Massive summer floods have killed four people and forced
thousands of people to evacuate their homes across two Australian states
on Tuesday. The floods disrupted air and rail travel as well as coal
production.
A deluge fed by the ex-tropical cyclone Oswald dumped more than 200 millimetres of rain in some areas of Queensland and New South Wales states over the past three days, swelling rivers and swamping towns.
The worst-hit areas were around Bundaberg, Rockhampton and Ipswich in the Queensland state, and around the northern New South Wales towns of Grafton and Lismore.
A fleet of 14 helicopters rescued more than 1,000 people across Queensland overnight and rescue efforts continued on Tuesday.
''Across Queensland the wild weather has broken a lot of hearts,'' Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said.
Among the four people killed was a three-year old boy, who died in hospital after being hit by a falling tree as he and his mother watched flood waters in parts of Brisbane, Australia's third largest city.
In Bundaberg, one of the worst hit towns, more than 2,000 homes were swamped and 7,500 people evacuated.
People clung to rooftops calling on passing boats to rescue them and television footage showed people being winched from flood waters.
Brisbane residents have been warned to boil all drinking water as the city's main water treatment plant had been shut, unable to cope with the torrent of muddy water flowing down stream and swelling the Brisbane River.
But the flood waters have peaked much lower than similar floods in 2011, which inundated Brisbane, and cost more than 6.87 billion dollars to repair.
The 2011 floods cut Australia's gross domestic product by 0.5 percentage point, cutting coal production in Queensland by six billion Australian dollars and cutting agricultural production by round 1.9 billion Australian dollars.
''It is far too early to be talking about the full financial impact,'' Treasurer Wayne Swan told reporters in Queensland.
- Agency Report
A deluge fed by the ex-tropical cyclone Oswald dumped more than 200 millimetres of rain in some areas of Queensland and New South Wales states over the past three days, swelling rivers and swamping towns.
The worst-hit areas were around Bundaberg, Rockhampton and Ipswich in the Queensland state, and around the northern New South Wales towns of Grafton and Lismore.
A fleet of 14 helicopters rescued more than 1,000 people across Queensland overnight and rescue efforts continued on Tuesday.
''Across Queensland the wild weather has broken a lot of hearts,'' Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said.
Among the four people killed was a three-year old boy, who died in hospital after being hit by a falling tree as he and his mother watched flood waters in parts of Brisbane, Australia's third largest city.
In Bundaberg, one of the worst hit towns, more than 2,000 homes were swamped and 7,500 people evacuated.
People clung to rooftops calling on passing boats to rescue them and television footage showed people being winched from flood waters.
Brisbane residents have been warned to boil all drinking water as the city's main water treatment plant had been shut, unable to cope with the torrent of muddy water flowing down stream and swelling the Brisbane River.
But the flood waters have peaked much lower than similar floods in 2011, which inundated Brisbane, and cost more than 6.87 billion dollars to repair.
The 2011 floods cut Australia's gross domestic product by 0.5 percentage point, cutting coal production in Queensland by six billion Australian dollars and cutting agricultural production by round 1.9 billion Australian dollars.
''It is far too early to be talking about the full financial impact,'' Treasurer Wayne Swan told reporters in Queensland.
- Agency Report
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