Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




SHAKE AND BLOW
Clean-up launched after deadly Australia floods
by Staff Writers
Sydney (AFP) Jan 30, 2013


A mammoth clean-up was underway in Australia's flood-hit northeast Wednesday after waters began to recede, as the death toll from the storms reached six and thousands of homes were left swamped.

While the worst of the deluge appeared over, many homes remained without power and there were fears of drinking water shortages after rivers swollen by torrential rain from ex-tropical cyclone Oswald breached their banks this week.

Two more people were confirmed dead Wednesday in northern Queensland state after their cars were submerged near Gatton, west of the state capital Brisbane.

They had been missing since Sunday and are believed to be a Malaysian and a Taiwanese in Australia on a working holiday. Their cars were swept off the road near each other as they drove to work at a farm.

Three other men have died in floodwaters and a three-year-old boy was killed when a tree fell on him.

In worst-hit Bundaberg, which was swamped as the Burnett River peaked at a record 9.6 metres (32 feet), authorities moved into recovery mode after the floods inundated about 2,000 homes and 200 businesses.

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said soldiers were en route to the sugar-farming town where more than 7,500 residents have been forced to seek refuge in evacuation shelters or with family and friends.

"This morning we have 120 soldiers from the Enoggera army barracks in 44 vehicles heading north to Bundaberg," Newman told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

More army resources were on standby to help in Bundaberg and surrounding flood-hit communities, he added.

An ABC reporter in the town said petrol stations had run out of fuel while a helicopter and boats were resupplying some of the smaller settlements around the area that remain cut off.

Police said two teenage girls and a 25-year-old man had been charged with looting in the Queensland town of Gympie during flooding there.

While Brisbane escaped the worst of the floods, the deluge damaged water treatment plants and Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said there were concerns parts of the city of two million could run out of water.

"There is still a very real concern that water could run out," he told reporters, although Newman said provisions were in place to supply bottled water to any areas affected.

In New South Wales, a tense night for residents in the northern town of Maclean ended in relief when the Clarence River peaked just below its levee banks at 3.1 metres.

Some 750 people were evacuated as a precaution but were Wednesday given the all-clear to return home, as were thousands evacuated in nearby Grafton, where levees also held to prevent a major disaster.

Acting New South Wales Police Commissioner Nick Kaldas said rescue operations and flood management in the state had gone well.

"It needs to be said that 3,700 requests for assistance in NSW in relation to the flooding, 55 flood rescues and over 1,500 people unfortunately under evacuation orders -- I have to say it has gone very well," Kaldas said.

.


Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
When the Earth Quakes
A world of storm and tempest






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








SHAKE AND BLOW
Mozambique military called in to battle floods
Maputo (AFP) Jan 29, 2013
Mozambique's military has been called in to help tackle severe flooding that has killed 48 people and is likely to spread to the country's central and northern regions, officials said Tuesday. The armed forces have begun helping with clean-up operations in the devastated southern town of Chokwe, which has borne the brunt of the flooding caused by heavy rains. "We can confirm the army is ... read more


SHAKE AND BLOW
US, Europe team up for moon fly-by

Russia to Launch Lunar Mission in 2015

US, Europe team up for moon fly-by

Mission would drag asteroid to the moon

SHAKE AND BLOW
Is there life on Mars?

Opportunity At Work At Whitewater Lake

Thawing Dry Ice Drives Groovy Action On Mars

Mars Rover Curiosity Uses Arm Camera at Night

SHAKE AND BLOW
TDRS-K Offers Upgrade to Vital Communications Net

How to predict the future of technology

Iran Manufacturing Hi-Tech Spacesuits

TDRS-K Offers Upgrade to Vital Communications Net

SHAKE AND BLOW
Reshuffle for Tiangong

China to launch 20 spacecrafts in 2013

Mr Xi in Space

China plans manned space launch in 2013: state media

SHAKE AND BLOW
NASA to Send Inflatable Pod to International Space Station

ISS to get inflatable module

ESA workhorse to power NASA's Orion spacecraft

Competition Hopes To Fine Tune ISS Solar Array Shadowing

SHAKE AND BLOW
Russia Set for Year's First Baikonur Space Launch Feb. 5

First Ariane 5 For 2013 Ready For Loading

Azerspace And Africasat-1a "fit" for Ariane 5 launch

NASA Selects Experimental Commercial Suborbital Flight Payloads

SHAKE AND BLOW
The Origin And Maintenance Of A Retrograde Exoplanet

New Evidence Indicates Auroras Occur Outside Our Solar System

Glitch has space telescope shut down

Earth-size planets common in galaxy

SHAKE AND BLOW
Laser-Plasma Process Gives Nanohybrid Remarkable Properties

DNA and quantum dots: All that glitters is not gold

Liquid metal makes silicon crystals at record low temperatures

Supercomputer sets computing record




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement