Disaster declared as Australia flood death toll rises to 10

By Hilary Whiteman, CNN

January 11, 2011 2:05 p.m. EST

Brisbane, Australia (CNN) -- Three quarters of the state of Queensland has been declared a disaster zone after torrential rain threatened the worst flooding in the state capital in 37 years.

Ten people were confirmed dead in flash flooding Tuesday which swept through the town of Toowoomba, about 125 kilometers (80 miles) west of Brisbane, on Monday afternoon.

The wall of water came without warning, overturning cars and swamping homes. More than 24 hours later, 78 people remained missing.

"It was almost like a movie scene -- I went to a car park, it's a council car park -- and we had cars stacked on top of each other," Toowoomba regional councilor Joe Ramia told the national broadcaster, ABC.

The deluge was compared to an "inland tsunami" which came with little or no warning despite weeks of rain.

Cars swept away in flood

Water surges leave death, destruction

Gallery: Queensland floods

Flood-hit area

Satellite view

The flood alert spread to the Queensland capital of Brisbane Tuesday with authorities warning that more than 30 suburbs were at risk of flooding, with water threatening 6,500 homes.

"This flood event continues to develop and change at a frightening pace," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said.

"As more rain continues to fall, local and state-level disaster management personnel are working to ensure the preparedness and safety of the community," she said.

Evacuation centers were filling up Tuesday night as residents heeded advice to seek shelter away from affected suburbs.

The wave of water that devastated Toowoomba was moving through the Lockyer Valley where it was set to feed into the Wivenhoe Dam, built after the 1974 floods to prevent a similar disaster.

Heavy rains have already filled the dam to capacity and authorities are releasing water at staged intervals to release the pressure. That water is flowing into the already swollen Brisbane River. High tides predicted for Wednesday are expected to push the river's water levels even higher before peak Thursday.

The predicted flooding in Brisbane follows a deluge further north that swamped the city of Rockhampton, 600 kilometers (370 miles) north of Brisbane in early January.

Authorities are warning that the flood may exceed levels set in 1974, when the banks of the Brisbane River burst, flooding thousands of homes and killing 14 people.

Residents in low-lying areas were being urged to move to higher ground Tuesday.

Steve Cook, a resident of the inner-city Brisbane suburb of West End, spent the afternoon loading his family's belongings into vehicles to be taken away from the flood zone.

"It's pretty chaotic on the streets at the moment," he said. "The streets are almost blocked with four wheel drives and utilities and everyone is desperately packing their belongings into cars to try to get away before the flood peaks tomorrow or tonight."

By late Tuesday, the water was just one meter (3 feet) from his doorstep, one street away from the banks of the Brisbane River.

Australian PM warns of more bad news

Wave of water wipes out Australian town

"It's still creeping up and it's still getting worse. On the predictions for peak tide tomorrow, we're expecting it'll go up another two and a half meters," he said.

Long queues formed at centers where sandbags were being distributed and boat owners scrambled to move their vessels to safety beyond the Brisbane River in Moreton Bay.

"We're just watching the river now and we've seen jetties come past, all sorts of things just floating down the river. It's amazing," said Desire Gralton, who lives in the ground-floor apartment of a four-story building in the Brisbane suburb on New Farm on the Brisbane River.

She and her family moved personal belongings, photographs and documents to their car outside after stacking their belongings in order of importance -- the most valuable items piled high on top of furniture they were resigned to losing.

"We're expecting it to come through about one meter through our apartment. So we're trying to move everything higher than that and hope for the best," she said. "If the flood comes into our level, we'll all lose our electricity. So pretty much everyone would have to be evacuated."

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report.

Australian PM tours flood disaster zone

Associated press

AFP/POOL/File – Flood waters surround a supermarket in the Queensland town of Emerald. Australia has started forced evacuations …

– Thu Dec 30, 7:51 pm ET

BUNDABERG, Australia (AFP) – Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Friday toured towns hit by one of Australia's worst ever flood disasters, which has displaced thousands of residents and left thousands more homes at risk.

Gillard flew to Bundaberg, which has been cut in two by the post-cyclone inundation, before moving on to Rockhampton, a major regional centre where 4,000 residences are under threat.

Vast swathes of the northeastern farming and coal-mining belt near Brisbane are already submerged as waters continue to rise, with flood peaks expected in the coming days.

Officials have voiced concerns over disease outbreaks and food shortages in 22 towns inundated or isolated by the floods -- in some places the worst on record -- which have also paralysed coal production at several mines.

Gillard was greeted by good news in Bundaberg, where scores of residents are sheltering in evacuation centres, after the nearby river peaked and waters slowly started to recede.

"It's good news that it's going down quicker than anticipated," she said, before heading into a meeting with emergency services.

The prime minister was also expected to visit Emerald, population 11,000, where the muddy tide could deluge some 80 percent of the town. About 1,200 residents have already evacuated, officials said.

Queensland premier Anna Bligh, who has called it the huge state's "toughest hour", said the floods and severed transport links had affected 200,000 people across an area the size of France and Germany combined.

Some areas may remain flooded for another 10 days, with relief and clean-up operations expected to last weeks. Bligh said the disaster's cost may amount to several billion dollars (several billion US).

Australia floods larger than France strand 200,000

Associated Press

AP – A wallaby stands on a large round hay bail trapped by rising flood waters outside the town of Dalby in …

BRISBANE, Australia – Military aircraft dropped supplies to towns cut off by floods in northeastern Australia as the prime minister promised new assistance Friday to the 200,000 people affected by waters covering an area larger than France and Germany combined.

Residents were stocking up on food or evacuating their homes as rising rivers inundated or isolated 22 towns in the state of Queensland.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard toured an evacuation center in the flood-stricken town of Bundaberg on Friday and announced that families whose homes had been flooded or damaged would be eligible for disaster relief payments of $1,000 per adult and $400 per child.

"My concern is for the people in these very difficult times," Gillard said.

A day earlier, she pledged $1 million Australian dollars (about $1 million) in federal aid to match a relief fund already set up by the state government.

Bundaberg resident Sandy Kiddle told Gillard she lost cherished items after floodwaters surged through her house. She said may not be able to return home for a week.

"It was just a sea of water, and I thought the beach would never come to our house," she told Gillard, who gave her a hug.

Officials say half of Queensland's 715,305 square miles (1,852,642 square kilometers) is affected by the relentless flooding, which began last week after days of pounding rain caused swollen rivers to overflow. The flood zone covers an area larger than France and Germany combined and bigger than the state of Texas.

While the rain has stopped, the rivers are still surging to new heights and overflowing into low-lying towns as the water makes its way toward the sea.

The muddy water inundating thousands of homes and businesses has led to a shortage of drinking water and raised fears of mosquito-borne disease.

"This is without a doubt a tragedy on an unprecedented scale," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Bligh warned that drenched communities could be stuck underwater for more than a week, and cleanup efforts were expected to cost billions of dollars.

The Department of Community Safety said supplies of food and bedding were delivered by road and by military aircraft Friday to the towns of Rockhampton, Emerald, Springsure and Blackwater in central-east Queensland.

Northeastern Australia often sees heavy rains and flooding during the Southern Hemisphere summer, but the scope of the damage from the recent downpours is unusual.

The entire population of two towns has already been forced to evacuate as water swamped their communities, cutting off roads and devastating crops. The next city in the water's path — Rockhampton, near the coast — is bracing for flood levels forecast at 31 feet (9.4 meters) by Monday or Tuesday.

Roads and railway lines were expected to be cut off by Saturday, and the city's airport planned to shut down over the weekend.

"This is a very serious situation," said Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter, saying that level would affect up to 40 percent of the city. "Police are ordering people in affected areas to leave their homes."

Officials were evacuating residents on Friday, starting with the elderly and those living in low-lying areas.

There were concerns over food supplies in the city, with many stores already sold out of bread, milk and fresh meat, Carter said.

Gary Boyer, regional manager of supermarket chain Woolworths, said the company was sending 43 trucks full of supplies into Rockhampton on Friday.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes this week. In the central Queensland town of Emerald, about 1,000 people were evacuated in the last 24 hours.

The town was facing food shortages, power outages and sewage-contaminated floodwaters, county mayor Peter Maguire said. Three evacuation centers have been set up to help displaced residents.