"Inland Tsunami" Police urge central Brisbane evacuation.

According to the newspaper ]The Australian[/url] 30 are already believed dead, while 78 are missing, what means the number of deaths may be close to 100 at this moment.

reply to post by nanbei


Sad news. Hope Australian Gov. response be quickly and efficient.

Australian Government isnt run by Bush,


So yeah its organised, quick and responsive

This is crazy, 75% of the entire state of Queensland has been declared a natural disaster. I live in Victoria and that to compare that would be like my entire state being under water.

Tomorrow it look as if the Brisbane River will begin to flood Brisbane CBD and many surrounding suburbs. They are in the process of cutting all power to the CBD and many other parts of the city tonight.

Just in on the news, 10 people dead including a 4 year old that was washed away and more than 80 people missing inclusing entire families.

Here are some recent clips of the devastation plus some further info.

Best wishes to all stuck in this disaster









www.bom.gov.au...

www.brisbanetimes.com.au...

Headline: Unstoppable tide hits Brisbane


The Brisbane River has broken its banks with evacuations underway in the heart of the city amid fears Brisbane will see its worst flooding since the 1974 disaster.

Office towers on Eagle Street, right on the river, are being emptied, along with businesses in Fortitude Valley.

Floodwaters are creeping into the inner-city suburb of West End, where residents have been told to get to higher ground.

Source: bigpondnews.com...

On top of all this Brisbane is set for a king tide tomorrow. So basically we have flood waters washing downstream and tomorrow there will be a king tide trying to push it's way upstream.

reply to post by RUSSO

I had no idea that central Brisbane had been told to evacuate, that is insane.

I just checked the EDIS website & they have added a new update since I last visited that mentions it also -

Situation Update No. 24
On 11.01.2011 at 08:50 GMT+2

Thousands of people fled central Brisbane Tuesday as the panicked city braced for its worst flooding in 120 years, after terrifying flash floods left nine dead and 66 missing nearby. Workers evacuated en masse after the Brisbane River burst its banks and officials said 6,500 properties and the downtown area would be hit in Australia's third largest city, which was facing its biggest floods since 1893. "This water is on its way," said Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman. "Today is very significant, tomorrow is bad, and Thursday is going to be devastating for the residents and businesses concerned," he said. The exodus by bus, train and car came a day after flash floods devastated the hillside town of Toowoomba, 125 kilometres (80 miles) west in Australia's Great Dividing Range, sweeping away houses and uprooting trees. In Brisbane, panic-buying took hold as flood alerts were issued for dozens of suburbs and rescuers air-lifted hundreds of residents from outlying towns. "At our local supermarket queues, all 12 tills were at least 50-60 people deep and all essentials were sold out -- perishables and non-perishables," said Brisbane lawyer Paul Betros, who was sent home when his central office building was evacuated. "There was no bread, milk, batteries, bottled water, candles. The bakery had sold out of bread and was closing." The sudden loss of life in Toowoomba dramatically escalated a rolling flood disaster that has inundated vast swathes of Australia's northeast and crippled economic life. The overall death toll now stands at 20. An emotional Queensland state premier Anna Bligh said more deaths were expected from the flash floods as rescuers, battling heavy rains and washed-away roads, reach cut-off communities. "We are now in a very frightening experience," she said. "Can I appeal to everybody that it's at times like this that we all need to make an effort to stay calm, to be patient and stick together." Prime Minister Julia Gillard, dressed in sombre black, called images of the disaster "simply shocking". "We have seen very dramatic images of cars tossed around, people on roofs of houses and on the roofs of cars and people literally hanging on for dear life to trees and to signposts," she said.

Situation Update No. 23
On 11.01.2011 at 04:38 GMT+2

Up to 72 people are still missing in Queensland after flash flooding hit the city of Toowoomba on Monday, killing eight people. Australian police confirmed the toll after a 26ft wall of water - described as an "instant inland tsunami" - inundated the city late on Monday. The waters swept away cars, houses and pedestrians, killing at least two children and leaving many residents stranded on rooftops for hours. Unconfirmed reports claim that 50 of the reported missing have been found alive, but 22 people are still unaccounted for. The Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh, has described the latest deluge as "without a doubt our darkest hour of the last two weeks". The flash flood was prompted by more heavy rains falling on the already-saturated state and officials say there was little warning of the surge. The waters receded almost as quickly as they appeared in the city, which has a population of 90,000 and is located 80 miles west of the state capital Brisbane. But they soon spread to other smaller communities, inundating the town of Grantham and other rural areas. Officials warned residents of towns downstream of Toowoomba to move to higher ground, particularly as heavy rain and thunderstorms were predicted in the region throughout Tuesday. In Brisbane, people have been given sandbags as floods are expected to peak there on Wednesday. Some areas of Queensland received more than 13in of rainfall in 24 hours, the Bureau of Meteorology reported on Monday. Ms Bligh told Australia's Nine Network: "Right now we have every possible available resource deployed into this region to search for those people that we know are missing. "This is going to be I think a very grim day." Darkness and fog prohibited the state emergency service helicopters from overnight rescues on Monday, meaning many residents were still stranded on Tuesday morning. Federal MP Ian MacFarlane told SKy News: "I've lived in Toowoomba for 20 years but I've never seen anything like this." He claimed the deluge had "left an incredible trail of devastation" that would cost the city of Toowoomba alone "hundreds of millions of dollars". Queensland has been hit by the worst flooding in decades due to incessant rains since late November and 200,00 people are said to have been affected. State officials have put the cost of the disaster so far at about $5bn - £3.1bn.

Situation Update No. 22
On 11.01.2011 at 03:54 GMT+2

Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson has likened yesterday's flash-flood to an 'inland tsunami'. Commissioner Atkinson says the situation in the Grantham area, east of Toowoomba, should become clearer this morning. "It's a very difficult set of circumstances - the weather is atrocious, communications are bad and they are cut off," he said. "We're not in a position yet to know precise numbers or identities of people missing but the circumstances are such that we have grave concerns for people in the Grantham area generally."

EDIS - QLD flash flooding

If anyone is wondering why people didn't simply get out of the way, this water moved incredibly fast...

One woman on the radio today spoke of how she saw the water creeping into the front of the office she worked at and also the offices across the street, walked through the room to look out the back to check for water there - which there was, and by the time she got back to the front the office across the street had flooded and the desks were floating away then her office flooded the same way & she they all had to evacaute quicksmart, which highlights just how fast the water rose in these flash floods.

-B.M

I'm watching it on the NZ Sky News live - getting worse by the minute.


www.smh.com.au...

As it arrived and ripped through Toowoomba

www.nzherald.co.nz...

first of all while you two dumb asses are fighting people are dying and losing everything.

second of all you are both kind of right. one toll is the overall death toll since it started 2 weeks ago, and the second is from yesterday with the flash floods.

third of all you are wrong. they dont get these kinds of rain every year. the drought has broken at the end of last year and this year with the la nina replacing the el nino. warm pacific ocean waters are creating all this rain. its expected to last another couple of months, but its being touted as the mose severe la nina in over 30 years.

and fourth of all there is already a thread regarding all of this with up to the minute information from people actually in australia and also people in the affected areas.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by punterdeb


yeah i can second that, also across most of the Eastern seaboard of QLD they have received over 800mm rainfall in about 1-2 months. Melbournes annual rainfall ( where i am ) is only 600mm all year!

There has been massive draughts for over ten years and now this. It's just crazy.

Just in, the Ipswich showground is full and at capacity with people trying to escape the floods.

Originally posted by Havick007
reply to post by punterdeb

 

yeah i can second that, also across most of the Eastern seaboard of QLD they have received over 800mm rainfall in about 1-2 months. Melbournes annual rainfall ( where i am ) is only 600mm all year!

There has been massive draughts for over ten years and now this. It's just crazy.

Just in, the Ipswich showground is full and at capacity with people trying to escape the floods.

thanks mate.....just pissed off reading to two people trying to get the better over each other while all this unfolds as we speak.

sydney here and we have yet to see a sunny hot day yet!

Flood maps of Brisbane:

media01.couriermail.com.au...

reply to post by punterdeb


Yeah the Weather in Melbourne has been strange this year as well, really higher than average rainfall. Nothing like QLD or Northern NSW but it's been high compared to previous years.

Normally by now we are in the middle of summer and heat waves but we have only had 2 days so far over 30'

Strange start to the year...

reply to post by Havick007

Normally by now we are in the middle of summer and heat waves but we have only had 2 days so far over 30'

The year is still young..
And new years eve hit 41 degrees..
All week between xmas and new year was mostly over 30..

The drought may have altered peoples ideas on weather but I can tell you that the really hot days usually started after xmas when I was young..
The new year back at school was when it started heating up,,,

Yes Feb always hot

reply to post by backinblack


Yeah new years was the first real hot day we had so far and then new years day it dropped back to about 18'

I know Melbourne has odd weather anyway, but it's been stranger than usual so far.

9 page thread on it HERE started yesterday. We are looking on changing the name since the situation has obviously gotten worse, it is now a QLD wide thread on the floods.

Originally posted by backinblack
reply to post by RUSSO

 

It is trajic but please check your source..
Lastest report is 10 dead, not 20..
And constant rains of 80mm per hour????

It is a shocking situation but sites like that are simply spouting crap...

As a Queensland resident, we have been told at this stage that there are 10 confirmed dead in Toowoomba alone, with over 78 confirmed missing. Our premier, Anna Bligh, has said there will be more. We had a king tide hit Brisbane today, just half an hour ago. Everything is underwater. I, luckily, live on a hill and my house has come out mostly okay.

Some news sites have taken it out of control, calling places 'death valley', which I think is appalling. We don't need these sorts of labels getting people more upset than they already are. The stories about inland tsunamis and 7m walls of water rushing though parts of inland QLD, are very true.

Others are not so lucky. There is literally no food in any supermarket, if they are even open. I have friends living just outside of Ipswich who have been completely cut off from everything and had to go knocking on the doors of people who hadn't evacuated for food for her two children. It's all very sad. There was a four year old boy over the hill from her who fell off a boat and drowned just yesterday.

Anyone who can help the people most affected definitely should. Watching this all happen from where I am is just horrendous. You never think it's going to happen to you until it's too late.

Originally posted by RUSSO
reply to post by nanbei

 

Sad news. Hope Australian Gov. response be quickly and efficient.

edit on 11-1-2011 by RUSSO because: (no reason given)

There was a disaster relief fund available for victims, which was set up 2 weeks ago when the floods started. The government benefit people here (centrelink), are obviously inundated, but working as fast as they can.

Originally posted by hypervalentiodine

Originally posted by RUSSO
reply to post by nanbei

 

Sad news. Hope Australian Gov. response be quickly and efficient.

edit on 11-1-2011 by RUSSO because: (no reason given)

There was a disaster relief fund available for victims, which was set up 2 weeks ago when the floods started. The government benefit people here (centrelink), are obviously inundated, but working as fast as they can.

In fact, just today I had to call centrelink to apply for the disaster relief fund because my house is destroyed and I have no work until everything dies down and gets cleaned up. I got through to the call centre they'd set up in less time than I would get through to centrelink if I had called them normally. The lady was absolutely lovely. She made sure she did up my application so I would have the best chance to getting it approved and even offered me a social worker to help me and talk to me if I needed it. Australia has had things like this happen before and as I said in a post elsewhere, we really know how to pull together when we need to. The same thing happened during the Victorian bush fires a few years back, where over 100 people were killed.