Update on Queensland, Australia

Queensland records first 

flood death, as statewide 

catastrophe declared

Queensland has recorded its first flood death - an elderly man whose body was pulled from the water at Burnett Heads, northeast of Bundaberg

Brisbane Times,

26 January, 2013

Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said the death was connected to the flooding, but with next of kin yet to be advised he would not reveal further details.

Flooding on Sandgate Road at Breakfast Creek. Photo: Michelle Smith

Meanwhile, residents of the central Queensland city of Bundaberg, where six tornadoes damaged up to 150 homes on Saturday, are being ordered to leave their homes immediately.

Flood and storm damage across Queensland has triggered a statewide catastrophe declaration from the Insurance Council of Australia.

Bundaberg residents are bracing for the Burnett River to peak at nine metres - higher than the floods two years ago - and residents have been told they have limited time to get out.

Up to 200 homes and 100 businesses are expected to flood, and evacuations are being ordered in the suburb of Bundaberg North, with some residents in the south and east also being told to head to evacuation centres.

A disaster has been declared giving authorities the power to force evacuations, if necessary.

Meanwhile, the search is continuing for a 27-year-old man who was swept away while trying to cross the Widgee Creek near Gympie.

The Mary River is expected to peak at 17 metres - just shy of levels reached during floods that devastated the region in 2011.

At Gladstone, flood waters appear to be dropping, but 900 homes in low-lying areas have been evacuated.

And there are reports of homes flooded to their ceilings at Baffle Creek, between Gladstone and Bundaberg.

Evacuation centres have been set up.

The low pressure system that was tropical cyclone Oswald is continuing to wreak havoc across the state, five days after it made landfall on Cape York Peninsula.

Tornadoes, storms and flooding have hit Queensland's centre and southeast.

Teenage boys stand on the ocean side of the guard rail at Brighton waiting for waves to break on top if them. Photo: Bridie Jabour

More than 41,000 homes were without power about 1pm, mostly in the Gympie, Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay and Brisbane regions.

The Insurance Council of Australia today declared a catastrophe for large parts of Queensland affected by storms and inundation caused by ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald.

With the extent of the damage still unfolding, ICA chief executive Rob Whelan said a catastrophe declaration meant an industry taskforce would help coordinate the response.

‘‘Insurers are greatly concerned about extreme weather expected over the next few days in Queensland, with severe inundation already having been experienced in several towns and cities, and major flood warnings now in place for every river from Cairns to the border,’’ he said on Sunday.

‘‘Unfortunately, this catastrophe declaration is the result of the first cyclone to come close to the coast this season, and the weather bureau has warned it’s highly possible we will see more before the end of summer.’’

Southeast Queensland remains on alert for more tornadoes, after six damaged homes and businesses in the Bundaberg region in the past 24 hours.

Premier Campbell Newman said Sunday that Queensland would need a lot of help from the federal government to recover from the state’s unfolding flood disaster.

Mr Newman is meeting with the state’s disaster managers as cities along the central coast flood, and the southeast corner braces for cyclonic winds and flooding rains.

Before the meeting in Brisbane, he said he was saddened to see the damage tornadoes had done to homes in the Bundaberg region.He spent the morning with residents of Bargara, where homes were severely damaged by a tornado on Saturday.

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‘What’s been hit has been really smashed bad,’’ he told the Seven Network.

He said he toured one family’s home and the damage was terrible.

‘‘All their possessions are totally soaked in water, the roof is half ripped off, their caravan smashed, their car smashed and debris all over their yard,’’ Mr Newman said.

He said he was very aware of the flood crisis unfolding in Bundaberg, where a flood could be bigger than the one of 2010/11 and where whole suburbs had been evacuated.

He said some of the properties that went under two years ago would go under again, and that was a heart-breaking prospect for those affected.

He said this afternoon’s disaster management meeting would also focus on the impacts for the southeast corner.

‘‘This afternoon the big one is what is going to happen in the Bremer River, Lockyer Creek and the dams,’’ he said.

‘‘That’s something I intend to give the community some advice on this afternoon.’’

He said the meeting would also discuss what help would be sought from the federal government.

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‘Clearly now we are getting to a situation where we have big impacts. We’re going to need a lot of support, particularly with the clean up.’’

Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan will hold a press conference at 2.45pm (AEST) to outline what federal assistance will be offered.

As wild weather started to hit Brisbane city on Sunday, Mayor Graham Quirk appealed to residents not to panic.

He told the ABC 250mm of rain was expected over the next 24 hours, with winds up to 40 knots.

Cr Quirk said the areas most at risk were bayside communities that typically saw flooding on high tides, as well as those near low-lying tidal creeks.

The council has opened depots so residents can collect sandbags to protect their properties.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said the city was also on alert, with minor localised flooding expected in low-lying areas from Sunday afternoon.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has issued severe weather warnings for communities from central Queensland down to the NSW border.

Forecaster Amber Young said there was a good chance of ongoing tornado activity, including on the Sunshine Coast, in Brisbane, and on the Gold Coast as the low heads south on Sunday.

She said the latest tornado hit Burrum Heads, near Bundaberg, some time before 3.45am on Sunday.

Initial reports suggested one house and a caravan park had been damaged.

At Rockhampton, water police rescued a boatie whose vessel was hit by another empty boat in the swollen Fitzroy River early on Sunday morning.

The man had been sleeping on his boat when the other vessel crashed into it, sending both vessels surging down the river.

Water police rescued the man, while the unoccupied vessel capsized.

And a search is continuing for one of two fisherman who went missing off Port Alma near Rockhampton.

The men made a distress call from a fishing vessel on Thursday night.

One of them was rescued on Saturday but the other remains missing.