Australia floods: Parts of Brisbane evacuated by police

[nadinbrzezinski]

Source: BBC

Residents have been encouraged to leave their homes in low-lying areas.

The waters are rising fast and one local official said he saw the river level go up by 1.5m (4ft 10in) in just an hour.

At least nine people have been killed and more than 70 are missing.

"This has been a night of extraordinary events," Queensland State Premier Anna Bligh told a news conference early on Tuesday.

"We've seen acts of extreme bravery and courage from our emergency workers. We know they're out on the front line desperately trying to begin their search and rescue efforts, and we know we have people stranded and people lost," she added.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12158608

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Things are getting interesting in Brisbane.

this is a 500 year flood... realize that it will be very bad.

Anyhoo, needed to take a break from US News.

[dkf]

1. Geez are they still flooding? Wow. Just wow.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Yes they are

it is probably a 500 year flood... and it is going to be worst than 1974.

Nothing to see here.

I hope they decide to go international... they could use more choppers

[Matilda]

3. I don't recall flooding on this scale in my lifetime.

At first, you tend to think "oh well, we've had years of drought, and now floods are par for the course in this country", but it's escalated beyond belief. Right down the east coast of Queensland, and now the run-off is moving into northern NSW.

Even in Sydney, we're having one of the wettest summers on record; something's going on, and you can't help but wonder if this is the way of the future, even though the experts say it's part of a cycle.

Puts me in mind of the poem "My Country", which we all learned in primary school in my day:

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of rugged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror--
The wide brown land for me.

"Her beauty and her terror" just about sums it up.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Weather is just odd all over

in the middle of La Nina, just like you, we had weird wet weather.

You are having a 500 year flood... the worst was 1974 per bbc and this has reached that level.

:hug:

STAY SAFE!

[mackerel]

5. Is the flooding still only in Queensland?

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Starting to reach New South Wales.

[anakie]

7. some local coverage

www.couriermail.com.au

www.abc.net.au/news


Some amazing footage of the floods, especially the flash flood of yesterday thru Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley.

I am about 100 kms north of Brisbane and since last Friday I have had over 400 mm of rain (16 inches) all on top of an extremely wet summer.

Peace

[Violet_Crumble]

8. Did you see the footage of the cars floating away in Toowoomba?

The guy who appears about a minute into it and stages a rescue of his crappy looking 4WD deserves to be shot (not literally, of course) for being such a moron. Something worth a few thousand dollars is worth him risking his life for? I don't think so, but obviously he did...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYUpkPTcqPY&feature=player_embedded

Stay dry if you can! I've got a lot of family up in Brisbane, so I'm hoping they get through this without them or their homes getting too soaked...

[Violet_Crumble]

9. Boy's death takes flood toll to 10

A four-year-old boy is the latest confirmed fatality in south-east Queensland's flood disaster, taking the death toll to 10.

Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale says the boy drowned during an attempt to rescue his family at Marburg, about 60 kilometres west of Brisbane.

"Very sad day for Ipswich. We just found out that a four-year-old boy has fallen out of a boat and they've just found the body," he said.

"So it's a very, very sad day for Ipswich and our hearts and prayers are with the family."

Authorities still hold grave concerns for more than a dozen of the 78 people still missing after unprecedented flash floods tore through southern Queensland late yesterday.

There are serious concerns for 18 of those people.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/11/3110857.htm?section=justin