HOMES ARE BEING EVACUATED in Brisbane as the city braces itself for the worst flooding in a generation in a disaster that’s now being described as Australia’s Hurricane Katrina.
Economists say the flooding is expected to hit the Australian economy harder than Katrina affected the US, the AFP reports.
Flood waters in Brisbane had been expected to rise above records set in 1974, but experts have now revised their predictions and expect it to peak today (4am local time tomorrow) below that record level, the Courier Mail reports.
Death toll reaches 12
Queensland’s Premier Anna Bligh has confirmed the death toll from the flooding has risen to 12, after the bodies of two men were discovered today by search and rescue workers.
Bligh said authorities have revised the number missing down to 67 after some people were located and others were rescued after being swept away by the floodwaters. She said that number was expected to fluctuate as people continue to look for neighbours and relatives.
The number of people evacuated because of the flooding in Queensland has reached 3,585 across 57 evacuation centres. Four hundred of those are in Brisbane, but up to 3,000 more are expected to evacuate by tomorrow. Bligh said thousands more have already gone to stay with friends and relatives.
Power cuts are also affecting thousands of people in the flood-stricken state.
The Courier Mail has posted advice and emergency contact information for Brisbane residents online, and ABC News has generated a map on Google Maps marking flooded areas in the Brisbane and Ipswich suburbs.
Animals caught in flood disaster
Australia’s RPSCA says that animals have been suffering as people who evacuated were forced to leave their pets behind. Some of the evacuation centres, such as in Ipswich or Brisbane, have been accepting pets so long as cats are in cages and dogs are on leads.
The animal protection organisation has been appealing for assistance in evacuating a number of pet shelters affected by the flooding.
Two men worked to rescue this stranded horse from the rising waters in Lowood outside Brisbane:
Video posted by 3AWRadio
This video from flash flooding in Toowoomba shows the power of the waters – and the efforts some people will go to to save their cars:
Video posted by whitelightbringer
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