Sabtu, 08 Januari 2011

Gillard visits flood ravaged Queensland towns

Australia's prime minister Julia Gillard has arrived in the north-eastern state of Queensland to inspect damage from the flood crisis.

She is currently in the town of St George where residents are preparing for the floodwaters to peak.

She will visit the flood ravaged city of Rockhampton later Saturday.



More than 300 houses have been completely inundated by the floods caused by the torrential rain which has lashed Queensland for weeks, wiping out crops, slashing mine production and forcing thousands from their homes.

The crisis has cost about $1 billion in lost production at Queensland's coal mines.

The flood emergency is showing some signs of easing across the state but there are still almost 4000 people being accommodated in emergency centres.

More rain is on the way for Rockhampton, with falls of up to 50mm expected over the weekend.

Many locals thought the end was in sight when the Fitzroy River peaked this week, but further rain is frustrating efforts to repair the damage and putting even more pressure on the city's already strained emergency services.

The swamped city is also having to contend with snakes, some of which are sheltering from the waters in residential homes.

"In four minutes we seen four snakes, in about half-an-hour we seen about 10 just swimming around the yard and under the house and up on the fence," said, James Adams, 9, who has been staying with his grandfather in the flood-affected suburb of Depot Hill.

"I went upstairs to see if the door was unlocked or locked and there was a tiger snake sitting on the step. I had a bit of a fright, I jumped."

Grant Cassidy, from Capricorn Tourism and Economic Development, says many people are frustrated they cannot move on.

"The problem with a flood like this is it is slow to come up, even though the water is incredibly fast moving, and it's over a large distance," he said.

"It is going to be a lengthy period of time before we can even start to get things back to normal. Frustrating is probably the best way to describe it."

Mr Cassidy says the damage bill for Rockhampton alone is likely to be in the tens of millions of dollars.

"This is an incredibly diverse regional economy here," he said.

"Just through not having transport infrastructure in place, that would be running into tens of millions of dollars of costs to businesses.

"I don't think there's anyone in the region who would not be affected in some way, shape or form by these floods."

The Fitzroy River has been holding steady at 9.1 metres, having peaked at 9.2 metres earlier this week. It is unlikely to fall below 8.5 metres for several days.

sumber : ABC Radio Australia
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