Bushwalk Australia

Lots of devastation along the coast and even tragedy. Hopefully some reprieve for now.
Kanunnah Bridge (on The Arthur River), as of this afternoon, is holding this time. For those see it often, that is one Mass of waterflow!

Just thinking what that was like a few weeks ago and knowing how high that bridge is above the river that is scary ,wonder if the river has peaked now?

Most of the rain has been this side of Sisters Hills and hopefully nothing to back up, i'm not sure if the bridge did go under, expect the bridges are ok (?)

Nothing like some of the damage further east, was shared a video on the Mersey River, wondered, other than the big seas, what was particularly interesting about a bunch of boats heading out to sea.. until it became clear they were still attached to the pier

This event will have tested a number of newer track bridges.

My personal worst experience was yesterday seeing a Cow still swimming in the Mersey just past the Waterside Cafe and being unable to do anything to save it ,so sad.
I guess this was one of the many lost Animals and a financial disaster to our hard pressed Farmers.

corvus wrote:My personal worst experience was yesterday seeing a Cow still swimming in the Mersey just past the Waterside Cafe and being unable to do anything to save it ,so sad.
I guess this was one of the many lost Animals and a financial disaster to our hard pressed Farmers.

For me this sort of thing is what is really terrible. Bridges and other infrastructure can be replaced but the loss of defenceless animals is horrible. And of course lets not forget the Lady that has lost her life or the other chaps who are unaccounted for.

DanShell wrote:

corvus wrote:My personal worst experience was yesterday seeing a Cow still swimming in the Mersey just past the Waterside Cafe and being unable to do anything to save it ,so sad.
I guess this was one of the many lost Animals and a financial disaster to our hard pressed Farmers.

For me this sort of thing is what is really terrible. Bridges and other infrastructure can be replaced but the loss of defenceless animals is horrible. And of course lets not forget the Lady that has lost her life or the other chaps who are unaccounted for.

That would have been a horrible sight Corvus .

Agree with you Dan. Extremely sad.

Can anyone confirm which bridge over the florentine got burned?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-07/f ... re/7486914

icefest wrote:Can anyone confirm which bridge over the florentine got burned?

The one over the Florentine, on Florentine road, near Wayatina. Check out the forestry tas FB page for the angry mob of pitchfork wielding rednecks comments...quite disturbing.

Oh wow. Thanks Doogs.

I'm not sure how I feel after reading that.
So much rage and ill thought-out comments.
:/

Check out the forestry tas FB page for the angry mob of pitchfork wielding rednecks comments...quite disturbing.

That's certainly an insightful read. And I thought the comments on the Mercury website were bad.

Well there are some angry folk among the 'green', sabotage is a possibility. But doesn't make much sense here.
The protest camp was left in a mess. But unrelated to this.
Likely some bored suburban kids, without a thought or complex plan?
Anyhow.

corvus wrote:My personal worst experience was yesterday seeing a Cow still swimming in the Mersey just past the Waterside Cafe and being unable to do anything to save it ,so sad.
I guess this was one of the many lost Animals and a financial disaster to our hard pressed Farmers.

That must have been difficult mate. I'd had in mind bushwallk movements but yes, were several hundred cows in the river it seems

Nuts wrote:Most of the rain has been this side of Sisters Hills and hopefully nothing to back up, i'm not sure if the bridge did go under, expect the bridges are ok (?)

Nothing like some of the damage further east, was shared a video on the Mersey River, wondered, other than the big seas, what was particularly interesting about a bunch of boats heading out to sea.. until it became clear they were still attached to the pier

This event will have tested a number of newer track bridges.

Tayatea Bridge was well under water, although the peak passed before yesterday morning. Kannunah Bridge peak level roughly as that image shows. Kannunah should be OK, although do doubt they'll want to ensure structural stability before permitting traffic. Tayatea is closed as the approaches have been badly damaged and the bridge itself took a bit of a hit.

And BTW - Mersey Forest Rd closed again due to washouts. Ditto the M roads, the Smiths Plains Rd (Winterbrook Falls), and Sth Weld Rd, amongst others.

That picture in the OP is disturbing. I wouldn't be walking across it like old mate in the red jumper, that's for sure!

Terrible damage in lots of places. If there's any positive, I guess it will help the hydro power situation.

Thanks for that info.
I'd not be out there SAH.

The water was still rising in the Arthur system, pretty impressive that catchment area. From last nights footage it looks like the bridge would have been submerged.

doogs wrote:

icefest wrote:Can anyone confirm which bridge over the florentine got burned?

The one over the Florentine, on Florentine road, near Wayatina. Check out the forestry tas FB page for the angry mob of pitchfork wielding rednecks comments...quite disturbing.

Very disturbing, facebook has a lot to answer for. Twenty odd years ago I lived in the South West of WA, at a time when there was a lot of anti logging protest going on. Tensions between environmental groups and those working in the logging industry were definitely running high. Since facebook didn't exist then there wasn't such a public forum for people's vituperative outpourings, which on the whole is probably a good thing.
Anyway my little rant didn't have anything to do with the floods, I hope everyone in the affected areas is safe and well. I also hope the ferry gets going again so I can get my cars across in 3 weeks time.

Parks and reserves affected by flooding - update 10 June

Parks and reserves across northern and northwestern Tasmanian have suffered significant damage due to the severe weather and flooding experienced during the past week.

Roads, bridges, walking tracks, campgrounds and other visitor facilities have been damaged or destroyed. Access to beaches and boat ramps has also been affected. Erosion has resulted in steep drop-offs and some boat ramps are no longer serviceable.

We’re asking visitors to parks and reserves to heed warning and closure signs for their own safety. Many reserves that are open have trees down and roads and tracks that are passable, but damaged.

For more detailed information on parks and tracks affected by the flood event, see the PWS parks website Track and Reserve Closures page http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=7785.
Website information will be updated again on Tuesday, 14 June.

For flood event information for farmers, dam emergencies, pollution incidents, parks closures, and animal welfare go to www.dpipwe.tas.gov.au

I reckon the full extent of damage to road and bridge infrastructure, particularly in the upper Mersey is yet to be seen. They had 20 inches of rain at Liena. We already know that the Liena bridge is gone, parts of the Gadds Hill road that leads out of Liena to Oliver's Rd, particularly towards the top end are non existent, such is the damage, it literally looks like the road was never there. Council has apparently said that the top end of that road will not be rebuilt. There is also a large washout on the Mersey forest Rd. The damage to roads etc to the south of there is yet to be fully told. Personally my major concern would be to the road from Lake Rowallan to the paddocks car park. There are several bridges after the walls of Jerusalem turnoff, which may have sustained damage. Also the river washout near pine hut, which started in the 2011 floods and has slowly been washing out further ever since. Also been wondering if the swinging bridge at pine hut and the bridge over the warragurra at the paddocks survived. Would be interested to hear from anyone who heads up that way in the near future to what the level of damage is back there.

grant evans wrote:I reckon the full extent of damage to road and bridge infrastructure, particularly in the upper Mersey is yet to be seen...

Good news folks. Upper Mersey is unscathed and 2WD access is fine via Borradaile Plains and Bare Hill!

If you would like more detail, read on...


The police website mentioned Mersey Forest Road being closed 2km south of Olivers Road. There was no mention of Olivers or Borradaile Roads so I went through Mole Creek only to find Olivers Road IS closed. So...

We back tracked almost to Deloraine (Union Bridge Road closed) and headed through Railton (Bridle Track closed), Sheffield, Claude Road and Gowrie Park. The Western end of Olivers Road had a "Road Closed Ahead" sign so we proceeded over Mt Claude to the Lemonthyme Power Station turn-off where Olivers Road was barricaded off but Lemonthyme Road was fine.

After seeing the sight of rails dangling in mid air where the Kimberly railway bridge has been washed away we were not confident at this stage but we cautiously pressed on.

Gads Hill, Borradaile and Bare Hill Roads were all fine. After turning right into Mersey Forest road there was a small section where the eastern side of the road has fallen away but it has been shored up and barricaded. Arm River appears to have peaked below bridge level and the Mersey through the Whitewater Reserve appeared to have only been about a metre aboove normal generating levels.

The road beside Lake Rowallan showed a little flood damage close to the boat ramp but was in normal condition for the rest of the way. The Walls of Jerusalem had the very top of a fallen tree scattered over it and we did not look any further up the road. We probably could have shifted the debris but were running out of light and keen to check Pine Hut Plain.

None of the streams past the Fish River showed any sign of flooding at all (Stretcher, Juno, etc.). By the time we reached the Lees Paddocks car park we were extremely optimistic. Sure enough, the footbridge is fine and Pine Hut Plain itself appears to have enjoyed a solid but fairly normal flood event. I would say a 1 in 5 year flood based on my frequent visits to the area.

Amazingly most of the devastating impact of the Mersey River flooding appears to have originated north of Lake Rowallan. I suspect the Fisher and, perhaps, Little Fisher are the main culprits along with all the inflows north of there.

Bottom line... If you're comfortable with Tassie's unsealed forestry roads you should be fine getting to the Upper Mersey via the route I've described. Take it easy though.

Hey Tastrekker,
Thanks heaps for letting us know re Upper Mersey and access. Just to clarify - is Bare Hill Rd 2wd-able (with care)? I've never actually checked it out.

Tortoise wrote:Just to clarify - is Bare Hill Rd 2wd-able (with care)?

Yes. The whole route was 2WD-able.

I was in a Mitsubishi Outlander with manual 4WD select and did not engage 4WD at all. There was just one slightly sloshy dip which is fine as long as you don't stop right in the dip. In the few hundred metres south of that dip there were a couple of crests with some protruding rocks which may nudge cars with low clearance but the lumps are easily avoided if you don't take the crests too quickly.

tastrekker wrote:Amazingly most of the devastating impact of the Mersey River flooding appears to have originated north of Lake Rowallan. I suspect the Fisher and, perhaps, Little Fisher are the main culprits along with all the inflows north of there.

Thanks for sharing that information Tastrekker. It sounds like the flooding could be attributed to the increased run-off from the areas devastated by the fires over the summer.

It sounds like the flooding could be attributed to the increased run-off from the areas devastated by the fires over the summer.

While it may be true in some locations I'm not sure we can draw that conclusion broadly, doogs. There were plenty of non-burnt areas with massive run-off (e.g. around Liena) and burnt areas with no excessive run-off (e.g. over the river from Pine Hut Plain). There just seems to be a distinct southern boundary to the areas which saw the heaviest rainfall totals.

Thanks tastrekker, that's a big relief. Most of the rain must have been more towards the front of the tiers. It's going to take a bit of time down further to rebuild all the damaged bridges, roads etc

If people are interested have a look at "Craig Perkins Meander Valley Mayor" 's facebook page. He has a post up now showing the Walls road washed out, half the road missing and pretty undercut beyond some fallen trees.

Russ17 wrote:If people are interested have a look at "Craig Perkins Meander Valley Mayor" 's facebook page. He has a post up now showing the Walls road washed out, half the road missing and pretty undercut beyond some fallen trees.

Thanks Russ17. For those unsure, please note the photo shows Mersey Forest Road just south of Lake McKenzie Road and does not affect the route I have described above.
For anyone without FB, here's the pic:

...and here's Olivers Road at Shaws Creek between Echo Valley Road (private road being used as temporary access for Liena residentss) and Old Gads Hill Road (gone and unlikely to be rebuilt) which is why we need to get to Borradaile Plains from Gowrie Park.
It's well worth a look at Mayor Perkins' FB page. There are several more photos like the ones above from a road trip he did yesterday.

Greetings all,

Just wondering if anyone has been into Meander since the floods and could kindly mention if the road is still open. With thanks- the old fart

Old Fart wrote:Greetings all,

Just wondering if anyone has been into Meander since the floods and could kindly mention if the road is still open. With thanks- the old fart

Roads into Meander Falls etc are all fine.......