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Here is a plot of the lake level at Lake Macquarie Yacht Club.

Hi Greg, I'm looking at the graph and I see it goes up to 1 metre, but I don't know what that means for your situation. Is that bad? I know on the news down your way has been hit real hard. I am just wondering what the 1 metre of extra water means in real terms. Is that over roads or stuff?

troppo

Sorry Troppo I can't find the photos. There were boats washed up on the shore. One, a young 88 (8.8m) was cut up with a chain saw and taken to he tip. IT was smashed up on a concrete wall. The Lake Mac Yacht Club carpark was just flooded. The parks were inundated as well.
The graph shows before the storm, on Monday the normal tidal influence with a range of about 0.2m. Then the rain and storm surge filled the lake. The strong gusts of wind blow the water up the lake and heap it up in the northern part. Like you did when you were a kid in the bath. That is shown by the quick ripple on level. Pretty amazing stuff.

Hey Greg, I understand better now. Thank you for explaining it to me. The tide is so small compared to the 3 m to 4 m we have in the river in Rockhampton I was struggling to see what was going on.

With a tidal range of about 0.2, and that peak of storm water to a metre, I can see that it is a huge amount of extra water. The water level being so much higher than usual, I realise that it must have flooded a heap of surrounding area. The currents once that water started moving away must also have been savage. When conditions get like this, with the amount of water and strong winds, the danger factor ratchets up pretty quick.

troppo