Brisbane in the 1974 floods
1974 flood
It’s over 30 years since Brisbane was inundated by the aftermath of Cyclone Wanda. The cyclone itself crossed the coast near Double Island Point, however, as it weakened, a monsoonal trough caused torrential rain across South East Queensland.
Watch a movie of Brisbane during the 1974 floods and compare it to recent floods that hit our city.
Over a five day period between January 24th and 29th 1974, around 900mm of rain fell and the Brisbane River reached a height of 6.7 metres. That's more than four metres above normal levels. These floods were the worst to hit Brisbane since February 1893 when the river peaked at 9.3 metres.
See more videos of Brisbane and read more about Brisbane suburbs.
More historic flood events
To find out more about Brisbane's historic flood events, check out the State Library of Queensland's The Big Wet - Queensland floods feature.
- 1931 flood: In February 1931, Brisbane experienced another severe flood with the Breakfast Creek area suffering the worst of the downpour. Over 1000 houses were damaged.
- 1841 flood: As far back as 1841, there are records of flooding in the Brisbane and Bremer rivers. When John Oxley travelled up the Brisbane River in 1823, he noted rotting vegetation in the trees which suggested that there had been a recent inundation.
Content courtesy State Library of Queensland.
