The point was their predictions changed hourly. What was the point of all those earlier predictions when every prediction proved to be wrong, even those 30 minutes prior to the peak level? Why bother?

Thanks to the apparent negligence of the Wivenhoe Dam operator, necessitating the emergency release of about a third of the dam's capacity on the Tuesday, and thus causing most of the Brisbane flooding, federal taxpayers are expected to bear the cost of repairing that flood damage. Given that the dam operator is a Qld Govt instrumentality, the Qld Govt should assume responsibility for that negligence and bear the full cost of repair.

The objective of the dam operating manual should be to exercise foresight so as to avoid major downstream flooding, rather than to give priority to protecting the dam operator from liability, as appears to have been the case.

Keith asks

'The point was their predictions changed hourly. What was the point of all those earlier predictions when every prediction proved to be wrong, even those 30 minutes prior to the peak level? Why bother?'

Because the 'science is settled'. Just ask Flannery and Garnaut as they cash in on the Government coffers to tell the Australian people that by paying more for electricity we will save the planet. Forget the fact that all the alarmist rubbish has proven wrong or fraudulent.

Keith

I think you are being a bit unfair in your criticism of the scientists accuracy in predicting a flood peak. Remember that the Wivenhoe was built as a flood mitigation dam on scientific advice. Remember that a bit over a decade ago scientific advice to develop alternative water supply sources like Wolfdene so that Wivenhoe could be more effective for flood mitigation was ignored. Remember that a few years ago the pollies went into a panic meltdown and wasted billions on overpriced and poor quality infrastructure. Remember that the 2011 flood was worse than it would have been had the Wivenhoe been able to be utililised more for flood mitigation and less for water storage.

Continue your scientist bashing crusade if you wish, but I think that Brisbane's residents would have been far better off had the advice of scientists been acted on instead of ignored. How much would Brisbane's residents be paying for their water if a scientific course of action had been taken instead of a political one? How much flood damage would have occurred with an emptier Wivenhoe? Less on both counts I would think.

People need to learn about the climate and how weather patters work. Most of the coments here are of ignorance and lack of informed education. I believe that in Australia and other countries this is from the all talk fest that occurs around the world regarding climate change.

People are being asked to make decisions on things that they do not understand fully or they do not care to understand. Then there is talk of a levy or a carbon tax being introduced. Simple a carbon tax is a waste of time and taking money from regular folk. This is not needed and not required, people shut off and will refuse to listen. everyone was lost at the hello here is a carbon tax it will help. No it will not people are not that stupid. Actual incentives to cut pollution, alternatives to fuel for cars and help to reduce rising energy costs is far more effective and will be accepted by most people. Tax businesses that are huge consumers of energy that is polluting, do not tax people. Or incentives like I have mentioned. no more talk of global warming or climate change people are sick of it they want some action and they want to be able to benefit. Encourage farmers , or agricultural business to adopt cleaner safe work practices which will not affect the selling of their crops. Make it mandatory for all homes bought or built to come with solar power. Discuss about soil trapping carbon not taxes. Or people as you see will be well the weather is changing and that is normal. Yes it is normal just the intensity of the weather has increased in parts of the world. Big business are the energy consumers and third world countries share technology or trade it to them at a cheaper price.Focus on goodwill.

Hasbeen, Keith, 'runner' likes you.
Bummer.