The 1929 floods in Launceston have been the bench-mark but this week's floods have beaten record levels set then. In 1929, the whole suburb of Invermay was inundated. Immediately after, flood levees were built but, over the years, they fell into disrepair. After all, the 1929 flood was dubbed the 'once in a hundred year' effort. There was no hurry to do anything in preparation for the next round. About ten years ago, though, a new mayor decided to get on with the re-building. $60 million later, Invermay is surrounded by a state-of-the art concrete barrier which had its first trial this week.
Of course, the local TV stations dragged up all the old stories about the 1929 floods and the call-in lines were choked with locals re-telling the stories their grandparents used to tell. One famous character was Charlie Johnson, a policeman who spent the night that the floods reached their highest point in rescuing people and helping them save their possessions. He worked so hard, so the story goes, that he lost the use of his legs and was in a wheelchair the rest of his life.
Another record broken was at Deloraine. A regular caller to ABC radio is Kevin the Truckie who rang every half hour with the latest flood level reading. By mid-afternoon Monday, the record had been broken. This was a surprise to a lot of us who remembered the recent building of the Meander Dam and the formation of Huntsmans Lake which was so big, the government boasted there would never be another flood in Deloraine. Two weeks ago, the dam was dry and the local farmers had no water. After a couple of days rain, it is over full and the spillways were opened to send the huge volume of water down to inundate Deloraine again. They must think we are mugs.
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