Jamie Walker and Michael McKenna
THE nation confronts its worst flood disaster in living memory, with 30 people believed dead and 78 missing in southeast Queensland.
The wall of water bearing down on Brisbane threatens to engulf thousands of homes and put more people at risk.
The official death toll from the flash flooding that ripped through Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley on Monday stands at 10, with half the victims children, but Julia Gillard warned that this was bound to increase.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said the number of suspected deaths was twice or more the confirmed toll. A senior emergency official told The Australian more than 30 people had died, including nine whose bodies had been located but not yet recovered.
The identified victims include Steven and Sandra Matthews of Spring Bluff, who died saving the lives of their children.
As the focal point of the crisis shifted to Brisbane, the State Emergency Service reported last night that a four-year-old boy had drowned in floodwaters in the Ipswich region on the capital’s western fringe. Rescuers saved his mother but the little boy was lost during a rescue at Marburg, 60km west of Brisbane, when he fell from a boat sent to reach them after the woman’s car became stranded.
Last night, Black Hawk army helicopters completed the evacuation of Forest Hill, 67km west of Brisbane, after it was menaced by swiftly rising waters. Its entire population of more than 300 was airlifted to nearby Gatton.
The once picturesque hamlet of Grantham, which took the brunt of the tsunami-like torrent that poured down the Great Dividing Range from Toowoomba, was a scene of epic destruction. Police believe bodies are buried beneath the silt the flood left behind.
Les Schultz, a former resident of the Lockyer Valley town, told of screams coming from inside one house smashed off its foundations and hurtled along in the deadly torrent. Quoting a friend, who witnessed the scene, he said: “This home just floated past his house with people yelling out for help. But no one could help them.”
Nearby Murphys Creek was still too dangerous for emergency crews to enter yesterday, and police Deputy Commissioner Ian Stewart said there was no way of knowing how many people had died there. “We have had to hold back our staff,” he said. “The creek is still flooding in that area. It is very high-risk for our people.”
Ms Bligh said “grave concern” was held for 18 of the 78 people posted as missing last night. “With so many outstanding and unaccounted for, we still face some very grim news,” she warned.
As torrential rain continued to pelt down, the Premier said flooding in Brisbane would be worse than the 1974 disaster that killed 14 people and devastated much of the city. More than 9000 properties were set to be inundated, and a further 30,000 will be hit to some degree by the intensifying flooding. This represents about 10 per cent of the 400,000 buildings and homes in Brisbane.
To the city’s north, residents of low-lying areas of urban Caboolture and Strathpine were ordered by police to evacuate yesterday. The major growth city of Ipswich has also been warned of a flood threat as waters continue to gush along the Bremer River and Lockyer Creek.
Major roads remain cut, including the Bruce Highway – at Caboolture, north of Brisbane, south of Gympie and south of Rockhampton, where 160 homes remain surrounded by floodwaters. Chinchilla, Dalby and Condamine on the Darling Downs also faced flooding. Ms Bligh pledged to steer the state through the crisis: “It might be breaking our hearts at the moment – it won’t break our will.”
She said people living on “high ground” should reach out and offer shelter to those in low-lying areas. “We are facing one of our toughest tests,” she said. “We will only pass this test if we are calm, patient with each other . . . now is not a time to panic.”
Overnight, the Brisbane River was set to rise to 3m. With a big high tide backing up floodwaters, it would reach 4.5m by 3pm today, before topping the devastating 1974 mark of 5.45m tomorrow.
Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said the crisis had overwhelmed the ability of emergency services to preserve homes with sandbagging or other flood barriers.
Mr Newman revealed that Wivenhoe Dam, built to flood-proof Brisbane after the last flood disaster, was now so full it could no longer protect the city.
“The dam is full,” the Lord Mayor said.
“Every bit of rain that falls on the catchment will get to Brisbane, and there is not much more we can do about that.”
A volume of water equivalent to two Sydney Harbours is pouring over the vast dam’s spillway into the river every 24 hours. Mr Newman said if it continued to rain, “who knows what happens on Friday”.
The Prime Minister was last night preparing to fly to Brisbane to be on hand as the emergency peaked. Expressing her deep sadness over the loss of life so far, Ms Gillard said the nation should “brace itself” for more bad news.
“This is a very grim situation and Queensland is going to need us to stand shoulder to shoulder with Queenslanders over months and months and months of recovery,” she told the Seven Network.
The declaration yesterday of a state of emergency covering Brisbane means police can order people out of their homes in forced evacuations.
As the Brisbane River broke its banks and submerged low-lying parts of the CBD, nearby West End and leafy suburbs such as New Farm, in the inner north, Milton and Sherwood in the inner west went under water during yesterday afternoon’s high tide.
At the same time, homes were being evacuated in the outer suburban precincts of Strathpine and Caboolture, north of the city, stretching emergency services.
A third of Ipswich, 30km southwest of the Brisbane CBD, was expected to be flooded by the Bremer River before it peaked at 22m today, eclipsing the 1974 flood level.
Mr Newman said the imperative was to protect lives in what he branded a “national disaster”.
Ms Bligh said people should not baulk if police or emergency personnel asked them to leave threatened homes.
Source: www.theaustralian.com.au
