Floods Hit Brisbane, Australia's 3rd-Largest City - Food Prices Expected to Soar 30%

Floods Hit Brisbane, Australia's 3rd-Largest city

“Biblical Proportions”

January 11, 2011

BRISBANE, Australia – F0rweeks, the flooding in eastern Australia has been a slow-motion disaster, with drenching rain devastating wide swaths 0f farml, , small towns. Now, rivers are rising in Brisbane, the country's third-largest city, forcing people to flee both suburbs , skyscrapers.

Flooding that has unfolded since late November across the waterlogged state 0f Queensl, turned suddenly violent Monday, with a cloudburst sending a raging torrent down the Lockyer Valley west 0f Brisbane. Hundreds had to be rescued by helicopter Tuesday.

Greg Kowald was driving through the center 0f the town 0f Toowoomba when the terrifying wall 0f water roared through the streets, carrying away cars , people.

"The water was literally leaping, six 0r10 feet into the air, through creeks , over bridges , into parks," Kowald, 53, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "There was nowhere to escape, even if there had been warnings. There was just a sea 0f water about a kilometer (a half-mile) wide."

The flash flood killed 10 people , left more than 90 missing, Queensl, Premier Anna Bligh said Wednesday. That raised to 20 the number 0f confirmed dead in all the previous weeks from high water.

Helicopters , other emergency vehicles were moving into the worst-hit towns in the valley on Wednesday, , Bligh warned that the death toll would likely rise.

Windows exploded, cars bobbed in the churning brown water , people desperately clung to power poles to survive in Toowoomba. Queensl, Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson described it as "an inl, instant tsunami."

"What we saw in Toowoomba was the water rise at lightning speed. Mother Nature has unleashed something shocking out 0f the Toowoomba region , we've seen it move very quickly down the range," Bligh said.

In Brisbane, 80 miles (130 kilometers) east 0f Toowoomba, May0rCampbell Newman said almost 20,000 homes in low-lying areas 0f the city 0f about 2 million were expected to be swamped by Thursday, when the river system is expected to crest near the levels 0f a devastating 1974 flood.

"This is a truly dire set 0f circumstances," Prime Minister Julia Gillard told Australian Broadcasting Corp. television.

The Brisbane River broke its banks on Tuesday , was continuing its rise Wednesday — partly controlled by a huge dam upstream that has had its floodgates opened because it is brimming after weeks 0f rain across the state. Some streets , riverside parks were covered with water, though notmaj0rflooding was reported early Wednesday.

The city 0f Ipswich, home to about 15,000 people, was being hit by the water heading Brisbane's way. Floodwaters reached the awnings 0f stores in the town, where some 3,000 properties were expected to be swamped, May0rPaul Pisasale said.

To the west, a deluge 0f up to 6 inches (150 millimeters) in a half-hour fell over a concentrated area Monday, sending a 26-foot (eight-meter), fast-moving torrent crashing through Toowoomba , smaller towns. The flash flood dropped as quickly as it came, leaving debris , cars piled together.

"There was water coming down everywhere in biblical proportions," Toowoomba council member Joe Ramia told the AP.

When the flood struck, he parked his car , ran f0rhigher ground while watching the carnage below: cars turned into scrap metal , flung into a railway line; giant metal industrial bins tossed about as if made 0f paper; a man clinging desperately to a power pole as the relentless tide surged around him.

A rescuer pushed through the churning water , yanked the man to safety as Ramia watched. Others, including five children, were swept to their deaths.

"You were powerless to do a thing," said Ramia, 63, a lifelong resident 0f Toowoomba. "While we can rebuild, you can't replace people. ... I've never seen anything like this."

In Brisbane, people fled the central business district , left suburbs f0rhigher ground. Officials warned them not to drive, to conserve drinking water , to prepare f0rpower cuts to large areas 0f Brisbane , Ipswich as floodwaters rose.

Residents stood in line f0rup to four hours outside emergency services depots Tuesday to get sandbags, , shoppers jammed markets to stock up on bottled water, milk , fuel. Residents in evacuated suburbs were asked to prepare their homes f0rhigh water, then stay with friends 0rfamily on higher ground.

"There will be considerable impact on a large number 0f homes , businesses, , we need people to be taking action now to respond to that situation," said Neil Roberts, emergency services minister f0rthe state.

Brisbane is protected by a large dam built after the 1974 floods. But the reservoir was full, , a water release that would cause low-level flooding was inevitable, May0rNewman said.

Steph Stewardson, a graphic designer, said there was an exodus from a downtown area around lunchtime Tuesday when the river broke its banks. Stewardson, 40, hopped in her car , crossed the swollen river to collect her dog Boo from day care while waters started covering the boardwalk stretching along its banks.

Stewardson took shelter in her house, , plans to stay there — f0rnow.

"I'm about 800 meters (half a mile) from the river on a hill, so I think it's going to be OK," she told the AP.

Search , rescue efforts were hampered by more driving rain, though the bad weather was easing , Bligh, the Queensl, premier, said the search would get easier Wednesday.

In the small community 0f Forest Hill, the entire population 0f about 300 was being airlifted to safety in military helicopters, Bligh said.

Flash floods were possible through the week, , officials said rescue efforts were concentrating in towns between Brisbane , Toowoomba, some isolated by floodwaters.

Queensl, has been swamped by floods f0rweeks that covered l, the size 0f France , Germany combined. Entire towns have been swamped, more than 200,000 people affected, , the vital coal industry, ranching , farming have virtually shut down.

Bligh said last week the cost 0f the floods could be as high as $5 billion, the latest figure available.

The floods have also reached the bordering state 0f New South Wales, with about 4,500 people stranded, though the situation was not yet as dire as in Queensland. New South Wales is Australia's most populated state , contains its biggest city, Sydney.

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