Australia floods leave tens of thousands stranded and four missing

Australia floods leave tens of thousands stranded and four missing

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A resident uses a kayak to paddle past a house, partially submerged under floodwaters, in North MacLean, Brisbane Credit: AFP

• Our Foreign Staff
  

1 April 2017 • 6:49am
Tens of thousands of Australians were stranded by floodwaters on Saturday after the remnants of a powerful cyclone swept along the country's east coast, cutting roads, destroying bridges and leaving at least four people missing.
The disaster zone from ex-Cyclone Debbie stretched 600 miles from Queensland state's tropical resort islands and Gold Coast tourist strip to the farmlands of New South Wales state, with more than 100,000 homes without power.
Six large rivers had hit major flood levels and were still rising in several areas, said the Bureau of Meteorology.
Stephen Gollschewski, Queensland State Disaster coordinator deputy commissioner, said desperate searches were underway in the state’s southeast corner.

Two women have already died in flood waters in northern New South Wales.
“We currently have four people missing about whom we have serious concerns and have deployed significant resources of emergency services to search for those persons,” Mr Gollschewski said, according to AAP.
Flood sirens sounded in several towns, prompting stranded residents to climb onto roofs of flooded homes to await rescue, but fast-moving water and high winds hindered emergency crews reaching several areas.
Watch | Cyclone Debbie's devastating floods, as seen from the air 01:22

Police said they recovered the bodies of two women from floodwaters late on Friday, the first reported deaths since Cyclone Debbie hit on Tuesday.
One was found on a swamped property and the other retrieved by police divers from a car that had been swept off a flooded bridge.
Authorities fear more people may have died overnight as floodwaters continued to rise.

The floods destroyed homes, including the Bowen hilltop home of Errol and Margaret Kreymborg.

“We’ve always been prepared for cyclones,” Mrs Kreymborg told the Guardian. “You got the gas bottles all full, your gas cookers, your jerry cans full of petrol, your generator.
"We’ve done everything we could. But when your house gets destroyed, they’re useless to you.”


Residents hose down their house as floodwater recedes in Lismore, New South Wales Credit: EPA
Cyclone Debbie, a category four storm, one short of the most powerful level five, pounded Queensland state on Tuesday, smashing tourist resorts, bringing down power lines and shutting down coal mines.
Debbie will hit Australia's A$1.7 trillion economy, with economists estimating it will slow growth to under 2 percent in the first quarter.
In the Bowen Basin, the world's single largest source of coal used in steel-making, Glencore said its mines were not damaged by the storm but restarting production depended on railways reopening.


Diane Bullpitt is ferried from her flooded property by neighbours in Waterford, south of Brisbane Credit: EPA
Three of rail operator Aurizon's four railway lines in the region were closed and BHP, was assessing the extent of disruption to shipments.
Queensland's top insurers, Suncorp Group Ltd and RACQ, said it was too early to put a dollar figure on the damage.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/01/australia-floods-leave-tens-thousands-stranded-four-missing/