The devastating Queensland floods are now expected to reach Brisbane within the next 36 hours, officials say, with heavy rain and storms threatening properties in multiple suburbs and districts.
The warning comes as eight people have been killed by the flood waters in the town of Toowoomba, which until last year had been struck by drought. Officials say over 70 people are still missing and continued storms are hampering the rescue effort.
Brisbane lord mayor Campbell Newman has said the Brisbane River is at risk of flooding, with 400 streets expected to be hit. The Brisbane City Council has released a list of suburbs expected to be affected, which include: Rocklea, Albion, Milton, Auchenflower, Norman Park, Pinkenba, Oxley, New Farm, Kangaroo Point, Bulimba & Sherwood, Yeronga, Graceville, Newstead, Yerongpilly, Bowen Hills, Indooroopilly, Windsor and Wacol.
Brisbane City will be hit, along with Moggill, East Brisbane, Fortitude Valley, Chelmer, Hemmant, Tennyson, Fairfield, Fig Tree Pocket, Coorparoo, South Brisbane, Lytton and Murrarie.
Premier Anna Bligh has said the city has been protected by the Wivenhoe Dam, but waters are still rising and that citizens should prepare for the worst weather since the last major floods in 1974.
“We are seeing one million mega litres, or two Sydney Harbours, flow into the Wivenhoe catchment every day,” she said at a press conference.
“Without a doubt the Wivenhoe Dam has already saved Brisbane from a catastrophic flood in the next 48 hours but we have to keep releasing water from it so it can keep doing the job it’s doing.”
Newman added that, “there are inflows into Wivenhoe Dam that are akin to or exceed what happened in 1974… there’s a lot of water coming down the system”.
The Local Disaster Co-ordination Centre has been opened in Brisbane and sandbags are being handed out at several councils.
The torrent set to overpower Brisbane has already hit Toowoomba, where houses and businesses in town have been devastated by the waters. Furniture, cars and other pieces of debris have been spotted floating through the main street at dangerous speeds.
City mayor Peter Taylor has said there has been “unbelievable damage” to the city, while Police have been urging citizens to watch out for the 70 people still missing.
Eight people have already been killed, officials say, with premier Anna Bligh commenting that extra resources are now being used to find the other missing persons.
“Right now we have every possible available resource deployed into this region to search for those people that we know are missing,” she said.
“This is going to be, I think, a very grim day, particularly for the people in that region, and a desperate hour here in Queensland.”
The devastating reports have come after Prime Minister Julia Gillard confirmed that further financial aid will be given to flood victims who have lost their income, with business owners confirmed to be eligible for assistance.
While the Government has already received 8,000 claims for emergency assistance, Gillard says further assistance will be available for victims.
“To take some examples of that, it could be a truck driver who is stood down because the mine in which he or she works isn’t working because of floodwaters,” Gillard said in a media conference yesterday.
“It could be a small business person who owns and operates a coffee shop and they are in a flood-affected area so their coffee shop is flooded and not working.”
The payments will begin from next week, be set at current unemployment rates of about $500 per fortnight and will last for 13 weeks.
“This payment has been triggered in earlier natural disasters, for example it was triggered in the wake of Cyclone Larry and also in the wake of the very devastating bushfires in Victoria,” she said.
This will supplement emergency assistance already available for victims. Business owners affected by the floods are able to claim $25,000 in compensation.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
