March 2011 floods

More flooding has occurred in the north of the state, where towns were still recuperating and repairing after Cyclone Yasi. These are the last days....

.Heartbreak as floods ravage Cardwell weeks after Cyclone Yasi destroyed the town Staff writers From: The Courier-Mail March 09, 2011 9:56AM Increase Text SizeDecrease Text SizePrintEmail Share
Replay: Floods hit cyclone-battered Cardwell
SHATTERED Cyclone Yasi victims are battling a second cruel blow as torrential rain floods already-battered towns, leaving residents stranded and sodden.
Premier Anna Bligh said the thoughts and prayers of all Queenslanders are with the residents of Cardwell, which has been flooded again.
The town is isolated, with roads cut to the north and the south. Forecasters predict 200mm of rain between Cooktown and Innisfail until tomorrow morning and authorities have set up an evacuation centre.
Residents warn the downpour has set back the already massive recovery effort as they struggle to protect their homes with little more than tarps. Many drains are still clogged with cyclone debris overflow.
Woman's body found in floodwaters
The Cassowary Coast Local Disaster Management Group opened the Cardwell Community Call as a temporary evacuation centre last night but there were no takers, most preferring to shack up with family and friends.
A couple had to be rescued from their home by the SES at 5.30am this morning after flood waters rose too high for them to leave safely.
The town is still bound by floodwater this morning after it was hit with 211mm of rainfall in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday.
But locals with their own backyard rain guages say the falls have been even higher, and have reported falls closer to 300mm yesterday.
About 90 per cent of the town can not flush their toilets – most people use septic tanks and the water table is higher than the septic system. There are reports of sewerage bubbling up on to lawns.
“Cardwell is an island, a very wet, flooded island, resident Rita Dalli told The Cairns Post.
Hinchinbrook Real Estate owner Lindsay Hallam said it had been wet over the weekend but torrential rain had not let up since 7pm Monday.
“We have copped it for a few days now but last night (Monday) was insane,” she said. “We have been hit with a double whammy – Cardwell hasn’t had time to recover from the cyclone, there are still people living under tarps and cleaning up after the tidal surge.”
"Cardwell is being hit hard for the second time in as many months, it's just heartbreaking," the premier said in a statement.
"The community was devastated by Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi last month, and in the past 24 hours around 200mm of rain has fallen."
But there is some good news with a tropical low that's threatening to turn into a cyclone in the far eastern Coral Sea unlikely to affect Queensland.
The Fiji weather bureau told AAP there's a low to moderate chance of a tropical low, sitting off Fiji, developing into a category one cyclone in the next 24-48 hours.
Michelle Berry from Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said the low was moving away from Queensland and was highly unlikely to affect the state.
``It's certainly looking like nothing that will impact our coast ... It's nowhere near us at all,'' she said.
Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts said help will try and move in today.
"A State Emergency Service team from Cairns will attempt to make it through to Cardwell today to provide support (to) local crews in Cardwell," Mr Roberts said in a statement.
Seventeen Queensland Fire and Rescue Service (QFRS) specialists, including 12 swift water rescue personnel, four electronic command and control personnel and one communications officer, were deployed yesterday from southeast and central Queensland.
A sandbagging machine was also dispatched to the community.
Hawkins Creek, outside of Ingham, received 212mm in the past 24 hours, while
Ingham has received 203mm since 9am yesterday.
Elsewhere in the region, the Murtarnee Store weather station recorded 235mm and the Paluma Dam received 210mm in the past 24 hours.
Seventeen rescue specialists were deployed to Cairns and Townsville yesterday, while police recovered the body of Kuranda woman Michelle Murray after her car was swept away in raging floodwaters.
Premier Anna Bligh yesterday said her heart went out to north Queenslanders.
"Those people, particularly in Cardwell, still reeling from Cyclone Yasi, must be thinking what on earth is next," she said.
Dozens of roads are closed in the far north and an area the size of Tasmania is inundated in the southwest as Queensland's big wet continues.A new cyclone likely to develop 1000km northeast of Mackay today is not expected to threaten the coast, but forecasters warned of more storms to come.
Wet weather that has plagued the Townsville region should also ease today but falls ranging up to 200mm will continue in the coastal strip between Cooktown and Innisfail until tomorrow morning.
Floods closed the Bruce Highway to the north and south of Ingham and near the Cardwell range. To the south, the highway is closed at Francis and Cattle creeks.
The body of Michelle Murray, 42, of Kuranda, a psychology research assistant at James Cook University in Cairns, was yesterday found 1km away from where her car was swept off a flooded creek crossing early Monday.
The UK-born student, who worked part-time in the Kuranda market, tried to cross a flooded causeway in a hatchback, police said.
Swift-water specialists found her body about 11am after a search in a creek near her Barron Falls home.
In the far southwest, Senior Constable Neale McShane of Birdsville was preparing to rescue a German tourist stranded 160km to the east on the Birdsville Developmental Rd.
"He's in a Britz camper with water all around him on one of the few strips of bitumen out there," he said.
Bedourie Senior Constable Tim Farran said at least three-quarters of their massive shire was under water.
"It's unbelievable," he said. "When you are flying, it's from horizon to horizon."
Sen-Constable Farran said a NSW driver bogged for three days on the Coorabulka Rd was more than keen to be rescued when he got to him on Monday.
"He had the shakes and was very smelly," he said. "He had about a month's food with him but had to leave it as we couldn't take too much on the chopper. He wasn't too happy about that but he shouldn't have been out there."
Sen-Constable Farran said damage to roads had been so bad they would not be passable, even after water receded.