disaster in action at Newcastle 08/06/2007

[h0ughy]

we have ships running aground - flooding and gale force winds ripping roofs off buildings and toppling trees.

images supplied by Alan Meehan - my 300mm lens

[beren]

Holy cow :scared: your a brave man taking pics out in that,thats some serious weather to knock that size ship onto the coast :eyepop:

[h0ughy]

Al meehan took the photos - I left my camera at home but used my 300mm lens

[beren]

Ok then your crazy letting Al use your 300mm lens out in that :P .......hopefully everyone is OK

[rogerg]

I love winter storms and the photo's of them, can't get enough of them. Except for when property or people start getting damaged, it's much more fun to keep them under that threshold. :)

[h0ughy]

some more images. schools in lake macquarie are being evacuated at toronto- flooding

[matt]

Fairly wild and windy weather here too, David.

Although nothing like what you're getting there in Newie by the looks:scared:

[rogerg]

Love the photo's :thumbsup:

[Kal]

"There has been reports of waves as high as 17.9 metres and winds of up to 45 to 50 knots and worsening.''

Theres two more ships that have dropped anchor but are still being dragged towards the coast and could run ashore as well.

Lets hope that the fuel on these doesn't spill and cause an environmental disaster.

[JohnG]

Hope you don't end up with another Sigma disaster type scenario. Dosen't look like the ship's back is broken yet though.

These are the conditions that I really earnt my pay.

Cheers

JohnG

[GrahamL]

wow thats some wild weather..bet its comeing my way :whistle:
today has cleared up to a clear winters afternoon .

[h0ughy]

over inflated wave height there, its a 6-7m sewll at the moment so from crest of wave to trough it would be a good 14m;)

[erick]

Only 14m. Phew! I was worried there for a while!


:scared:

[ballaratdragons]

and not a kite in sight!

[erick]

Dare I mention that Melbourne, today, has its most glorious weather in over two weeks. Jet stream - almost nothin'. There are folks just ichin' for that sun to set so they can get down to some serious observing.

Sorry about you folks in NSW/ACT/QLD, but that's the way it is.

[Kal]

This is starting to look real nasty :(


Fears are mounting that the grounded bulk carrier Pasha Bulker could break up as traces of fuel begin washing up on a Newcastle beach.

Two creases on each side of the ship can be seen as engineers begin efforts to assess the damage and likelyhood of the vessel breaking up.

The Newcastle Port Corporation said there is a possibility of the ship breaking up, ABC radio reported.

[erick]

I worked with shipping for a few years. Regardless of how big and strong they look, a bulk carrier is designed to be floating in water, carefully balanced with load and ballast. Sitting on sand, is an un-natural state of affairs and breaking up and rupture of fuel tanks is a distinct possibility.

[JohnG]

Now thats not good, she will break her back if that continues.:mad2:

Cheers

JohnG

[casstony]

Since there seem to be some knowledgeable folks here, why can't the ships power up and drive into the weather before they get dragged ashore?

[erick]

The answer would be that they certainly could do that, but it costs money to get the engines running and sail around the ocean - some owners probably take the risk the weather won't be severe enough to drag anchors?

[alan meehan]

i just happened to be right place at the right time,with the camera gear,i must addmit i have never been in a wind as powerfull as this one .i seen the ship at about 830 trying to leave newcastle harbour and i thought this is crazy,20 minutes or so later she started to loose control and head towards nobbys reef by 930 she was up one the reef the most incredable thing i have ever seen

[erick]

Alan, the ship would appear to have no cargo. You saw it leaving harbour, or had it been blown there from offshore? I wonder why it would have not stayed in harbour - surely a safer place to be?

[alan meehan]

i,m not exactly certain if it was in the harbour or it got swept towards the harbour when i first saw it,but she is empty no cargo but is carring a lot of fuel.

[bkm2304]

Here's some more. I work 500m from the bneach and took these with my trusty Fuji S5500

Richard

[alan meehan]

richard nice shots,it was really hard to keep a camera steady in that wind

[leon]

Gees, who is that twit on a jet ski, great pic's though

Leon

[alan meehan]

that twit on the jet ski is a friend of mine who works for harbour rescue and i told him this morning he was a twit to go to work today

[bkm2304]

Apparently they were inspecting the ship for leaks and damage - all very official but still crazy!

[Kal]

The harbour/river is the worst place for a ship to be. In severe storms, even in cyclone areas such as where they load the coal ships up QLD, all ships are sent to sea in a severe storm, even if a cyclone is going to hit. Out at sea ships can drift with the forces placed on them, which is something they can't do in a small enclosed area such as a harbour.

[GrahamL]

Hope it all works out for the best

Might be a good place to surf for a while after they pull this one clear
theres got to be some pretty heavy sand action happening there .

[Ric]

Awesome pictures Al & Richard, I was watching it on the news and it looked like a pretty wild and wooly day all over the place.

To all our members who are in the Emergency Services have a safe night.

Cheers

[jjjnettie]

According to the news tonight, they were warned yesterday that this was coming and were advised to go out to sea. But they waited till today, and well, this is the consequences.
Those of you that are going through this, take care, and I hope you keep safe.

[acropolite]

Looks wild h0ughy, I've been following the story on the radio through the day, hopefully the ship won't break up, if it does the fuel oil will be a real problem. We had a Bulk carrier (the Iron Baron (http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/1995/MAIR/mair83.aspx)) run aground at the mouth of the tamar on hebe reef (hebe reef has claimed many ships since settlement) in 1995 and although the oil spill was extensive, the effects were relatively short lived due to swift cleanup action. For interest sake here is the report on the Oil spill response (http://www.amsa.gov.au/Marine_Environment_Protection/National_plan/Incident_and_Exercise_Reports/Iron_Baron_Spill/Part_C.asp).

[wasyoungonce]

I've seen what's left of the Sigma on Stockton Beach. Once these big ships are grounded they usually stay where they are as they are too hard to re-float. Sand swells around the hull...end of game!

Only one option I see...call in the F18s..maybe 2OCU for some bomb practice and 500 lb or 1000lb bombs..it won't last long:D

I was absolutely amazed to see even at full steam ships were still being driven to the shore.

I've been in fighter planes doing dummy attacks runs on those said ships off the Port of Newcastle...they are big when you get close. Must be wild weather.:shrug:

Absolutely amazing way to end the drought!:lol:

edit;

forgot to say.."way is it so that the ship is a coal ship and not a carrier of new Harley Davidson Motorcycles"?heeee

[[1ponders]]

Nice shot's folks.

Richard, that first one is a cracker. Great use of a zoom lens. :clap:

[sheeny]

Excellent photos guys! Thanks for posting!

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's interested to see how this drama pans out.

Al.

[h0ughy]

well, bugger me what an afternoon.:D

we have localised flooding everywhere. I have never ever witnessed as many roads and property flooded. LOL I even fielded a phone call from a lady who said water was coming out of her gutters. when quizzed she revealed that she could no longer see the road or her neighbours car that was parked out the front. upon inspection from a colleague - it appears that it floated away and that her street was under 800mm water at the crown. note this street has never flooded. We have severe damage throught, with inundation of properties, and our road infrastructure has taken a pounding. Unfortunately there is loss of life, though this is unconfirmed at the moment officially.

In my humble part of the world Kevin Costner could have made water world movie- yesterday it was dry. so far we have had 197mm rainfall at my place, from 9 am this morning:scared: . It took me 3 hours to get from my work to home. normally it takes between 10-15 minutes:whistle:

[h0ughy]

we are getting hammered worse than this morning, the winds are extreme!!! wind gusts are over 120km/h. I saw someones roof go into the power lines just down the street.:scared:

Lake Mac is in flood by .80m, and we have had over 220mm rainfall and where Rocketboy and mIke live they have had slightly more. at 290mm

[xstream]

I hope everyone has come out ok this morning!

Great pics all, it sure would of been a wild and woolly ride. Anna just happened to mention, could you imagine what it would be like where we camped at Lostock! I think they would of been pulling us out of the dam. :scared:

[Dennis]

The RAF tried that with the Torrey Canyon (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/29/newsid_2819000/2819369.stm)off the coast of Cornwall (England) in the late 1960’s I think? It wasn’t as easy or as successful as anticipated?

Cheers

Dennis

[seeker372011]

gosh I hope all you guys and your families who live in Newcastle and the Central Coast are OK

its extremely fierce from the newspaper reports

[wasyoungonce]

That is a classic, thanks for that read...what 67,000lbs of bombs couldn't sink a tanker haaaaa

[leon]

Opp's, sorry guys, hope i did not offend by refering to the fellow on the Jet Ski as a twit. :doh:

Just making an observation. :whistle:

Leon :thumbsup:

[WadeH]

What you have been through in the east! We hope that everyone has come through relatilly unscaved. On the weather radar last night it looked as is you were gettint a small cylclone, even the eye was visable!
All thoughts with the emergancy personal.

[wavelandscott]

Wow, just got back to Tokyo and can't believe the pictures and reports!

All week I was in the Japan Highlands area and isolated from all things English communication related. Looks like I did not miss much night sky viewing...

Hope everyone is okay!

Is any of the rain falling in the catchments areas?

Cheers All..and hang on (or be blown away).

Hopefull my plane will be able to land in Sydney Sunday morning...

[GTB_an_Owl]

there are probably a lot of us coasties that can't get on to post stories for you lot
i am lucky to have went out yesterday in anticipation (well a warning) and purchased a generator to keep my computers up and running

in over 30 years, this is the longest i can remember us being without power.
probably over 30 hrs now here at Terrigal

my hat has to go off to the people that are handling the emergency services and trying to restore power here on the coast

AND - NO - you can't all come to my place just cause i can get onto Iceinspace and you can't


geoff

[h0ughy]

a few more happy snaps - the scene at belmont south - lake mac flooding, whats left of a shed and my mums place (note all contents have blown away) and a tree that came down on lookout road new lambton heights (firewood anyone). :( this area really got hammered inthe 120 kph plus winds this morning.

We have drains blocked by car bodies and several shopping areas not functional. It took me 3 hours to locate a shop that had not sold out of bread yet. We are also one of the lucky ones with power still available:whistle:

[Ric]

Hi Houghy, glad you are alright. Your pictures are amazing.

[Dujon]

My sister lives on the Central Coast (Gorokan) but came through with lots of wind and rain AND didn't lose power. From the sound of it she was lucky. Her daughter did not do quite as well; after finding her way to her place of employment she was told 'to go home' as the premises were powerless.

To those who live in the affected areas my best wishes. I hope you are all OK and will be back on line after the clean up.

[astroron]

Houghy great that you have come through alright:) and thanks for keeping us upto date and great images :thumbsup:

[Orion]

Just got the power back up at Swansea Heads. We are right on the coast and some of the wind gust were well over 100ks.

Our house is alright but across the road they lost a wall and a tree.

It took me 1 1/2 hours to get home after work that is from Hexam to Swansea on Friday night and the things I seen on the journey home were unbelievable one of them was a water fall coming over the Charlestown bypass!
I was lucky to get home at all. All the roads were either flooded or a detour sign was put up leading nowhere or the cops were blocking the way, I don't know how I got home I'm just thankful I did.

[jjjnettie]

Thanks for posting the pics Dave.
We're thinking of you's.

[richardo]

Hey Houghy,
was thinking of all your guys over there in Newy,
hope your are all ok and come through it with minimal as can be expected drama and heart ache.
Hang tight and all the best to you, your family and friends.

Thanks for the photos..... wild seeing a huge ship battered against the shore line.:scared:

Best regards
Rich:thumbsup:

[astroron]

:
hi: Ed glad to hear your OK, I hope you stay safe :thumbsup: Ron

[h0ughy]

more photos

[h0ughy]

plus another couple:whistle:

I really feel for those affected by the big flood currently surrounding towns along the hunter river and williams rivers that are being flooded as I type. Lets hope that they will be kept safe overnight.

[davidpretorius]

great pics houghy!

[h0ughy]

thanks Dave, I know Scott, Paul and Alan have more excellent shots and should post them;)

[sheeny]

Yeah I second that! Thanks for the photos, Dave - appreciate it!

Al.

[Phil]

great pics houghy hope you and you family are OK. All the best mate. Keep the photos coming.
Phil

[h0ughy]

ok here are some of Scotts photos of the mainstreet of wallsend - it is now a dead shopping centre:sadeyes: :(

[ballaratdragons]

I rang my parents today to see if they are OK (at Toukley), and was told by them that the house I used to live in a few years ago at Budgewoi is underwater, and so is most of the town and the shopping centre.

The Lakes filled up so fast that they turned everything else into a Lake.

[h0ughy]

and more from scotts lens:D :P

[h0ughy]

That's not good news Ken.

Where my wife works (St peters high school maitland) will be full inundated by morning - the levee is being breached now. no work for her this week, except massive cleanup of her classrooms, and office (both on ground floor with a store room below ground level). Thankfully she brought home her laptop. All her own personal resources at work will be lost:sadeyes: . HISTORY IS GREAT TO WATCH BUT A BUGGER TO BE A PARTICIPANT!

I took the generator from my mums this morning (her power went online at 2 am) over to Killingworth to my brother and sister in laws and got their freezer back on line - they will be without power for at least another 24 hours.

I also hope that the families of Andrew and Mike are OK, along with all the other riff-raff:) on the central coast (no not you Rod;) ):whistle:

[spacezebra]

Thinking of you Houghy, hope everything is okay at yours and Alans end of the world.

Cheers Petra

[rogerg]

I've been away all weekend and hadn'th eard the news on just how bad this was! I had no idea. The story of the ship running aground on Friday was a great news piece and made for amazing photo's but now it's turn pretty ugly. All the best to those living it out, hopefully not much irriplaceable stuff is lost, or lives.

[h0ughy]

unfortunately there are 9 dead, countless stock and animals. there were carcases floating out of the harbour this afternoon...
:sadeyes:

[rogerg]

Oh... 9 ... :(

[Tamtarn]

Thanks everyone for keeping us interstaters up to date with the photos.

The disaster has been well covered here in Victoria with some unbelievable footage. The depth of water raging through some of the areas is amazing.

Hope you all get through with not too much damage. We're thinking of you

[ballaratdragons]

The whole of Maitland has been evacuated!!! That's a lot of people to move!
The river is due to peak around 3am (it's 1:28am now). Take care all that live in that area.

[Gargoyle_Steve]

I've been away in the bush the last few days, returned well after dark last night, and I'm stunned to read all about these amazing multiple events. I hope that anyone and everyone of our forum members (and others of course) manage to ride this out as well as can be expected.

H0ughy thanks so much for posting the news, and thanks to you, Alan, Scott, etc, for the amazing images that have brought it all home more than words ever could.

Stay safe everyone.

[cahullian]

I was one of the lucky ones as we never lost power and I live at the very top of a hill so flooding was not a problem for us. My sister inlaw was evacuated from her home in Singleton over night but is back now with no damage to he place.

Gazz

[h0ughy]

I drove up to Mount Sugarloaf with the family to have a "birds eye" view of the flooding around the region this afternoon. The sun was warm and shining, and you could see the extent from Kurri Kurri through to Maitland and Raymond Terrace, and Hexham Swamp.

I am not the world best photo stitcher but i had a go:whistle: :rofl: from maitlant to swansea and beyond to the central coast:D

[h0ughy]

and the rest including a view of Nobbies, Kurri Kurri (on way to Maitland) and the Pasher Bulker....... and the ABC TV/radio tower

I apologise for the haze in all the shots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and another note - this thread must be visited heaps because there are over 1100 hits on it already. Unbelievable!!!

[Outbackmanyep]

Its a shame that family died in that road collapse at Somersby, how frightening and sad is that!?

[seeker372011]

its terrible
just terrible:( :( :(

[danielsun]

Seen it on the news tonight! Unbelievable!!, and the unfortunate tragic loss of lives.:( Very sad!!
Thanks for the pics Houghy, though sorry about your mums house.
I wonder how the're going to pull that tanker out.

[KG8]

Nothing like a good disaster to bring a community together. Great pics h0ughy, love the ship to shore ones.

[Diamond Rose]

I hope everyone on the forum stayed safe. Almost 2 days without power here before it came back.

Amazing photos, everyone!

~ Bruce

[iceman]

Great pics h0ughy, has been quite a weekend.

RB has been without power since Friday and it's still not back on. They got LOTS of rain up there.

Terrible news about the family at Somersby - it actually happened not far from RB's house. I can't imagine the feelings they went through as it happened.

We got out of it quite intact. The power outage only lasted 10 hours or so for us and most of that was overnight. a very wild and wooly night (Friday night).

I was out in the rain with a chainsaw most of Saturday. Unfortunately (!) none of the big gum trees in my backyard blew over :)

I hope our forum friends in Singleton and Maitland are ok (Enrique, Ian Danks, Brendan etc).

[acropolite]

Thanks for the pics h0ughy, HRH liz is following the story with interest having grown up in wallsend.

[Ric]

More amazing pictures Houghy, it really shows the extent of flooding. It's incredible the extent of the weather extremes that we get in Australia, either nothing or everything at once.
It's a bit sad that none of this water will make it to any of the dams, from what I hear it will all go out to sea.

[iceman]

yeh they really need to harness storm water for the dams..

Warragamba Dam only got something like 40mm, 10x less than what parts of the coast received.

[danielsun]

I heard on the radio this morning that looters are hitting the shops!!

[cahullian]

I havent heard or seen shops being looted. But I'm at work now and the place is like a war zone. Downed trees and branches everywhere, no water and a gas leak. No kids allowed so its not all bad lol. A few of the buildings are damaged so we are only allowed to walk under sheltered areas. Everybodys mood is good and we will be up and running in no time.

Gazz

Gazz

[iceman]

My kids school is closed today too.

[cahullian]

Ah the sound of chainsaws in the morning.

Gazz

[venus]

Terrible tragedy over the weekend and unbelivable that there is 'looting' going on at a time like this:(

Did anyone know that the ship the 'Pasha Bulker' is only a year old?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasha_bulker

[Dujon]

Yeah, Mike, it's a crying shame. I live about 10Km north of the spillways and my weather station and 'standard' rain gauge received about 135mm over the two days. None of the run-off will benefit Sydney residents as it all enters the Nepean/Hawkesbury system from the 'wrong side' of the dam.

I suppose that it could be argued that reducing the outflow from such sources will damage the downstream ecology - in particular the off shore areas. No water flow, no run-off to provide natural nutrients to the salt water marine life. Dunno, I don't claim to be an expert in the subject.

[Omaroo]

Uhmm... has anyone heard from Mike Sidonio (strongmanmike) and his family? :shrug: They recently moved to the Newcastle area....

[Omaroo]

Oh good :) I can answer my own question. I just had a return email from Mike, and all is well. The Sidonios live in between Maitland and Newcastle so I was a bit worried.

Please resume normal programming........

[RB]

We got through this relatively well compared to the Newcastle area but I've never seen so much rain, ever !
We're not too far from the tragedy at Somersby and our area received over 450mm (18 inches) of rain in two days !

The power was restored only yesterday afternoon, we were without mains power for five days, the phone lines were out for three days.
I was able to set up a small generator to run a few essential items but it was difficult.

Needless to say we're thankful that things are getting back to normal here and our thoughts are with the people who have lost loved ones and ones that are still homeless and face a big cleanup.

My apologies to all that have sent me PM's and emails, haven't had the chance to respond yet or catch up on all the threads on IIS.

:)

[h0ughy]

some shots from this afternoon - beautiful day, complete with SES people and some buildings to admire in the afternoon sun. Yep the ship is still there;) :whistle:

[Outbackmanyep]

I don't wanna hear about Newcastle being affected by drought in the next 12 months! I guess its all over and done with there! :D