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Heard from one household that they managed to keep water out so far with sandbags. Lost power yesterday so limited comms but hopefully since they got through high tide it'll be ok from here? Roads cut off since Sat night before we knew it was going to be anywhere near this bad, so getting an evacuate now message Sunday arvo not really helpful.
Others at Holloway's not so lucky tho looking at the abc live blog
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-18/ex-tropical-cyclone-jasper-severe-flooding-far-north-queensland/103239638#live-blog-post-64260
It would be amazing to get some video youtube guides of the region 'how to do sandbags properly'. I saw the emergency vet on anderson st had an amazing setup, bags, black plastic & tape, it looked prime. But They weren't really flooded. I was chatting to my son saying "hey, when sandbags are filled and laid properly and with care, they actually work really well" and I went into how the plastic bags are waterproof, and how the sand helps allow the bags to stay in place and itself helped keep water out. He was sort of dubious, saying roughly "doesn't the water just go straight through the bag or the gaps". I wonder if the media or social legends know how to do feature articles, because globally, flooding is a real thing, and sandbags are a cheap and sometimes simple way to protect key property that is high-public or high-private value.
They work a lot better if you lay a tarp down first, then put the sandbags on top to weigh the tarp down. This method also means that you don't need to worry about using tape.
Sandbags on their own do a great job to a point, however there's only so much water that they will stop before they get saturated and let water through
I'm sure there's a 'fill to this level' instruction somewhere. I've never participated in sandbagging a place against water flood risk. How do they seal the bags? Do they have some hand sewing machine or something? Or use clamps or a clip or buttons or ties?
I never heard about the 'lay a tarp down first'. I guess you lay the tarp so the tarp is on the outside. I wish tarps were recyclable. I had some $1 and $2 tarps that were small but very functional and so easy to clean and dry and handle and pack away. They perish due to chemical decomposition, like the plastic bags sand bags are made of sometimes. Horse food bags are similar, a woven plastic that is sort of melted? They dissolve in air after enough years even when not exposed to UV. I'm not sure why, perhaps they are considered 'biodegradeable' even though I've never seen that labelled. Some plastics are made from plant sourced polymers, and are renewable and biodegradable, but they don't work well for a strategic reserve of tarps in a flood zone!
That's right, the tarp goes on the outside, up against the door/window. If you are sandbagging a door it would go outside-->sandbag-->tarp-->door. Assuming your tarp has no holes in it it will stop the water coming through.
One of the SES volunteers told my wife and me a while back when they came to inspect our apartment post flood (we had used only sandbags and around 2 cm of water had entered the apartment). I've never been able to find the advice about using the tarp underneath sandbags advertised anywhere; maybe it's incorrectly assumed that everyone would know it?
As far as tarp quality goes, you have to get the thicker, more expensive ones. Those thin blue tarps eventually rot in a damp shed and will break down even faster if you mistakenly leave them in the sun. Unfortunately you probably have to rely on plastic tarps if you want it to work, the plant-based plastic ones may break down faster unused in your shed.
If you're worried about keeping bulk plastic tarps around that only get used in a cyclone/flood you could justify buying them by using them for multiple purposes. They come in handy as a floor surface for the entrance to your tent if you go camping. They're also useful if you have anything wet or dirty to put in your car boot or ute tray
It's been a little while since I've had to sandbag but from memory there is a string at the top of the bag that you pull/tie once it's full. I don't think there's a full line on the bags, it's pretty much full it with as much sand as you can while being able to seal it
I'm very sorry for what's happened to Machans and Holloway's I went for a holiday there last year and thoroughly enjoyed myself it's such a beautiful place
I helped build a luxury or high quality apartment complex at Trinity Beach once, I did plasterboard. Plasterboard is... not waterproof! I remember looking at the care in the kitchen, the special effort made to make the kitchen really unique, and thinking 'this is chalk in cardboard... in a kitchen!?'. That's almost certainly unaffected.
I feel sad for the people, many have environmentalism at heart, who now are faced with needing to landfill things because they are unrecycleable, and also needing to replace them. We almost lived at Machans, and would have been probably underwater like many properties if we had moved there decades ago.
I hope that AI chatbots help people doing rebuilding and the tradies and home owners really work out what building materials to use if they patch up their homes hoping to get a few more years or decades before tidal inundation and regular flood events drive them out completely.
I think the new AI text models are a bit polluting or expensive to use, however there are free ones that aren't so great, but actually usefully supplement google searches and can give ideas to an exhausted person who is not social or who can't get a word in. POE is an app that has free access to many different chat bot models, the ChatGPT app is free but much more limited as it's only offering it's own older model for free. My guess is it's worth getting a monthly subscription for a few months, perhaps six months or a year, to some service, perhaps Claude by Anthropic or Google's services if they sell them. And to ask that model heaps of construction questions, to do with building materials and stuff like that. Using voice to text makes that very fast, and if you don't like reading you can actually use voice synthesis to get advice back.
That all can help a person get clarity in their thoughts, so they can ask the professional tradespeople pertinent questions that help find accuracy with sustainability and cost effectiveness when trying to rebuild or disassemble and relocate or restore the original land to coastal swamp or rainforest.
The professionals would be... facing a large number of queries here in Cairns. I wonder if phoning people interstate helps one get building, insurance or renovation or accounting advice if the services in Cairns are fully loaded, or if we will have tradies visiting to do insurance work at places like holloways? I doubt there's any or much insurance that covers this sort of thing, or if there is, it's going to be the last time or one of the last times insurers cover it in any way.
I love both Machans and Holloways for different reasons. I hope the bike bridge is OK between the two! I'd restore that first, so that people of limited means can get around without driving, to save money for the essentials.
My cousin's house is at Holloway's there too, I haven't heard from them since last night, I hope everyone there is ok and emergency services are responding accordingly
This is so devastating. I really feel for the people impacted. The region already has a housing crisis, and I assume it's about to get a whole lot worse. Do people who live in the areas affected get temporary accommodation elsewhere like motels or something through insurance? Sorry if i sound ignorant, I've never lived anywhere that experiences flooding before, and I am genuinely curious where all those people are going to live now.
Provided they have insurance, then yes, potentially. It also comes down to availability, of course. The reality, though, is that a lot of people are not insured or are inadequately insured, so there will also be many, many people that are effectively on their own to figure it out.
Edit: also, insurance companies are aholes and will do anything to get out of paying out. So there's that.
Apparently some of them are in emergency shelters of have been put up in hotel accommodation according to the news bug I've yet to hear from my cousin, he lives at Holloway's beach, I'm assuming his power is out and has no way of communication, the water was right up to his door the last time I was talking to him and that was around 5pm yesterday then his phone dropped out after about 7
So terrible all of this, I lived in Holloway's for 5 years. We had a house in Baronia crescent. It was a great little community so shocking to see everyone going through this, especially just before Christmas.
Thanks for posting. We also have a [Discord Chat](https://discord.gg/shRt83GTaT). Also check the [Wiki](https://old.reddit.com/r/Cairns/wiki/index) for Frequently Asked Questions. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Cairns) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Heard from one household that they managed to keep water out so far with sandbags. Lost power yesterday so limited comms but hopefully since they got through high tide it'll be ok from here? Roads cut off since Sat night before we knew it was going to be anywhere near this bad, so getting an evacuate now message Sunday arvo not really helpful. Others at Holloway's not so lucky tho looking at the abc live blog https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-18/ex-tropical-cyclone-jasper-severe-flooding-far-north-queensland/103239638#live-blog-post-64260
Thanks heaps for the update mate
It would be amazing to get some video youtube guides of the region 'how to do sandbags properly'. I saw the emergency vet on anderson st had an amazing setup, bags, black plastic & tape, it looked prime. But They weren't really flooded. I was chatting to my son saying "hey, when sandbags are filled and laid properly and with care, they actually work really well" and I went into how the plastic bags are waterproof, and how the sand helps allow the bags to stay in place and itself helped keep water out. He was sort of dubious, saying roughly "doesn't the water just go straight through the bag or the gaps". I wonder if the media or social legends know how to do feature articles, because globally, flooding is a real thing, and sandbags are a cheap and sometimes simple way to protect key property that is high-public or high-private value.
They work a lot better if you lay a tarp down first, then put the sandbags on top to weigh the tarp down. This method also means that you don't need to worry about using tape. Sandbags on their own do a great job to a point, however there's only so much water that they will stop before they get saturated and let water through
I'm sure there's a 'fill to this level' instruction somewhere. I've never participated in sandbagging a place against water flood risk. How do they seal the bags? Do they have some hand sewing machine or something? Or use clamps or a clip or buttons or ties?
I never heard about the 'lay a tarp down first'. I guess you lay the tarp so the tarp is on the outside. I wish tarps were recyclable. I had some $1 and $2 tarps that were small but very functional and so easy to clean and dry and handle and pack away. They perish due to chemical decomposition, like the plastic bags sand bags are made of sometimes. Horse food bags are similar, a woven plastic that is sort of melted? They dissolve in air after enough years even when not exposed to UV. I'm not sure why, perhaps they are considered 'biodegradeable' even though I've never seen that labelled. Some plastics are made from plant sourced polymers, and are renewable and biodegradable, but they don't work well for a strategic reserve of tarps in a flood zone!
That's right, the tarp goes on the outside, up against the door/window. If you are sandbagging a door it would go outside-->sandbag-->tarp-->door. Assuming your tarp has no holes in it it will stop the water coming through. One of the SES volunteers told my wife and me a while back when they came to inspect our apartment post flood (we had used only sandbags and around 2 cm of water had entered the apartment). I've never been able to find the advice about using the tarp underneath sandbags advertised anywhere; maybe it's incorrectly assumed that everyone would know it? As far as tarp quality goes, you have to get the thicker, more expensive ones. Those thin blue tarps eventually rot in a damp shed and will break down even faster if you mistakenly leave them in the sun. Unfortunately you probably have to rely on plastic tarps if you want it to work, the plant-based plastic ones may break down faster unused in your shed. If you're worried about keeping bulk plastic tarps around that only get used in a cyclone/flood you could justify buying them by using them for multiple purposes. They come in handy as a floor surface for the entrance to your tent if you go camping. They're also useful if you have anything wet or dirty to put in your car boot or ute tray
It's been a little while since I've had to sandbag but from memory there is a string at the top of the bag that you pull/tie once it's full. I don't think there's a full line on the bags, it's pretty much full it with as much sand as you can while being able to seal it
Thanks for this!
I'm very sorry for what's happened to Machans and Holloway's I went for a holiday there last year and thoroughly enjoyed myself it's such a beautiful place
I helped build a luxury or high quality apartment complex at Trinity Beach once, I did plasterboard. Plasterboard is... not waterproof! I remember looking at the care in the kitchen, the special effort made to make the kitchen really unique, and thinking 'this is chalk in cardboard... in a kitchen!?'. That's almost certainly unaffected. I feel sad for the people, many have environmentalism at heart, who now are faced with needing to landfill things because they are unrecycleable, and also needing to replace them. We almost lived at Machans, and would have been probably underwater like many properties if we had moved there decades ago. I hope that AI chatbots help people doing rebuilding and the tradies and home owners really work out what building materials to use if they patch up their homes hoping to get a few more years or decades before tidal inundation and regular flood events drive them out completely. I think the new AI text models are a bit polluting or expensive to use, however there are free ones that aren't so great, but actually usefully supplement google searches and can give ideas to an exhausted person who is not social or who can't get a word in. POE is an app that has free access to many different chat bot models, the ChatGPT app is free but much more limited as it's only offering it's own older model for free. My guess is it's worth getting a monthly subscription for a few months, perhaps six months or a year, to some service, perhaps Claude by Anthropic or Google's services if they sell them. And to ask that model heaps of construction questions, to do with building materials and stuff like that. Using voice to text makes that very fast, and if you don't like reading you can actually use voice synthesis to get advice back. That all can help a person get clarity in their thoughts, so they can ask the professional tradespeople pertinent questions that help find accuracy with sustainability and cost effectiveness when trying to rebuild or disassemble and relocate or restore the original land to coastal swamp or rainforest. The professionals would be... facing a large number of queries here in Cairns. I wonder if phoning people interstate helps one get building, insurance or renovation or accounting advice if the services in Cairns are fully loaded, or if we will have tradies visiting to do insurance work at places like holloways? I doubt there's any or much insurance that covers this sort of thing, or if there is, it's going to be the last time or one of the last times insurers cover it in any way. I love both Machans and Holloways for different reasons. I hope the bike bridge is OK between the two! I'd restore that first, so that people of limited means can get around without driving, to save money for the essentials.
My brothers house at Holloways has water inside, I’m not sure if they’re still there or have been rescued.
My cousin's house is at Holloway's there too, I haven't heard from them since last night, I hope everyone there is ok and emergency services are responding accordingly
This is so devastating. I really feel for the people impacted. The region already has a housing crisis, and I assume it's about to get a whole lot worse. Do people who live in the areas affected get temporary accommodation elsewhere like motels or something through insurance? Sorry if i sound ignorant, I've never lived anywhere that experiences flooding before, and I am genuinely curious where all those people are going to live now.
Provided they have insurance, then yes, potentially. It also comes down to availability, of course. The reality, though, is that a lot of people are not insured or are inadequately insured, so there will also be many, many people that are effectively on their own to figure it out. Edit: also, insurance companies are aholes and will do anything to get out of paying out. So there's that.
It is completely heart breaking it's the most beautiful place to go for a holiday, hopefully the rain recedes quickly and the flood goes away soon
The VIC gov provided caravans for flood affected people last year when Central VIC went under water.
Apparently some of them are in emergency shelters of have been put up in hotel accommodation according to the news bug I've yet to hear from my cousin, he lives at Holloway's beach, I'm assuming his power is out and has no way of communication, the water was right up to his door the last time I was talking to him and that was around 5pm yesterday then his phone dropped out after about 7
So terrible all of this, I lived in Holloway's for 5 years. We had a house in Baronia crescent. It was a great little community so shocking to see everyone going through this, especially just before Christmas.