Guardian UK: Brisbane residents flee homes as floodwaters rise

[marmar]

Brisbane residents flee homes as floodwaters rise
Almost 20,000 houses in Brisbane affected by rising water levels as PM voices concern for jobs and livelihoods

Alison Rourke in Brisbane, Sam Jones and agencies
The Guardian, Wednesday 12 January 2011



A flash flood in Toowoomba, Queensland. A flash flood in Toowoomba, Queensland. The floodwaters are surging towards Brisbane. Photograph: Nicole Alayne Hammermeister /Reuters


Thousands of Brisbane residents were stockpiling food and stacking sandbags or fleeing their homes yesterday as the worst floodwaters to hit Queensland for 50 years surged towards Australia's third-largest city.

Many people in the state capital, fearful of the damage already done, appeared to have heeded the authorities' evacuation warnings. By last night, Brisbane's city centre was a ghost town populated only by a few shop owners hoping to save their businesses with last-minute barricades of sandbags and plastic sheeting.

Ten people died on Monday as cars and pedestrians were swept away in an "inland instant tsunami" that sent a wall of water coursing through the city of Toowoomba, west of Brisbane. More than 40 people were pulled from rooftops by military helicopters that were still searching for 90 missing people yesterday. Another 200 Australian Defence Force personnel are being dispatched to southern Queensland, which has been declared a disaster area. The flooding has claimed 14 lives in the last two weeks, but police fear the death toll could rise significantly as the bodies of people who may have drowned in their cars and homes are found.

"I think we're all going to be shocked by what they find in these towns that were hit by that tsunami," warned Queensland's state Premier Anna Bligh, as rescue crews took advantage of rare sunshine yesterday to search townships west of Brisbane. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/11/brisbane-residents-flee-homes-floodwaters

[emilyg]

1. Those poor people.

[FLPanhandle]

2. A wild video from Australia showing how fast the water is rising

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

From droughts to floods

[marmar]

4. That's wild.

And scary.

[Catherina]

5. Scary! n/t

[Catherina]

3. Oh! How terrible. Rec'd

[AnnieBW]

6. I was in Brissy two years ago

Hubby and I fell in love with it. It's a beautiful, vibrant city that's just the right size - Melbourne and Sydney are great, but too big. Some of the places that we loved, like the South Bank, are being evacuated. The hotel that we stayed in is fortunately on a promontory above the river, but it was close to the CBD. We're praying for the warm, friendly people there.