Devastation revealed

It's now a week since the cafe closed as the remnants of cyclone oswald raged down the coast.  The weir is now open - but the bridge at Colleges Crossing is still submerged under metres of water.  Wivenhoe dam is still dumping water at the rate of 1660 cubic metres per second - but the river height is starting to fall.  As it falls the devastation of the flooding is being revealed.

The dam releases will continue until next Tuesday (5th) at least - and it will take some time after that for the cafe to reopen.  We haven't had power at all this week, and Energex will need to reintroduce the power box they removed on Monday.
While most of the park is still submerged, as the river subsides some work is being carried out to try and clean up the damage.

The firies were there this week to help.  Pic courtesy QT.

The task of cleaning up the park - which has just been restored after to 2011 flood event - will be immense.  Safety warnings have already been posted on the park gates because of the health risks.  The alternative route to the park - over the Mt Crosby weir has been closed as debris carried by the raging Brisbane River piled up on the roadway.

With the Mt Crosby weir open it is now possible to visit Colleges Crossing without travelling via Jindalee and the Ipswich Motorway.  It's one week down - and hopefully only another week to go.

River Levels Colleges Crossing

Rain still falling - water still rising.
Colleges Crossing is cut - and has been for two days - and the rate of release from Wivenhoe Dam means that it could take some time before the road is open - and the park is accessible.
The latest info says that the alternate route - across Mt Crosby weir is still open but the water is rising up near 10 metres.  That puts it less than 3 metres from the roadway.

Here's the latest graph of the river levels at Mt Crosby.  Well over 70,000 megalitres of water have been released into the Brisbane River - and there's no info when these releases will stop.

Deja-vu January

The cafe has been opened just over a week - and already there is a sense of deja-vu.  The cafe is closed due to the violent weather - rain and 60 kph winds, plus the release of 500 cubic metres a second from the Wivenhoe Dam.
As usual, Mt Crosby Road is underwater at Colleges Crossing - cutting off access to the Recreation Reserve.

The above pic is courtesy of our good friends at 94.9 Ipswich and their listeners.

This will be a big test for the Colleges Crossing Recreation Reserve which has only recently been rebuilt at a cost of $11m after the disastrous floods of 2011.
The cafe was just getting into the swing of things after two years in mothballs.

Now it has got to survive another hammering by Mother Nature - and so early in its rebirth.  Last night the river was over 8 metres at Mt Crosby.  There doesn't seem to be a river height monitor anymore at Colleges Crossing.

Yesterday (Saturday), the cafe was getting a solid soaking (pic below).  Due to the closed roads - it hasn't been possible to get access today (Sunday) to see how it is surviving the buffeting winds.

If there is one positive out of this extreme weather - it will green up the park which has been suffering badly from the recent 40 degree heat.  Remember that line about droughts and flooding rain.  We are living it currently at Colleges Crossing.

It's not known just how long the release from the Wivenhoe Dam will continue - but as soon as possible we will be back greeting our many supportive customers.

Park Open

The Colleges Crossing Recreation Reserve is now open.  The reconstruction of the devastated park finished on Friday - and the multi-million dollar rebuilding program has delivered a fun relaxation area on the Brisbane River.
The following photo is courtesy of our friends at the Queensland Times in Ipswich.

One of the many play areas




Tradesmen's picnic - Colleges Crossing

The multi-million dollar redevelopment of the Colleges Crossing Recreation Reserve is getting closer to be completed.  We are now talking in terms of days rather than weeks.  It's still very much a tradesmen's picnic area at the moment with a huge amount of work still being carried out around the park.  The fashion is hi-vis.

The cafe itself is pretty much a work in progress still.  The shade sails are up.  There's plenty of plumbing and equipment work being carried out inside.  Also a lot of suppliers waiting for the go-ahead to stock the premises up for trading.

The opening date is still in the air - we are hoping that we can put something out for Santa when he comes down the chimney.

Instead of tiles we will have concrete with designs relating to the Brisbane River etched into it.  And, the toilet blocks in the background are designed to withstand another major flood - god forbid!

Fingers crossed that the weather will be kind and not delay this huge project.  We keen to have the smell of espresso coffee wafting over the park.

Looking back

With work continuing apace at Colleges Crossing, it's worth looking back at just what the park was like after the disastrous floods of 2011.
This mind blowing photo link allows you to zoom and pan.
http://viewfromabove.com.au/panoramas/2011-01-26%20Colleges%20Crossing/Colleges%20Crossing.html

Ready for Xmas?

Di and Mary visited the resurrected cafe site today.  The redecorated cafe is still smack bang in the middle of an extremely busy construction site.  It's planned that we should be able to start making coffee about mid-December - but still a lot of work to do.