Brisbane’s Mud Army forms again
The last time the Mud Army formed in Brisbane was during the 2011 floods. Bureau of Meteorology QLD has confirmed that rainfall over the past few days was the largest downpour in Brisbane’s history, with 792.8mm to 9am Monday, which broke the previous record of 655.8mm in 1974.
The reincarnated Mud Army – dubbed the Mud Army 2.0 by Brisbane City Council – is looking to learn from the 2011 experience and is coordinating this year’s army, with people wanting to help asked to register on the Council’s website here…
Today Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner confirmed that they had already had 10,000 people sign up to be involved.
The original mud army in 2011 was pretty much a spontaneous thing and was not centrally organised. The Council is looking to build on this this year by allowing people to both register to help and those needing help to register too on the same site. The idea of asking people to sign up is so that help goes to the areas that really need it and that things aren’t thrown away that shouldn’t be, which apparently happened occasionally in 2011.
Council is already organising for flood damaged items to be picked up from the kerbside, and road repair crews have also repaired 1,400 potholes that have appeared as a result of the flooding. You can also report any potholes you see, either by texting the location to 0429 234948 or simply by calling the Council on 07 3403 8888.
In addition the regular army have been called in to help with the flood cleanup and will be based at three locations from Friday – the RNA Showgrounds, Mount Coot-tha and the Queensland Sports & Athletics Centre. Soldiers will then be transported by bus into those suburbs where their help is most needed.
Council is still calling for more people to register for the Mud Army and is expecting to ‘mobilise’ as of this Friday.
Other measures
Council is also suspending tolls on Brisbane tolls roads including the CLEM7, Legacy Way and the Go-Between Bridge. This is to ease traffic congestion.
With more rainfall predicted in Brisbane over the next few days, the new Council approach should help coordinate the response of an already pretty large army of volunteers.
Main photo by Phillip Flores on Unsplash
