BUNDABERG (Australia), Jan 1: Floodwaters swept through vast areas of north-eastern Australia on Saturday, threatening to inundate thousands more homes in a disaster said to be of “biblical proportions”.
As Queen Elizabeth II sent her “sincere sympathies” to Queenslanders who rang in a damp new year, helicopters were being used to deliver food and other supplies to isolated towns.
Australia has endured its wettest spring on record, causing six river systems in tropical Queensland to flood, as soaring temperatures in the states of Victoria and South Australia sparked warnings of devastating bushfires.
Up to 200,000 people have been affected by the floods, which have hurt the nation’s lucrative mining industry and cut off major highways as the water rushes through sodden inland regions to the sea.
“In many ways, it is a disaster of biblical proportions,” Queensland State Treasurer Andrew Fraser told reporters in flood-hit Bundaberg.
As the scale of the flooding mounted, the defence forces on Saturday set up a joint task force to coordi nate military relief including three army Black Hawk helicopters already at work, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who on Friday toured inundated regions, said the floods had been devastating and would have an economic impact. “We’re still directly battling floodwaters --- we haven’t seen the peak of the flood yet at centres like Rockhampton --- so the people of Queensland in many places are doing it tough today,” she said.
Ms Gillard said the mining sector had been particularly badly hit, with some companies using the force majeure clauses in their contracts.
“They’ve had to say to the people who buy their minerals that at this time, circumstances are such that they can’t keep supply moving,” she told reporters. “Even those mines that could continue to mine obviously have got difficulties with supply routes because so many roads have been affected,” she said, adding that farmers, small businesses and tourism would also suffer.
There were fears on Saturday night that the floods might have claimed their first victim when a man went missing after his boat was swamped while on a fishing trip near the city of Gladstone, AAP reported.
Emergency workers were meanwhile focusing on the town of Rockhampton where the Fitzroy River had broken its banks and was rising dangerously, threatening 2,000-4,000 homes ahead of reaching its expected peak on Wednesday.
Residents continued to leave their homes in darkness on Saturday night as the floods approached, with some leaving on boats from areas where water was already rising, AAP reported.
“They are actually leaving tonight. I hope that not too many people are trying to do this in the dark,” said Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter.
He said of the encroaching river, “The best way to describe it is as a raging torrent of water. It’s got a tremendous pace.” Carter had earlier warned that the community was likely to be cut off for 10 days, with both roads from the south and its airport blocked. —Agencies
