Australian Floods Prompt Evacuation of Towns in Victoria as Levies Weaken
Victoria Evacuated Amid Flood Queensland Buries Victims
Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
Flood water begins to recede in residential streets in Horsham
Flood water begins to recede in residential streets in Horsham Photographer: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
Victoria Evacuated Amid Flood Queensland Buries Victims
Matt Roberts/Getty Images
Family members of the deceased mourn at the funeral of mother and son killed in last week's flash floods.
Family members of the deceased mourn at the funeral of mother and son killed in last week's flash floods. Photographer: Matt Roberts/Getty Images
Towns in the Australian state of Victoria were evacuated as levees weakened, becoming the latest areas touched by almost two months of floods enveloping the east coast after the wettest summer on record.
Water breached sections of a levee in Kerang, 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of the New South Wales border, threatening 1,500 properties should it collapse, the State Emergency Service’s Mark Telford said by telephone. There’s a risk the barrier may deteriorate, the police said in a statement.
The rains drenching the country are linked to a La Nina weather event, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. La Nina, a cooling of the tropical ocean, occurs every three to five years and will bring more rain, the bureau said.
“La Nina is still very strong and we can expect more rainfall in coming months,” Harvey Stern, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Victoria climate manager, said. “It will be the wettest summer ever on the east coast.”
Worse weather, including cyclones, could be in store for Queensland in coming weeks, according to Professor Peter Grace from the Queensland University of Technology. Grace said the weather was a “signature” La Nina event rather than “a freak event caused by climate change.”
Worst ‘Ahead’
Queensland’s southeast was lashed by fresh storms late yesterday, with power cut to 20,000 homes.
“That’s what happens typically at this time of year,” Grace, research director for the Institute of Sustainable Resources, said in a phone interview from Brisbane. “The worst could be ahead of us, I’m afraid to say.”
Flooding in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales represents Australia’s biggest natural disaster in economic terms, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said.
Residents were also evacuated today from Warracknabeal, 350 kilometers northwest of Melbourne, as waters rose to the highest level in 100 years. Flooding in Victoria has so far affected 1,700 properties in 58 towns. Police yesterday found the body of an 8-year-old boy who had fallen into a stream.
Death Toll
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has said that 2.1 million people had been affected by the floods. Since Jan. 10, 20 people have died in the floods and 10 remain missing, Queensland police said today.
Across the state, dozens of prisoners are helping with the recovery. Low-risk inmates have removed rubbish and flood debris, cleaned walls and fences, and mopped up schools and playgrounds, the Queensland government said in a statement today.
An Australian Defence Force minesweeper today joined the clean-up efforts; two more navy ships are being deployed to help in the recovery.
“The rebuild is going to take some time,” Bligh told Sky News today. “This has been a traumatic time for families who have experienced great loss.”
The premier’s flood relief appeal has so far raised A$103.3 million ($103.8 million). Rebuilding may cost as much as A$20 billion, or about 1.5 percent of gross domestic product, economists from Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. wrote in a research report dated yesterday.
Australia’s government has paid more than A$136 million to flood victims, Attorney-General Robert McClelland said in a statement yesterday.
A business task force, including Linfox Group founder Lindsay Fox, will leverage corporate donations to help rebuild Queensland after the inundations devastated homes, destroyed crops and closed mines.
U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague toured flood-hit parts of Brisbane today with his counterpart Kevin Rudd.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gemma Daley in Canberra at gdaley@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg in Hong Kong at phirschberg@bloomberg.net
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