Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Australia's flood death toll rises to six - Stuff.co.nz

The site of the damage in Bundaberg proves too much for this local.


The sun rises over flooded the Burnett river in Bundaberg.


This sign was put up in East Bundaberg after reports of looters.


Much of Bundaberg was left underwater after the storms.


The Queensland city of Bundaberg seen from the air.


These cows went to extreme lengths to keep dry as the floods came in at Pine Creek, east of Bundaberg.


State Emergency Service patrol the streets on boat as parts of southern Queensland experiences record flooding.


US astronaut Chris Hadfield tweeted this image from space of flood waters heading into the Coral Sea near Rockhampton.


A resident looks on at a neighbourhood in Bundaberg during record flooding in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Oswald.


Water covers the bike path on the South Bank, Brisbane.


Flood warning ... sightseers gather at the Prince Street wharf in Grafton where official readings are taken.


Flood waters take over Bundaberg.


Bargara, east of Bundaberg, was slammed by a vicious storm, uprooting trees, downing powerlines and ripping roofs off houses.


The flooded Mt Lindsay Highway at Jimboomba, Queensland.


Patients evacuated from Bundaberg Hospital wait to board Hercules running airlifts to Brisbane.


A stranded boat in Redcliffe.


Sydney being lashed with rain after cyclone Oswald headed south from Queensland.


Coogee Beach, Sydney, on Tuesday morning.


The storms caused huge waves at Bronte Beach in Sdyney.


Riverside restaurants in Brisbane are bagged in preparation for the flood peak.


Debris goes down the Brisbane River.


A family walks near a fallen tree at the boat ramp at Noel Kelly Avenue in Goodna.


The Brisbane river seen from Mowbray Park.


Greg Thistleton stands near a fallen tree in Brisbane where a young child was killed when the tree fell on him and his mother.


Flood waters sweep through Ipswich.


The usually tranquil Wategos Beach in the wake of Cyclone Oswald.


The town of Bellingen was cut in half following torrential rain with the Lavenders Bridge covered in flood waters.


A Swift Water Rescue officer saves a young boy in Rockhampton.


Chickens are recovered in Brisbane.


The town of Bellingen was cut in half following torrential rain with the Lavenders Bridge covered in flood waters.


The town of Bellingen was cut in half following torrential rain with the Lavenders Bridge covered in flood waters.


Flash flooding caused some drivers to take risks.


The Kalang River.


Flights to the Gold Coast are cancelled at Sydney Airport.

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The death toll from the Queensland floods rose to six yesterday when the bodies of two men, believed to be overseas farm workers, were found.


Floodwaters were receding in most areas, but there were concerns about food and water shortages in some communities as thousands remained homeless.


The discoveries of two bodies - one yesterday morning and the other later in the day - ended a search for two farm workers, believed to be from overseas. They had been missing since Sunday.


Police found the first body inside a car in the flooded Sandy Creek at Glen Cairn, west of Brisbane, and the second was found in a flooded creek. It is believed they were driving to work when their cars were swept away by floodwaters.


A 3-year-old boy died after a tree fell on him in Brisbane and three men have drowned in the floods.


The boy was named as Angus Burke, the son of two doctors in Brisbane. He and his pregnant mother, Dr Zara Weedon, were crushed by a tree while walking in Gordon Park on Monday. Angus died in hospital later that night and Dr Weedon remained in a critical but stable condition in the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital last night.


Water police in Yeppoon are still searching for a fisherman who has been missing since Thursday when his boat was destroyed by rough waters off the central coast.


The other man he was fishing with, Steve Crear, managed to crawl up a bank "like a crocodile" and was rescued on Saturday.


Around 120 soldiers were en route late yesterday to the hardest-hit city of Bundaberg, 385km north of Brisbane. The flooding, caused by the remnants of tropical cyclone Oswald, forced around 7500 Bundaberg residents from their homes, inundated 2,000 houses and 200 businesses with murky water and prompted helicopter evacuations of 1000 people.


As the cleanup began Wednesday, some residents complained about dwindling food supplies, the Associated Press reported.


"People were almost coming to blows this morning at the local shop fighting over bread rolls," said Chris Pasky of Moore Park, just outside Bundaberg. "We've got a baby in the house we can't feed. We've just been forgotten."


After earlier facing a shortage of clean drinking water, Brisbane appears to be out of the woods.


However, residents are still being urged to minimise their use.


The Mount Crosby water treatment plant, which had been compromised by the flood increasing the amount of silt and mud in the water, is now producing about 240 mega litres per day.


The Tugun Desalination Plant - which had been on "hot standby" for almost two years - kicked in to help meet the shortfall on Wednesday by supplying 90 mega litres of water a day to Brisbane.


Water is also coming from the North Pine and Sunshine Coast facilities, taking Brisbane's total supply to about 500 megalitres per day.


Premier Campbell Newman told reporters on Wednesday afternoon there was no room for frivolous water use.


"There is enough water now for normal requirements, but if we get localised excessive use in some areas where the reservoirs are lower, that is where we still have the challenge, where potentially a particular suburb or a couple of suburbs could have supply difficulty."


In New South Wales, flood boats and helicopters may deliver vital supplies to communities cut off by flooding in the state's north as more than 1000 evacuees await the go-ahead to return to their homes.


NSW State Emergency Service (SES) spokesman Phil Campbell said the service had received 4000 calls for help since ex-tropical cyclone Oswald brought storms and flooding to the region.


Grafton, on the Clarence River, narrowly escaped inundation when floodwaters peaked just below the city's levee on Tuesday and Maclean, downriver, also escaped going underwater on Tuesday night.


 Campbell told AAP that rescues of people trapped in vehicles in floodwaters had decreased but essential supplies were running low and at least eight people had to be rescued for medical reasons.


Supermarket supplies in those places can usually last three days but things like milk and bread run out fast," he said.


Helicopters and boats would be ready on Thursday to deliver food, medicine and baby formula to the 25,700 people still isolated by floodwaters,  Campbell said.


- Brisbane Times


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