The worst flooding Queensland has seen in decades just got even more dangerous. Violent floods have now infiltrated Brisbane, and residents in low-lying areas are being encouraged to leave their homes, BBC News reports.
A local official told media he saw the river level rise by 1.5m (4ft 10in) in just an hour. The Courier Mail found “storms are still dumping up to 70mm an hour in some places further east.”
There are reports of air evacuations, as families scramble to their roofs to avoid the floods. Many ports and roads have been closed in the recent hours.
The Courier Mail’s Twitter feeds quotes Campbell Newman, Brisbane Lord Mayor, as saying, “6,500 properties across Brisbane will be flooded by Thursday.”
The Australian Age writes an evacuation centre was set up at RNA Showgrounds at Bowen Hills for residents affected by floods. “A Brisbane City Council statement said the centre had been set up for those who wanted to evacuate of their own accord and could not be accommodated with family or friends,” the article states.
The tropical flooding that sparked the Brisbane floods have already wrecked havoc across Queensland in east Australia. The Mail reports the death toll has reached eight people, half of them children, and 72 still missing.
The floods in Queensland have swamped roads and railways, mangled crops and brought the coal industry to a near standstill, the BBC reports.
The state premier estimated the total economic cost of the floods to exceed A$5bn (£3bn).
