SYDNEY: Fast-moving floodwaters rose on Monday (Feb 3) in northeastern Australia after forcing many to flee, blacking out homes, and sweeping away a chunk of a critical bridge.
Storms have already dumped more than a metre of rain in two days in parts of Queensland, engulfing homes, businesses and roads in muddy waters, authorities said.
Aerial footage showed rural communities surrounded by the floodwaters, cut off from nearby roads.
“We are going to see widespread rain and storms spread across much of northern Queensland,” the state’s premier, David Crisafulli, warned in a news conference.
“We remain prepared for the ongoing prospect of more rain and the likelihood of more flooding, both flash flooding and riverine flooding,” he said.
Emergency services carried out 11 “swift water rescues” overnight, the premier said.
Areas of flood-hit Townsville, a popular coastal tourist destination that lies near the Great Barrier Reef, had been declared a “black zone”, he said.
“Our advice to residents in the black zone at the moment is to stay out of that zone and stay safe.”
The authorities told 2,100 people in the town to evacuate at the weekend, though about 10 per cent refused, emergency services officials said.
“BRIDGE TORN INTO TWO”
One woman in her 60s was killed on Sunday when the rescue boat she was in flipped over in the flood-hit rural town of Ingham, about 100km from Townsville, police said.
Her body was recovered later.
The floods swept away a section of a concrete bridge over a creek, cutting off the state’s main coastal road, the Bruce Highway, the state premier said.
