MORE THAN 500 homes in Rockhampton have now been evacuated as the central Queensland city braces for floodwaters which are expected to peak today at 9.4m. A further 1,200 houses are surrounded by water.
More than 20 cities and towns around Queensland are waterlogged as the state remains in the grip of the worst flood crisis in living memory. As many as 10 people have died in weather-related incidents in Queensland since late November.
Rockhampton residents are battling with raw sewage, swarms of mosquitoes and power blackouts as the Australian defence forces deliver food and medical supplies by truck, on the one open road, and by barge. Those forced to flee their homes are facing wild surges of snake-infested floodwaters.
Local man John Peacock had to leave his house with just one change of clothes. He told ABC radio that everything he owns is ruined. “It’s really, really dirty. I don’t know why, but it’s picked up a lot of mud,” he said.
“Even around home the water is so dirty . . . it is a chocolatey, yellowy colour. It looks so scary at the moment.” Mr Peacock says he is frightened to wade through the floodwaters.
“It’s a raging torrent. It’s raging, it’s roaring down and it’s very, very wide,” he said.
“There’s heaps of snakes at the moment in that water and I just knew if I went back to have a look and see if I could salvage anything, that I was risking getting bitten.”
Despite the rising waters, some Rockhampton residents are refusing to leave their homes. Geoff Beechey is still in his two-storey house. “I had trouble with my generator last night and this morning it kicked in again and it’s working fine,” he said.
“I’m a yachtie see, and when you live on a boat, you have to be prepared for that sort of thing. This is very similar.” In the southern Queensland town of St George, residents are being evacuated after the weather bureau revised its flood threat for the town. The bureau expects the Balonne River to peak at 14m on Sunday or Monday.
Emergency service personnel worked with the local council and residents yesterday, building levees to protect the town. The shire mayor believes this preparation work will save all but about 30 homes.
The local hospital evacuated seriously ill patients by air yesterday, with other patients being discharged. Residents of the local nursing home are being evacuated to Queensland’s capital Brisbane today. Ireland’s Ambassador to Australia, Máirtín O’Fainín, said the embassy in Canberra has not been contacted by any Irish people affected by the Queensland floods.
"There are no Irish among the dead as far as we're aware. The embassy has had no contact from any Irish people caught up in the floods and there have been no reports of Irish-born people having been injured in the floods," he told The Irish Timesyesterday.
The Irish Australia Support Association of Queensland – a Brisbane based welfare organisation – has also not been contacted by any Irish people affected by the floods.