Emergency authorities are preparing for major flooding in the Bundaberg region, with the highest river levels in years expected on Wednesday.
The Burnett River is expected to peak at seven metres on Wednesday.
Dozens of roads are cut across the North Burnett and Bundaberg, with three houses already evacuated in Gayndah. In Bundaberg, several businesses along the riverside have been inundated while residents at a caravan park in North Bundaberg have moved out.
David Batt from the Bundaberg Disaster Management Group says there’s damage everywhere. ” There’s water tanks, there’s gas bottles, there’s boats breaking their moorings and running out the Burnett River.” The majority of roads into the CBD have been cut and there are traffic diversions across the city. Authorities are still deciding which houses have to be evacuated before the river peaks.
David Batt says residents in low lying areas should start preparing “We would be urging anyone who believes they may be affected by the flood waters to self evacuate today.”
Theodore
Authorities have used powers under the natural disaster act to order mandatory evacuations in Queensland’s central west.
The military has been called in to help and two blackhawks from Townsville joined nine other helicopters to fly residents to Moura. EMQ’s Bruce Grady says the Dawson River has reached a record 14 point five-nine metres, “the entire township of Theodore apart from the police stn does have water through it so the decision was taken at a series of public meetings that included police emergency services and the town that they would seek to evacuate”.
Authorities are also making plans to evacuate Emerald in the central highlands…with flooding expected to exceed 2008 levels.
Mundubbera
Flood waters dropped slightly in Mundubbera this afternoon where dozens of homes have been flooded, some up to the roof line.
Resident Bruce Serisier says he’s never seen the town so overwhelmed by water, “people are very philosphical. It’s amazing some of the people we got out last night, – they just said ‘well that’s it, it’s going to go under and there’s not much we can do about it’. I know there are other people who are very upset of course, but it’s very difficult, you can’t unload the whole of your house into a truck and take it away.”
Source: www.abc.net.au
