Possible montage by any chance?
Should be rolling coverage, but that’s better than nothing!
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The floods were placed 5th spot in the story rundown in tonight’s Seven News in Melbourne. Not sure what Nine had it at.
Coverage of the Townsville Floods from the local bulletins:
9 News
7 News
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Jonathan Uptin presented a local Morning News again today for Nine.
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People have been suggesting it should be rolling coverage… why?
It’s a flood, things don’t change that fast, river heights and inundation are easily predicted, well in advance.
The story is not changing minute by minute.
Detailed updates at regular intervals are sufficient. Perhaps lengthy coverage in the zone itself and at critical moments perhaps rolling coverage.
But non stop rolling coverage, particularly outside the region is nothing but tabloid, sensationalist, disaster porn.
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I completely agree. I was watching on Sunrise this morning and a 10min update on that was more than sufficient for me to be across the situation.
Not the case in this event. Over the weekend, there was extremely heavy rainfall right over the catchment (300mm in 3 hours) which caused extremely fast rises in the river that were above anything that had been predicted. The situation was changing frequently right throughout the weekend as more rain fell in different areas.
My reasoning is simply this.
In 2011, when Brisbane was flooding, it was exactly as you suggested “river heights and inundation are easily predicted, well in advance. The story is not changing minute by minute.”
Yet on that case, we had daily rolling coverage.
The sun was shining, no more rain was falling, the river was rising from previous rain upstream and it was easily known how high the river would reach.
This year’s flood in Townsville has been just as bad, and inundated just as much area as the flood in Brisbane, yet, it was changing frequently as more rain kept falling over the catchment, making it hard to predict how high the water would be. Predicted peak river level jumped from 2.9m to 4.0m suddenly as more rain fell.
I saw how quickly the situation was changing from my own house. We have a barbecue/park area in the middle of our estate. Part way through last week the water from the river started to make its way into the park. It slowly rose from about Wednesday last week. Based on predictions that were being issued on Friday, the level of water in the park weren’t expected to rise any further, therefore meaning that we would have no issues. Saturday morning came around and heavy rain kept falling resulting in the river level jumping suddenly, and the water in the park area of our estate rising significantly into houses. I was walking around in knee deep water trying to help people nearby to evacuate. With the rain falling, things were changing so quickly, they were exceeding predictions so quickly, we needed updates, but there was nothing.
I’m not suggestion rolling coverage was needed nationally, there’s no point in that, but at least locally/in QLD.
If a similar disaster in Brisbane can get rolling coverage, it should anywhere else too.
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Some good points… the Brisbane floods probably didn’t warrant the coverage it got in strict news/relevance terms.
I agree that within the disaster zone this time there is a case for rolling coverage.
But the reality is, I suspect, there isn’t the TV infrastructure in place in regional areas to mount coverage on such a scale.
And they probably just don’t want to do it… there isn’t sufficient audience to make a business case. As heartless as that might seem.
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During the start of February, Townsville has recorded up to 753.4mm of rain in the first 5 days. This will be the wettest February ever in Townsville. So far, Townsville has recorded up to 1176.6 mm in the past 10 days. Can Townsville record 1000mm in this month? Time will tell.
Reports 2 people found dead.
This is at the airport.
Some Suburbs have already exceeded 1000mm for February.
At my place so far i’ve had 923mm for February, 1350mm in the past 10 days, and 1358mm for the year so far.
For most of January, locals were commenting on how dry it had been this wet season and worried it would be another failed one, as we’ve had very poor wet seasons for the last 7 years, this time last year the dam was on 13% and we were on severe water restrictions. I’ve seen a picture going around of the flooding with the councils “Level 2 water restrictions are in force” sign sticking out of the water
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NINE NEWS QUEENSLAND TODAY SHOW FLOOD APPEAL RAISES OVER $267,000
The Nine News Queensland Today Show Flood Appeal has raised over $267,000 to boost St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland’s assistance for flood victims in North Queensland.
After Nine Queensland launched the appeal with a $50,000 donation, more than $217,000 was donated by viewers – making a total of more than $267,000 for St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland, which has now raised over $2 million for flood victims, with $1.6 million already distributed throughout North Queensland.
St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland CEO, Kevin Mercer , said: “On behalf of the people of North Queensland, a most sincere thank you to the Nine Network for their effort on the Nine News Queensland Today Show Flood Appeal.
“To every Nine viewer who generously donated, whether you gave us five dollars or a thousand, know that every dollar raised goes directly to people who are still recovering from this terrible event.
“Vinnies are a permanent and strong presence in North Queensland and your donations are providing hope and reassurance as people rebuild and recover their lives from this catastrophic natural disaster.”
Nine Queensland Managing Director, Kylie Blucher , said: “It is always heartwarming to see our local community get behind those in need and help to ease the financial stress that natural disasters cause.
“The North Queensland floods have put an incredible amount of strain on those affected and I thank our dedicated viewers for digging deep for this worthy cause.”