gympie regional council road closures

Gympie Flood Information

Gympie Flood Information – Mary River, Gympie.

We have had a couple of calls asking for information about Mary River Flooding in Gympie and to check whether the Bruce Highway is passable through Gympie.  We don’t have ready access to this infomation and have decided to collate some information resources to help visitors looking for current information.

UPDATE Friday 14/1/2011 – The Mary River is continuing to fall.  The Bruce Highway reopened today and Kidd Bridge is now also open to traffic.  This is the last update for the current flood event in Gympie.

UPDATE 10.30am THURSDAY 13/1/2011 – The Mary River height was 15.44M at 7.17am and continuing to fall.  The Bruce highway is still cut at Inglewood Bridge.  Normanby Bridge is now open but reports indicate traffic is chaotic.  At this height, there is still 5.5M of water over Kidd Bridge.

UPDATE 6pm WEDNESDAY 12/1/2011 – Latest river height was 17.04M at 3.00pm and falling slowly (Click chart image below to enlarge). BOM predicts slow fall to continue.  No reports of rain upstream so I would expect the river to start falling a bit faster tomorrow afert the rainfall in the catchment from yesterday passes Gympie. 

UPDATE 11am WEDNESDAY 12/1/2011 – Latest river height was 17.19M at 10.am and falling slowly. BOM predicts slow fall to continue.  Still 1.5M over Normanby Bridge & more than 3.5M over Inglewood Bridge (Bruce Hwy).

UPDATE 10pm TUESDAY 11/1/2011 – Latest river height was about 18.0M at 9.22pm and falling slowly. BOM predicts that the River will continue to fall slowly.

UPDATE 6pm TUESDAY 11/1/2011 – Latest river height is about 18.2M and falling slowly. BOM reports up to 160mm rainfall since 9am this morning in the Obi Obi
Creek and Upper Mary River catchments but there has been only a few showers in Gympie.  BOM predicts that the River will continue to fall slowly.

UPDATE 10am TUESDAY 11/1/2011 – The Mary River peaked at about 19.3M at 3.00am this morning not reaching the earlier prediction (See the BOM graph image updated at 9.43am below – click for full size view).  The Mary is falling slowly at present. The Bruce Highway remains closed to the north and south.  Monkland is cut off from Gympie but MVHR are running hourly Silver bullet services from Gympie to Monkland. 

UPDATE 10am MONDAY 10/1/2011 – The Mary River has risen constantly overnight and the BOM chart now indicates 17M i.e. major flooding.  Gympie is now isolated with the Bruce Highway unpassable north and south.  The has been heavy rain in the Mary catchment above Gympie that will result in further rises with BOM predicting a flood of 20M overnight tonight.   

Hotlines

• SES: 132 500 (For assistance with flood or storm emergencies)
• Flood Warnings: 1300 659 219 
• Road Closure: 1300 130 595
• Gympie Region Disaster Coordination Centre: 5482 6399
• Queensland Government’s Traffic and Travel Information line: 13 19 40.

Radio Updates

 We recommend listening to ABC local radio who have been providing a very good coverage of all flooding in Quensland.  To find the frequency of ABC local for your area, visit www.abc.net.au/reception/freq/ – Gympie/Wide Bay is 100.1FM. (The local commercial radio station 4GYwere on relay to a New South Wales Network at the time of writing).

Road Closures

Travelling during flood events is dangerous – flood water depths are not always obvious and can hide washouts etc.  The best online source of official information for travellers is available at the QLD Govt Traffic and Travel Information website at  http://131940.qld.gov.au/ (not sure why they would use a telephone number for this site as it is hard to remember).  The RACQ website is supoosed to provide details of roaqd closures at http://www.racq.com.au/travel/Maps_and_Directions/road_conditions but it doesn’t appear to be very helpful.

Other Websites

ABC Local radio has a Flood Emergeny section section in their website at http://www.abc.net.au/emergency/flood/ with helpful information and links

The Bureau of Meteorology has infomation on weather events and flood warnings:

• Mary River Height at Gympie Weir –http://www.bom.gov.au/fwo/IDQ65390/IDQ65390.540215.plt.shtml
• Mary River Height at Gympie – http://www.bom.gov.au/fwo/IDQ65390/IDQ65390.040993.plt.shtml 
• Mary River Flood Warnings – http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDQ20790.html
• BOM Radar Loop – 128K at Mt Kanighan – http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDR083.loop.shtml#skip
• Premiers Flood Appeal – https://www.smartservice.qld.gov.au/services/donations/campaigns/appeal10

 HEIGHTS AT WHICH BRIDGES IN AND AROUND GYMPIE ARE CUT FROM FLOOD WATERS:-

• Kidd Bridge (Gympie to South Side) – 9.9 metres
• Inglewood Bridge (Bruce Highway 800m south of Big W) – 13.4 metres
• Bells Bridge (to Kilkivan off Bruce Hwy 12Km nth of Gympie) – 13.5metres
• Pengellys Bridge 15.85 metres
• Normanby Hill Bridge (Gympie to Mary Valley) – 15.54 metres (southern end)
• Six Mile Bridge (Bruce Hwy – Gympie south) – 17.00 metres

Note: Flood heights are sourced from Gympie Regional Council “GYMPIE C.B.D. FLOOD SUB PLAN” and therefore deemed accurate. 

Alternative Route through Gympie

Using these flood heights and the BOM Mary River height readings above should give a reasonable view of Bruce Highway access through Gympie i.e. if the BOM reading is less than 13.4 metres, then the highway should be passable.  Once Inglewood bridge is inundated, bypassing Inglewood Bridge is possible via Pengellys Bridge (provided the river height is less than 15.8M).  Click map below for full size view.

The route south from Big W follows the Bruce Highway to the Normanby Off-ramp (the highway will be blocked by traffic control at this point diverting traffic up the off ramp).  Turn left from the off ramp as directed by traffic control, up the hill (Hughes Terrace) till the next intersection (controlled by traffic lights).  Turn right into Graham Street and follow Graham Street down to the Brisbane Road Intersection and turn right into Brisbane Road and follow it until it returns to the Bruce Highway.

Note: these directions are for your assistance only and rely on flood heights as provided.  If the Mary River heights are near the bridge heights above and rising, it would be best to postpone travel if possible.  Also, the Bruce Highway can become flooded at other points South of Gympie e.g. Kybong, so while it may be possible to drive through Gympie using the route above, travel to Brisbane may not be possible.  

Gympie Regional Council road closures – Sunday, 2.45pm 9-1-2011 (BOM Mary River height in Gympie about 14M) :

• Pickerings Bridge at Moy Pocket
• Walkers Bridge – Walker Road
• Traveston Crossing Road
• Tin Can Bay Road – Moody Creek
• East Deep Creek Road
• Randwick Road
• Old Goomboorian Road
• Noosa Road
• Yabba Creek Road
• Amamoor Creek Road
• Kandanga Creek Road
• Bauple Woolooga Road
• Kilkivan Tansey Road
• Burnett Hwy North
• Chinamen Creek bridge On the Kenilworth Skying Creek Road
• Widgee Crossing Road
• Kidd Bridge Gympie
• Power Road
• Wide Bay Hwy near Schollicks Road
• Anderleigh Road
• Wide Bay Hwy – Bells Bridge
• Kandanga Imbil Road ClosedSorenson Road Closed
• Old Imbil Road Closed
• Bruce Hwy at Inglewood Bridge Closed
• Brisbane Road Closed
• Cooloola Coast Road Closed
• Murgon Kilcoy Road Closed
• Tin Can Bay road at Coondoo Closed

Roads Open

• Mary Valley Road
• Bruce Hwy at Chatsworth
• Bruce Hwy at Kybong (Cobb’s Gully)

Current road closure information is available on the Council website at http://gympie.qld.gov.au/

Please be aware that there may be many additional roads that are flooded or partially flooded.  Continuing rainfall can rapidly increase water heights.

Disclaimer: This information is provided as a community service.  It is recommended that travel during flood events be restricted to essential purposes only and that further enquiries be made before leaving to check road conditions with the relevant authorities.