Australian floods

[Deleted]

from the Sydney Morning Herald:

Australia Friday started forced evacuations of the coastal city of Rockhampton as floods which have already affected 200,000 people swamped more communities in the stricken northeast.

As Prime Minister Julia Gillard consoled evacuees, police moved the elderly and those in low-lying areas from tourist hub, where 4,000 homes are at risk from floods paralysing a vast area the size of France and Germany combined.

"Police will order people in affected areas to leave their homes," Rockhampton mayor Brad Carter told AAP news agency.

Advertisement: Story continues below Meanwhile military Blackhawk helicopters evacuated residents and dropped batches of food in Emerald, population 11,000, after 80 percent of the rural town was deluged by mucky waters.

Floods triggered by tropical cyclone Tasha have hit the farming and mining belt near Brisbane particularly hard, cutting road and rail links and crippling the region's all-important coal production.

As river levels continued to rise, some 22 towns were inundated or isolated, with sugar cane centre Bundaberg, known for its famous rum, divided in two by the floodwaters.

Shops, homes and businesses have been swamped by the murky tide, with cars submerged and caravan parks sitting metres deep, as residents take to boats and kayaks to negotiate the waters.

Hoping that our member Mockchoc is not affected much by this. Meanwhile, I was looking at photos of sweltering Sydney getting ready for a hot, sweaty party in a few hours.

[Deleted]

Considering the amount of water involved, I am wondering if this situation is creating any permanent or semi permanent lakes.

[bixaorellana]

It's going to affect the country's economy for who knows how long. And as we know from the disaster in the Gulf Coast of the US in 2005, people's lives will be disrupted and changed, perhaps forever.

[Deleted]

The only thing "the world" seems to be worrying about at the moment is the coal supply which is disrupted and which is needed for the steel mills of China or they won't be able to make all that stuff we buy.

[Deleted]

LARGE areas of Brisbane were bracing last night for a potentially catastrophic flood surge coming in from the Toowoomba region, where more than 20 people are now feared to have died in Monday's disaster.

As dozens of people remained missing after the Toowoomba deluge, authorities warned that thousands of homes in Brisbane and the regional city of Ipswich were likely to be inundated over the next two days by the approaching flood, expected to be the worst on record.

Last night, the official death toll in Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley stood at 10. Another 59 people were listed as missing. Queensland Premier Anna Bligh warned that grave fears were held for 15 of them.

''With so many others outstanding and unaccounted for we still face very grim news as we continue the search and rescue activity,'' Ms Bligh said.

Entire families were believed to be among the missing, and five children were among those confirmed dead in the wake of Monday's ''inland tsunami'', which turned city streets into raging rivers that swept away cars and houses.

''Many of the people who are stranded or unaccounted for are families and young children,'' Ms Bligh said. ''This took everybody so unawares that there was no opportunity in most cases for people to get to safety so we do anticipate that those numbers [of dead and missing] are very preliminary''.

The official toll rose to 10 last night with confirmation that a four-year-old boy had been swept away in floodwaters at Marburg, west of Ipswich.

The deaths in the past two days come on top of 11 lives lost in others parts of Queensland since the floods began on November 30.

-- from AAP - January 12

[bixaorellana]

I just tried to access this site: www.ourbrisbane.com/weather/radar

The page displays:

Sorry, we're off the air for a moment

Due to an unprecedented number of people trying to access ourbrisbane.com, the website is currently unavailable. We are working to urgently rectify this problem to ensure we can provide essential emergency information.

Useful emergency information can be found at:

* ABC local radio, your official emergency station
* Brisbane City Council newsroom
* Bureau of Meteorology website
* Brisbane City Council is also providing updates via Twitter

People all over the world must be trying to get information about friends and family in the affected area, whereas many of those in the area are out of power or have fled their homes.

[happytraveller]

My husbands family live in Toowoomba, one sister in Brisbane. They were all lucky and only one sister got some water in the house but it didn't do too much damage thank goodness. My parents in law were on their way home from Brisbane and arrived in Toowoomba only one hour before the flash flood washed cars off the highway they were just on before. People died there.

[Deleted]

I feel so badly for these folks. Having lived through the Katrina disaster and the ensuing diaspora,I can only hope that the government has it together better than the U.S, government did,as well as the State and local governments.
The impact on the infrastructure effects everyone,regardless of whether or not one's home flooded or not. We did not take in any water at all in our immediate neighborhood however,being able to receive the most basic of services (postal etc.) took forever,and in some ways,hasn't truly recovered to pre Katrina status.

I am so glad to hear that your husband's family is safe Happytraveller.

[bixaorellana]

Good grief, Happy! Your poor husband must have been sick with worry.

As pointed out above, the effects of huge floods lasts a very long time. Even small ones are devastating. My sister and brother-in-law were in the process of packing up their home for a move to another state when a flood hit the town in Kansas where they lived. To this day my sister mourns the furniture and treasures lost and the pet that was killed. It was also a dreadful financial setback for them at that time in their lives.

[Deleted]

Meanwhile, I was reading that Saudi Arabia is rejoicing in the heavy rains they have had in areas where it never rains. They know that the vegetation and wildflowers will be absolutely spectacular in a month or two -- it's something they almost never get to see.

Just living in southern California for 6 years, I remember how magnificent the spring vegetation could be after a rainy winter.

This is probably one consolation that certain areas of Australia will have as well.

[Deleted]

Looks like the cyclone aiming for Cairns is a real whopper. Clearly not a good year for Queensland!

[bixaorellana]

Poor Australia is really getting it this year. Here's a new report:

click text for full story
Torrential rain has pounded eastern Australia closing a major highway and driving hundreds of people from their homes.

The affected area was along the mid-north in New South Wales, where more than 800 residents were being evacuated as of Tuesday, according to reports from Australia's ABC News.

...
Meanwhile, ABC News also reported that a small tornado struck north of Coffs Harbour at Red Rock, damaging some homes and the local bowling club. "The tornado or waterspout or whatever it was it cut across through the dunes, across the bowling club, took the roof, then went into a couple of houses..." an observer was quoted as saying.

The whirlwind hit Tuesday morning, local time.

[spindrift]

There was severe flooding along the east coast last year. I have a friend who lives near Ballina, NSW. I hope he's ok.

[bixaorellana]

I guess the only way right now to get reports from people in that area is know their friends and family in another area of the country.

[hwinpp]

Brisbane was pretty much cleaned up when I was there in April, but it hadn't really been hit...