Australia's Brisbane a 'war zone' as flood peaks

changoo

Nominee Member
Nov 25, 2010
54
0
6
Australia's third-largest city Brisbane awoke to a "war zone" Thursday with whole suburbs under water and infrastructure smashed as the worst flood in decades caused wide destruction.


Frightened evacuees surveyed the damage after floods that have swept eastern Australia peaked about a metre (three feet) below feared levels around dawn, sparing thousands of properties in the besieged river city.


State premier Anna Bligh said relief was tinged with despair at the damage to homes and major city landmarks, as well as the scale of the "post-war" rebuilding effort ahead.


"It's a very mixed story here today, there is some relief and I'm grateful Mother Nature hasn't been as terrible as she could have been, but people are waking up to unbearable agony across our city today," Bligh told Sky News.


"We've seen scenes of unbelievable devastation and destruction: entire suburbs where only rooftops can be glimpsed, whole big workplaces... are completely under water."


"Whole industrial parks (and) railway stations under water, bridges, roads all closed... What I'm seeing looks more like a war zone in some places," she added.


The swollen river was already beginning to slowly recede, but the stricken and nervous city was reeling from damage wrought by the waters that have already deluged many areas of Brisbane.


A massive 300-metre (300-yard) stretch of a popular concrete walkway that was perched above the river and was popular with walkers and cyclists, was ripped from its moorings and hurtled down the river.


A well-known floating restaurant was among dozens of vessels and pontoons also sent speeding down the waterway, while the downtown Suncorp Stadium resembled a giant swimming pool and the XXXX brewery closed its doors.


Brisbane's cosmopolitan city centre remained a "ghost town" after office buildings ordered workers to stay away and power was cut to more than 100,000 properties in the region.


Brisbane River, which runs through the centre of the state capital of two million people, peaked at 4.46 metres (14 feet eight inches) at around 5:15 am (1915 GMT Wednesday), below levels that devastated the city in 1974.


Residents breathed a sigh of relief as they woke up to the news that they had dodged the worst case scenario.


"It was worse in '74, a lot worse," said John McLeod, security director of the Stamford Plaza hotel, which lies near the Brisbane River in the city centre and which was forced to close due to flooding.


"I slept only one hour last night. We have 3.5 metres of water in the basement. The hotel will stay closed at least for another 10 days," he told AFP.


But forecasters said the river would stay above major floods levels for at least a day and remain high over the weekend. And Bligh cautioned that a return of torrential rains that have battered the state could bring fresh danger.


"People are seeing (flooded) houses on their TV screen: multiply that by hundreds, and that's thousands and thousands of people. In a modern capital city these are the sort of scenes you don't expect to see," she said.


Some of Brisbane's inundation was related to flash floods that hammered towns high in the Great Dividing Range to the city's west on Monday, leaving at least 12 dead as rescuers comb wrecked communities for more bodies.


Police were investigating whether the death of a man in his 50s in the town of Ipswich, west of Brisbane, was flood-related.


A total of 23 people have died in floodwaters that have turned an area twice the size of Texas into a disaster zone, following months of heavy rains blamed on the La Nina weather phenomenon.
 

Trotz

Electoral Member
May 20, 2010
893
1
18
Alberta
Yet, crime seems nowhere as bad as New Orleans during Katrina.... I wonder why? (Rhetorical Question!)


Sydney on the other hand, especially some of it's more "multicultural suburbs", would be no-go zone if a diaster hit that city.
 

ironsides

Executive Branch Member
Feb 13, 2009
8,583
60
48
United States
Yet, crime seems nowhere as bad as New Orleans during Katrina.... I wonder why? (Rhetorical Question!)


Sydney on the other hand, especially some of it's more "multicultural suburbs", would be no-go zone if a diaster hit that city.

With bull sharks, crocodiles and snakes swimming around in the water also, I cannot see to many people willing to jump in. Why you ask? Brisbane is a nice white upscale city. Very small minority community.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
35,667
3,002
113
Heavy rains in Australia's east bring worst floods in 50 years
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Lidia Kelly
Publishing date:Mar 21, 2021 • 4 hours ago • 2 minute read • comment bubbleJoin the conversation
Children react as they are sprayed with floodwaters while motorists commute on a road near Warragamba Dam in Sydney on March 21, 2021, as Sydney braced for its worst flooding in decades after record rainfall caused its largest dam to overflow and as deluges prompted mandatory mass evacuation orders along Australia's east coast.
Children react as they are sprayed with floodwaters while motorists commute on a road near Warragamba Dam in Sydney on March 21, 2021, as Sydney braced for its worst flooding in decades after record rainfall caused its largest dam to overflow and as deluges prompted mandatory mass evacuation orders along Australia's east coast. PHOTO BY SAEED KHAN /AFP via Getty Images
Article content
MELBOURNE — Heavy rains along Australia’s east coast over the weekend have brought the worst flooding in half a century in some areas, authorities said on Sunday, forcing thousands to evacuate and damaging hundreds of houses.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the downpour across the state, Australia’s most populous with 8 million people, was worse than initially expected, especially for low-lying areas in Sydney’s northwest.


“Yesterday, we were hoping it will only be a one-in-20-year event, now it looks like a one-in-50-year event,” Berejiklian said at a televised briefing.

People in parts of Sydney’s northwest were ordered to flee their houses in the middle of the night as fast-moving waters caused widespread destruction. Late on Sunday, about another 1,000 people were asked to evacuate, after Berejiklian said that some 4,000 people may be asked to leave their houses.

Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Television and social media footage showed fast-moving water unmooring houses, engulfing roads, breaking trees and damaging road infrastructure. Emergency services estimate the total number of damaged houses to be “in the hundreds.”

Several major roads were closed across the state while many schools called off classes for Monday.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison in a Facebook post announced federal financial assistance for those affected.

The flooding comes in stark contrast with the devastating bushfires that struck Australia in late 2019 and early 2020, when nearly 7% of NSW land was scorched.

Flooding risk and evacuation warnings were in place for about 13 areas in NSW, including the Hunter, one of Australia’s major wine regions.

Several dams, including Warragamba, Sydney’s main water supply, spilled over causing river levels to surge.


Meteorologists said the downpour is set to continue for several days. Emergency crews have responded to about 6,000 calls for help since the start of the rains on Thursday, including nearly 700 direct pleas for rescue from floods.

The extreme weather has also affected Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine delivery to across NSW, disrupting the country’s plans to deliver the first doses to almost 6 million people over the next few weeks.

On Sunday, Australia’s medicines regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), granted approval for locally produced AstraZeneca vaccines.

The Australian government has purchased 50 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to be manufactured locally.