic so I might take the camera for a little stroll down that way to see what has happened. If there is anything worth photographing then you can expect more photos later.
Incidentally, the temperature and rain since 9am statistics from the Bureau of Meteorology are quite interesting.
There is currently a very large storm battering southern Canberra. The storm formed about half an hour ago to the west of Canberra and is rapidly moving to the south-east. The lightning from this storm must be quite potent as it is causing quite amazingly bright flashes in the clouds all the way out here in inner north Canberra.
A severe storm warning is current and I wouldn’t surprised if this storm is causing flash flooding in some parts of the Tuggeranong area.
The latest radar image shows that the storm is expanding rapidly and the rain is getting heavier in the process. Get out your battery operated radios people and activate your emergency plan, it looks like the entire Canberra region will most likely be affected by this.
For assistance with storm damage, contact the SES on 132 500
Update 11pm: This should be a red alert and emergency sirens…absolute pelting hail storm in Inner North for the last twenty minutes or more. Can’t say more right now, can’t stay upstairs. End Update
Update 12:46am: Here’s what I wrote in some comments a couple minutes ago:
According to an SES person Civic has been severely damaged in the storm, apparently most buildings have alarms going off and a lot have water and hail damage. In my area one lady has water coming out of her smoke alarm, I managed to get a nearby SES team to attend, the fire alarms on a number of nearby buildings are going off and the fire brigade is attending to a problem of some sort just up the street.
The SES person also said that cars were getting bogged in the rain.
I have a few more photos which I will upload tonight, and a video which may or may not have worked properly…I’ll check and see. End Update
I’ve ignored a couple ho-hum blue alerts over the last couple of days, but it looks like we finally have an alert which has been issued for a reason other than merely testing the fax machine by issuing an alert.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe storm warning for large hailstones, damaging winds, very heavy rainfall and flash flooding in the Illawarra, South Coast, Southern Tablelands, ACT and parts of the Hunter, Central Tablelands and Metropolitan Forecast Districts. Major locations within the warning area include Nowra, Batemans Bay, Canberra, Goulburn, Wollongong and Yass.
The usual precautions apply:
Move your car under cover or away from trees.
Secure or put away loose items around your house, yard and balcony.
Keep clear of fallen power lines.
Keep clear of creeks and storm drains.
Don’t walk, ride your bike or drive through flood water.
Unplug computers and appliances.
Avoid using the phone during the storm.
Stay indoors away from windows, and keep children and pets indoors as well.
The ACT Emergency Services Authority has issued a “Likely Impact” Yellow Warning, which will be valid until 8pm, after which they will revert to their weekend-long “Possible Impact” Blue Alert.
The next update from the Bureau is due at 5:55pm.
For emergency help in floods and storms, ring the SES on 132 500.
Update 5:06PM: Looks like the storm heard about the alert and decided to take shelter, because the rain is rapidly disappearing from the radar. End Update
Hopefully the majority of people in Canberra know that Jack Waterford is the editor of The Canberra Times. Some would even be aware that he picked up an Order of Australia medal in the recent Australia Day awards.
It is for that reason that I feel like sharing an anecdote with you about Mr. Waterford.
Jack Waterford lives in Braddon across the road from an elderly couple who, until a couple years ago, had the oldest solar hot water heater in Canberra (it had to be removed). I have been friends with this couple since my primary school days when I would often chat with them on my way home from school. Back then, Jack’s dog Molly was quite young and, much like her esteemed owner, had a taste for newspapers, as such she would often cross the road to pick up the elderly couple’s newspaper, and ensure that it received a thorough chewing. This would result in a call to The Canberra Times to inform them that the editor’s dog had chewed up their paper again…which always resulted in a replacement copy being delivered post-haste!
Apparently it was not regarded as a good idea amongst Canberra Times staff to inform Mr. Waterford of the incidents.
A storm with a decent drop of rain passed over Canberra last night. John B1_B5 recorded 50mm of rain between 8pm and 1am, and here’s what it looked like at my place.
The drain in the front yard was struggling with the downpour, and whilst these photos don’t do a great job of showing it, there was plenty of water floating around.
I then decided to take some 15 second exposure shots which, thanks to the lightning, proved to be quite interesting.
And I also took one 60 second exposure shot from roughly the same angle as the second video
This is what the radar was showing shortly after these photos were taken
It seems a faulty or failed part was to blame for the outage. Now that the radar is back, both of the radar links on the right hand side of this website’s homepage now work!
Yesterday I decided to try and work out why 666 ABC Canberra rates well in this town. What is on there that is worth listening to, is there interesting discussion and debate of current issues, events and affairs? Are the presenters particularly interesting? What about the callers?
My plan was to listen for an hour between 10am and 11am…here’s what I heard.
News, bad song, droning on and on and on and on about a dead author with some local author, promo for Clean Up Australia day with really bad jingle set to the tune of Waltzing Matilda, presenter being smarmy about breaking the news of James Hardie chairwoman Meredith Hellicar resigning…a whole fifteen minutes after Lawsie broke the news (yes, I flicked back to 2CC during the bad song), another bad song, chatter between presenter and sport reporter who somehow managed to be at the Canberra Capitals breakfast whilst answering phone calls from the public about Basketball, and attending the Brumbies training session, whilst taking more phone calls from the public (does he give out his mobile number or something) and somehow making it back to the studio to take calls from ABC sycophants who claim that commercial radio don’t provide sport scores. Promo for a CD of the bad music they play on the air. Interview with a shareholders’ association representative telling us all how wonderful Meredith Hellicar is. Promo explaining that the ABC will play the emergency siren if there is an emergency. More bad music.
It was 10:45 and I had heard enough. It was the worst 45 minutes of radio I have endured in a looooong time…and that Alex Sloan couldn’t keep a straight face if it was superglued…and she t–a–l–k–s…..s–o…..s–l–o–w–l–y and constantly says um and er. I don’t mind the occasional um and er, but when they become a vital part of every second sentence it is downright annoying.
All the while, Lawsie was focussing on real issues, such as basic services for schools which seem to be sadly lacking in so many places, and the crazy outsourcing system which NSW schools have to go through to get things repaired…adds about 30-40% to the cost of the repair and they end up with the local repair person anyway. (Yes, I had to flick back during the bad music to save my ears).
So why do people listen? Clearly it has something to do with the sheer amount of people who are either Chief Turnip Stanhope admirers, require warning signs on clothing to remind them not to iron shirts while they are wearing them, or both. The other 666 listeners have me baffled as I can’t see how anybody else can put up with that crud for any length of time.
Clearly they come from a different planet and don’t visit this one…which begs the question, if Chief Turnip Stanhope lives on another planet, why must he issue directives for this one, seeing as he is never here?
I may try them again on a different shift with a different presenter (not breakfast…Ross Solly, combined with morning presenter Alex Sloan represent just about everything that is wrong with talk radio)…perhaps Drive has some decent programming, surely it couldn’t be any worse than the assault on my ears and intellect that came through my radio yesterday morning!
Perhaps while the ratings period is still on I will randomly review an hour of each radio station in the ratings race, now that would be some fun (and possibly burn my ears out…but fun).
In the wee hours of Monday morning there was a rather noisy storm with a fair bit of rain in Canberra. Nattie was not impressed and decided to take up residence under my bed.
The storm vaguely woke me up and I had half a dream about Paul Makin (who was on the radio at the time) getting out the buckets to save the water and being overrun by rabbits and dogs (he was talking about Chinese astrology on the radio) before an incredibly loud, nearby thunderclap woke me up, and got Nattie barking.
I invited Nattie up on to the bed and gave her a little cuddle and decided to let her sleep with me during the storm. She seemed quite pleased with that deal and slept with me for the rest of the night.
The rain, whilst very heavy, didn’t seem to last for long, which is a pity because we could really use some drenching rain. Storms and rain are predicted all week, hopefully at least one of them brings a good sustained downpour.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) have auctioned off a new High Powered Open Narrowcasting (HPON) licence for Canberra. The purchaser of the licence is ANC International Holdings Pty Ltd, who have paid $200,000 for 1323 kHz on the AM band.
Apparently there is an association between ANC International Holdings and BoardRoomRadio.com which appears to be some sort of “communicate with your shareholders” podcasting service. At present it is unclear whether the new radio station will have anything to do with this partnership, but if it does, then it will obviously be a business/stock market station.
Unfortunately the ACMA press release makes no mention of what restriction this station has in order to make it a narrowcast station…being high-powered it has to be a subject restriction, so being a business/stock market station is certainly a possibility.
According to ACMA’s transmitter list, the station’s transmitter will be located on the Broadcast Australia facility (ABC, SBS, RPH transmitters) on the Barton Highway and will have a transmission power of 400 watts, 100 watts higher than 2KY Racing Radio which runs a HPON racing service on 1008 KHz (AM), 4,600 watts less than ABC Local Radio in Canberra, 2CA and 2CC and 9,600 watts less than Radio National in Canberra.
Unfortunately ANC Holdings haven’t informed ACMA as to what their restriction or on-air ID will be as yet, but they’ll have to do that before going on-air.
Currently their is no carrier on their frequency.
The new radio station must be up and running by June 21, and I’ll be following the progress of the station. More information as it comes to hand.
IDR99940 CANBERRA RADAR IS U/S UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. ANY INCONVENIENCE IS REGRETTED. 17/1135Z
The good news is that it is only the web interface for it which is offline, the radar itself is working perfectly, and feeding images to the Weatherzone website. The radar image on the Canberra weather screen (the weather reports on the right of screen take you there) is quite abysmal, but their dedicated radar page is quite good…just turn on borders and it all makes sense. One small pointer though, their idea of “Canberra” is the airport, not the city. If you turn on roads, the city is located roughly at the intersection of the purple road leading west from the airport, and the thick purple road heading north/south.
Update 3:58pm: Upon further investigation, it looks like the Weatherzone site is just using the last data it had available, and that is from 8:20pm last night. Looks like the Sydney radar is about the best we have available, and its coverage of this area isn’t all that good. It can pick up rain in Canberra, but it can’t see it coming. End Update
Update 4:09pm: The Wagga Wagga radar has a pretty good view, but the New South Wales composite radar is arguably the best view. The combination of the Sydney, Wagga Wagga and any other radar that just happens to pick up Canberra on the outskirts of its view seems to handle the job that the Canberra radar did. End Update
Have you noticed that this is appearing on buses again?
What about the big competitions? They’re either underway or about to start…these things can only mean one thing, Canberra’s first ratings period of 2007 starts today and runs for four weeks, ending on March 17. Results are due out on Thursday March 29…but don’t hold your breath!
I haven’t really been paying a huge amount of attention to stations other than 2CC in the last couple weeks, so I don’t really know what they are all doing in terms of competitions. The Mix 106.3 website indicates that they are using the (very tired) secret sound to give away a holiday. The FM 104.7 website says nothing, ditto for 2CA. 2CC have a new website (with about half a dozen errors which I’ve submitted to them for correction), but it makes no mention of their “take the cash or the holiday” promotion. It does, however, indicate that the Capital Radio Network’s webstream project is still on track to happen…eventually…
The local ABC…well who cares, if they, as a non-commercial station are allowed into the commercial radio ratings, and their entry is being funded by taxpayers, then all the community stations should be funded by the government as well…otherwise ABC, but out of the ratings.
Anybody looking for a positive comment about the local ABC station should see their website’s guestbook, which often features the same bloke making trivial positive comments multiple times per day…especially during the ratings period.
Back to the 2CC bus ads for a moment, last time they were used 2CC had a good ratings result, but last time they were used they were up-to-date. Two of the people on the ads are not currently airing on 2CC (Stan Zemanek and Ray Hadley), one of them won’t be back, and the other won’t be heard until the second last day of the ratings period. I suspect that this is the reason why the ads are only on a very small number of buses, and probably won’t be seen ever again (expect on the wall of the 2CC studio). Dr Karl Kruszelnicki and Mike Welsh in the 2CC Studio
Update: 5:11am 22 February 2007: CORRECTION: The ads being used this year do not contain the face and name of Stan Zemanek. I apologise for any inconvenience my error in reporting may have caused. End Update
As for who will win…well it’s hard to see much changing, FM music on top, AM talk following, and AM music somewhere. I think Mix 106.3 will come out slightly ahead of FM 104.7 (the two are currently tied in first position), Local ABC will stay in third but 2CC will continue to close the gap. About the only surprise packet this ratings period will be 2CA, currently last, but with a format close to one that has carved out a niche for them in the past. Ideally they will at least get ahead of ABC Classic FM, but with no promotion of themselves, I do have to wonder if anybody knows that they have a new breakfast show and a good format.
And despite all of that, best of luck to all involved!
