Australia Huge Natural Disaster

Nine people have died and 66 people are missing in Queensland as flash flooding hits the Australian state.

Queensland will take years to recover from the billions of dollars lost. Our three main industries have all been devastated, mining, agriculture and tourism. Our supply of fruit and veggies is drying up, we will be importing them and the prices are skyrocketing. Our own veggie garden is too wet and the plants have rotted.
Not a good start to 2011 for our wonderful state of Queensland. Our motto of, "Beautiful one day and perfect the next." will have to be reviewed.-quote

I know this is a long way from where I live, but Southern Queensland/Northern New South Wales has been hit and still are with the worst floods for over 4 decades.
Brisbane CBD is under imminent flood danger(It's right along the Brisbane River which is rising every minute), with over 6,500 homes in Brisbane in immediate danger. Brisbane is the 3rd biggest city in Australia and many residents are evacuating. Also an outlying city near Brisbane(Ipswich)is under over 20 m of water and is still rising, making this the worst flooding since 1974. The city of Rockhampton(north of Brisbane) is almost completely underwater with the airport almost completely flooded and in an unusable state. The area under water is as big as Germany and France together. However this is nothing like the people in Central Queensland, where many towns, farms and mines are under water from huge floods last month.

TELSTRA will join Coles, Commonwealth Bank, Xstrata and others contributing up to $1 million to the Queensland Premier's Flood Relief Appeal.

Check the link below for updated news.

Queensland Flood News

Some pictures-









[i]

Brisbane CBD-


Areas under threat or already affected-

Even snakes are trying to escape-


Along with people-


Shopping centres are underwater-


And-

(city of Rockhampton)

That is terrible.

We have friends down under and it's definitely not a good situation. Aren't many of those snakes poisonous, Alex? And aren't crocs another problem?

Stay safe during this horrific tragedy.

What a situation! Those pictures certainly tell a terrible story.

That is just horrible....I can't even imagine. Thanks for sharing the pictures with us Alex.

That's so awful. Those poor people.

Looks like a terrible situation.

bethandmanly wrote:

Aren't many of those snakes poisonous, Alex? And aren't crocs another problem?

No, most of them are non venomous pythons. But yes, crocodiles are coming out of the rivers into the flooded areas.

From The Sydney Morning Herald

Power out as Brisbane braces for flood
January 12, 2011 - 2:24AM

AAP

At least 100,000 homes and businesses could be without power from Wednesday morning and thousands of people face evacuation as Queensland's flood disaster hits Brisbane and Ipswich.

Ten people are dead and 78 others are missing, with fears the death toll could rise dramatically in coming days, after torrents of water swept through communities west of Brisbane, including Toowoomba.

The Brisbane and Bremer rivers will rise to levels exceeding the devastating floods of January 1974.
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Electricity was switched off for safety reasons in the Ipswich CBD overnight, with power to be cut to low-lying parts of the Brisbane City Council identified on flood risk maps, including the CBD, from 8.30am (AEST).

Authorities say more than 100,000 residents in Brisbane and Ipswich could be plunged into darkness from Wednesday as waters inundate communities.

Police have asked residents to avoid travelling to the Brisbane CBD on Wednesday, with many businesses expected to be shut.

"Current flood predictions suggest a number of inner city suburbs may possibly be inundated tomorrow (Wednesday), and police advise against all non-essential travel," a Queensland Police spokesman said in a statement late last night.

"Police recommend exercising caution and minimising travel in such rapidly changing conditions.

"Flooding risks in Brisbane are predicted to significantly increase on Thursday, and police are strongly advising against all travel in or around flood affected areas."

SEQ Water said flood levels were falling slowly at the Wivenhoe Dam, west of Brisbane as it makes controlled releases of water into the Brisbane River.

But the water level behind the dam was at 190 per cent at 10pm on Tuesday, including its extra flood mitigation capacity.

The Somerset Dam was holding 183 per cent.

All South East Queensland Water dams were reportedly safe and stable overnight.

Premier Anna Bligh has warned the state to prepare for yet more tragedy, saying there were "grave" fears for 15 people in addition to those already confirmed dead.

Late on Tuesday Queensland Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts said Brisbane port would be closed "to all but emergency situations".

It is getting worse.

What a horrible situation. They have my prayers. Thanks for keeping us posted, Alex.

Quote-
It won't dry up any time soon. There is much worse to come in South East Queensland, flooding is getting worse in Northern News South Wales, we're expecting 6 inches of rain across Victoria today, flooding in Tasmania, bushfires (started by arsonists) in Western Australia and flooding in that state too.

Challenging times for the people of Australia at present, but as history has proven many times before, we're up to a challenge.

That's too bad, Alex..I never saw so much devastation, entire twons under water. It's almost impossible to depict. I already prayed for people suffering in Australia (I knew it by the news), and also in lots of parts of the world...Our weather is turning weird these last years.

Vanesa.

Queensland floods leave 56000 properties without power‎

Queensland's transport industry has ground to a halt as devastating floods in the state's south leave hundreds of trucks stranded.

Fruit and vegetable prices to soar because of Queensland floods

At least one bull shark spotted in the flooded streets of Ipswich.

Death toll at 12 so far

Brisbane Flood News

Havoc as Flood Peak hits Brisbane-Must read!

Read the links; they provide heaps more information than I can post.

Quote-

The irony of this flood is that back in 1974, Brisbane's main water supply at Somerset Dam was way above capacity, so they opened the flood gates and combined with the flooding rain, the torrent of water travelling down the Brisbane valley devastated Brisbane. To prevent this from happening again, they built Wivenhoe Dam further down the Brisbane Valley. Currently, Wivenhoe is at 160% capacity and they have no option but to open the flood gates again. So this time it is a combination of Wivenhoe's water streaming down the Brisbane Valley, flooding rain west of Brisbane and a king tide. I cannot believe that I would ever see a flood worse than 1974. At around 0500h tomorrow, the flood is expected to peak.

Yes, I've read it at the news...What an awful thing for the people who lives in the area. When these kind of disasters occurs one wouldn't know what to do to help.

Vanesa.