Flood chaos forces mass evacuations in Australia

[Harry Hope]

Source: BBC


28 December 2010

Flood chaos forces mass evacuations in Australia


North-eastern Australia's worst flooding in decades is continuing to cause chaos across the region.

Around 1,000 people in Queensland have been evacuated, including the entire population of the town of Theodore.

The government has declared Theodore and two other towns in the region to be disaster zones, and forecasters say the floods have not yet peaked.

The cost of the damage is expected to top AU$1bn (£650m), including massive losses of sunflower and cotton crops.

Army Black Hawk helicopters are being despatched to help evacuate the 300 residents of Theodore, where every building in the town apart from the police station has been flooded, local media report.

The town's river has risen more than 50cm (20 in) above its previous recorded high, Emergency Management Queensland spokesman Bruce O'Grady told Australia's ABC News.

"We're in unchartered territory in that area," he said. "The bureau is indicating it could go higher."



Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12087870

[defendandprotect]

1. Wow -- they're rescuing their own people!! Terrible to hear about this damage ....

but it is a horrific reminder of "Katrina" --

and with Global Warming providing so many more intensive and chaoitic

weather conditions, that betrayal of our citizens is something we should

all have in mind!

[earcandle]

2. Cheney, and clan and a few satelites at work?

sci fi? 

[greysoncolt]

3. Humans arent the only ones striving for dry land

and as if its not bad enough, it seems humans arent the only ones striving for dry land. "crocodiles, brown snakes and taipans, another, less common snake species in the area, have been emerging from the murky floodwaters, looking for shelter from their now underwater habitats"

Read more: http://www.owlreview.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10898:snakes-in-the-rain-flood-stricken-australias-reptilian-guests&catid=295:world&Itemid=419

[Downwinder]

4. Sounds like Nevil Shute's "In the Wet."