10 killed in Oz as flood ‘tsunami’ threatens Brisbane

The floods have been made worse by the Brisbane river bursting its embankment threatening 6,500 houses in the city,the city’s mayor Lord Cambell Newman said.

“Today it is tolerable,tomorrow is going to be bad and Thursday is going to be devastating” Newman said as ever swelling waters were moving towards the city.

The exodus from the city began by bus,train and car,a day after flash floods washed away large parts of the valley town Toowoomba,125 kms west of Australia’s Great Dividing Range. Rainwaters gushed with such ferocity that they appeared like Tsunami waves throwing up houses,cars and trees like toys.

Acute foodstuff shortages have already been reported from the city with a population of over 2 million with bread,milk battery,bottled water and candles being reported sold out.

Military helicopters soared in the sky monitoring the passage of swollen waters as Queensland emotional state premier Anna Bligh said more deaths were expected from flash floods as rescuers were prevented from evacuating and saving people due to turbulent weather conditions.

“We are faced with a frightening ordeal,” she said as rescuers were yet to reach villages cut off by rain.

The “unprecedented” floods smashed through Queensland state as 150 ml of rain from freak storm turned into a raging stream,hurling gallons of water down the Lockyer valley,uprooting homes and trees.

The torrent which formed into flash floods stormed downstream towards the state capital of Brisbane,where authorities ordered an emergency evacuation.

“We now have confirmation of 10 deaths,including the death of young children,” Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said.

Four of the dead were children,some of them swept away in cars driven by their mothers.

Officials have said the death toll would rise “potentially quite dramatically”,as whole families were missing and rescue efforts were hampered by heavy rain and washed-away roads.

TV images showed Toowoomba’s streets turned into churning rapids dotted with floating cars,some with people sitting on top,while elsewhere residents were forced onto roofs as waters lapped at awnings.

Toowoomba mayor Peter Taylor said this morning the flash flooding that swept through the Queensland city could not have been planned for and was “unprecedented”.

Authorities say the flood threat facing Brisbane and Ipswich is worse than the 1974 disaster.

In 1974,the Brisbane River broke its banks and inundated the city,killing 14 people and flooding almost 6,000 home.

The flood followed months of rain which had filled rivers in the south-east,then when Cyclone Wanda dumped heavy rain over the region these rivers were pushed over the limit,leading to the worst floods of the century.