Australia's Brisbane stricken by flood

Police patrol a flooded Limestone Street in the Ipswich city centre, some 40 kms southwest of the Queensland city of Brisbane on January 12, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/159771.html


Australia's third-largest city, Brisbane, has been surrounded by water as flooding across the waterlogged state of Queensland turns violent.

Brisbane mayor Campbell Newman warned on Wednesday that the number of homes expected to be affected by the flood is to reach about 19,700 as Brisbane River overflows its banks in the city's worst deluge since 1893, AFP reported.

"We are bracing for a one-in-a-hundred-year flood. We are bracing for a massive amount of water coming into this river system and it will flood thousands of properties," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said.

More evacuation centers have been opened in Brisbane, which is the latest place stricken by the flood. Hundreds of people had to be rescued by helicopter.

However, helicopters dispatched to save people in flood-stricken areas of the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, had to cease their operation due to lashing rain.

Also the city center is expected to be submerged when the rising waters reach their highest on Thursday. There would be a massive power outage for safety reasons.

At least 10 people have been reported dead and more than 90 missing as the flashfloods smashed high through towns in the Great Dividing Range to the city's west on Monday and at least 15 more are feared to have been killed.

Heavy rainfall, coupled with strong winds, has forced residents of 30 suburbs of Brisbane to pack up and leave their homes to save their lives.