BRISBANE, Australia, Jan 10, 2011 (AFP) - Flash flooding swept cars into a creek and triggered landslides Monday as heavy rains lashed Australia's swamped northeast, prompting sandbagging in Brisbane and renewed evacuations in one town.
Severe downpours deluged already sodden Queensland state, with more than 300 millimetres (12 inches) falling in some places in just 24 hours, swelling overloaded rivers to fresh peaks and submerging roads and bridges. Several parked cars were swept into a creek in flash flooding at Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, where landslides also hit a major highway, police said. There were "several unconfirmed reports of possible rescues," they added, with local media reporting that two women had been swept away in the sudden downpour and a building in the city centre had collapsed. "It only takes 15 centimetres (six inches) of fast flowing water to sweep a person off their feet and into a flooded waterway," warned rescue chief Lee Johnson. "It only takes 60 centimetres of floodwater to push a four-wheel-drive (off the road)."
The town of Gympie was cut in two by the surging waters while parts of Dalby, inundated four times already in the crisis, were again under water, forcing traumatised residents to evacuate ahead of another major river peak. "You want to cry," Gympie's Royal Hotel owner Jess Philpott told AAP news agency, as muddy waters sloshed over her floorboards. "It's going to go up to the roof." "Last night we couldn't see the water from the hotel. This morning it's inside." Sandbags were handed out in Brisbane, the Queensland state capital of two million people, as the severe weather threatened to swamp low-lying areas and submerged some bridges and roads in the surrounding valley.
Police commissioner Alistair Dawson said there had been "significant" rainfall over the weekend and though it would ease on Tuesday, there would only be a temporary reprieve. "I think a lot of communities are probably thinking 'here we go again', given the fact that we've just been through some fairly significant events over Christmas," said Dawson. "I personally hope that come mid-week, when the sun starts shining and the water starts dropping, we won't get any more rain for a while. But I know that some of the long-range forecasts are predicting still more rain to come." Prime Minister Julia Gillard said 150 regions across three Australian states have been hit by the deluge since November. More than 8,000 claims for emergency assistance worth Aus$10 million had been made and many more were expected. But the damage bill would take some time to process, she warned, with the flooding's end not yet in sight and many road, rail and bridge assets still under water. "I can't at this stage tell people what the total cost of recovering from these floods is going to be because I can't predict the drawdown on infrastructure money until we see what's under the floodwaters and how much damage has been done," Gillard said. "Because the flood crisis is still emerging I couldn't even say to you today how many homes are going to end up being inundated by floodwaters because we've (still) got floodwaters moving." The "biblical" deluge has wiped out crops and brought dozens of coal mines to a standstill, driving up world prices and causing problems for the key steel-making industry. The disaster is expected to shave at least Aus$6 billion ($6 billion) from Australia's economy.
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