Food drops planned for outback town of Birdsville, cut off by floods

[depakid]

A trench was dug on the Birdsville Race Track to try and drain the track.
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Water resulting from heavy rain covers the camping ground in Birdsville.
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The normally dry and dusty township of Birdsville in in far south-west Queensland today has turned into a quagmire after heavy rain in recent days, which forced the cancellation of its famous races. Two chartered aircraft will drop food and supplies into Birdsville today as up to 5,000 people remain stranded by mud after heavy rains closed roads around the town.

The Birdsville Races, south-west of Longreach, were forced to cancel due for the third time in the event's 128-year history.

Roads around the town are blocked and closed to traffic because of thick mud. A chartered helicopter is still operating and has taken some tourists to Brisbane and Adelaide.

The Birdsville police are urging people in town to stay put until the roads dry out.

'Too dangerous'

Senior Constable Neale McShane says it is not safe for people to travel home just yet.

"It's just too dangerous," he said.

"If you're going to be stuck anywhere - be stuck in Birdsville - where you've got a warm bed, medical facilities, food, water, instead of being stuck on the road covered in mud putting yourself and your passengers in danger." Senior Constable McShane says there will be food drops today or tomorrow and he is hoping roads will reopen in the next few days.

"There's stalls still in town, there are shops still in town that still have supplies, but two aircraft are going to drop food drops either today or tomorrow," he said. "There's no problems with supplying food at this stage. "We're hoping the roads will open ... either today or tomorrow and there won't be a need to drop any more food off."

Diamantina Shire Mayor Robbie Dare says the town is running short of food but more supplies on the way. "Skytrans will be coming back from Mount Isa tomorrow - that's our regular public transport plane and and they can cart probably a tonne of so of groceries," he said.

More: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/06/3003277.htm?section=justin

[A HERETIC I AM]

1. One small detail that is a wee tad overblown....

"A chartered helicopter is still operating and has taken some tourists to Brisbane and Adelaide."

Brisbane? 850 miles away. Adelaide? 625 miles away. In a helicopter? No way. Not on any regular type helicopter, anyway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdsville,_Queensland

Birdsville is one of those kind of places that isn't quite "the middle of nowhere", but you can see it from there.

I lived in Alice Springs, in the NT in the 1970's and got a chance to do a fair bit of traveling in the NT outback. While I never got to Birdsville, I've been in a few towns like it. Think remote and then add some more remote to it.

[XemaSab]

2. It's interesting that in some ways, America is like Australia

but outside Alaska we don't really have anything that remote.

I would guess that it would foster an interesting mentality.

[A HERETIC I AM]

3. It is a fascinating country.

A couple of things for perspective;

It is about the same land area as the lower 48 but has the population of the LA/San Diego Metroplex.

There is more miles of limited access, divided freeway in the LA basin than there is on the entire continent of Australia.

You would be damned hard pressed to find a spot in the lower 48 that was more than 70 air miles from a McDonalds.

(The above claim was made in a thread on DU a while back and I thought - bullshit. I've driven all over this land and across and through some of the remotest parts of it. But you know what? It's true. There are very few if any places in the continental US that are more than 70 air miles from a Micky Dees)

Not the case in Australia. Not even close. There are places where you could walk for days and days without seeing evidence of a human ever having been there before. Not a fenceline, not a tire track or a foot print or electric powerlines. NOTHING.

And then there are places like this;



The beach at Surfers Paradise, in Queensland. It could be any resort beach town in the world. (Got to Surfers several times in the 1990's for the Indy Car race.)

And there are roads in the outback like this;



That stretch for hundreds of miles.

That by the way, is a highway. Deep red dust. Sometimes the road is hard packed, sometimes it has a surface like a washboard. Almost all of it is open range land.

Comparatively few miles of the roads in the interior are paved and hardly any of it is fenced to keep animals off like it is here in the states. You're as likely to hit a Kangaroo as you are a Shorthorn steer.

If I could, I would emigrate there in a heartbeat.

[Odin2005]

4. I would love to live in Australia, GORGEOUS country!

[depakid]

5. Another thing that puts it into perspective- the second largest "city" in the most populous state

is about the size of Eugene, Oregon.

And you're absolutely right about the roo's, cattle and water buffalo, etc. You're ill advised to be travelling in rural areas (much less into the outback) without a bullbar (and spotties) especially if you're driving at dusk, dawn or at night.

Recovery gear and in many places 4 wheel drive is a must, preferably with a lift and low range gearing (differential lockers also don't hurt).

And those snorkels on the vehicles- they're not on there just for river crossings (as I initially thought) but because when it's dry and dusty, engine performance and milage is substantially improved by having cooler, cleaner air through the intake.

This vehicle for example can tackle the Birdsville track (with extra petrol cans).



This one- don't even think about it.