Australian Floods: Wild Weather

ABOVE: SES workers build a flood barrier around Rockhampton airport on New Year's Day.

The wild weather year of 2010 is closing out in dramatic fashion in the U.S., where a powerful storm system moving through the center of the country spawned a tornado that killed three people in Northwest Arkansas early New Years Eve. According to media reports, the tornado swept through Washington County in Northwest Arkansas between 6am - 6:10am, killing three, injuring many more, and causing significant damage throughout the western portion of the county.

Meanwhile unprecedented flooding has hit the northeast Australian state of Queensland, thanks to a week and a half of torrential rains and the landfall of Tropical Cyclone Tasha on Christmas Day.


ABOVE: Radar image of Tropical Cyclone Tasha as it moved inland over Queensland, Australia on Christmas Day (local time).

Though Tasha was a minimal tropical storm with 40 mph winds and lasted less than a day, the cyclone dumped very heavy rains of 8 - 16 inches (about 200 - 400 mm) on a region that was already waterlogged from months of heavy rains. According to the National Climatic Data Center, springtime in Australia (September - November) had precipitation 125% of normal--the wettest spring in the country since records began 111 years ago. Some sections of coastal Queensland received over 4 feet (1200 mm) of rain from September through November.



ABOVE: Rainfall in Queensland, Australia for the 7-day period ending December 29, 2010. Australian Bureau of Meterology.

Rainfall in Australia in December may also set a record for rainiest December. The heavy rains are due, in part, to the moderate to strong La Niña event that has been in place since July. While the rains have eased over Queensland over the past few days, some rivers will not reach peak flood stage until Friday. Approximately 1000 people have been evacuated from the affected area so far.

Breaking news on the Australia Floods from THE AUSTRALIAN:



ABOVE: June Rowles trapped in her home without power in Queensland, Australia floods.

ROCKHAMPTON airport may close for up to three weeks after its last flights this afternoon.

SES crews erected barricades and sandbags around the perimeter of the airport this morning, as passengers left on the final flights out of the city.

The central Queensland regional centre will be cut to planes today, ahead of further flooding that is expected to shut off major highways to the south and west tomorrow.

The Fitzroy River -- Australia's second-largest catchment after the Murray-Darling -- is inching towards its peak mid-next week, where it may stay for 48 hours. Today the river was at 8.5m and was expected to hit 9.4m by Tuesday night, inundating about 200 homes and affecting 4000 in the city of 75,000 people.



Above: A wallaby trapped by rising floodwaters in Dalby, Queensland, Australia.

Mayor Brad Carter said floodwaters were rising more slowly than predicted, with the river system "completely full of water".

"This is a difficult set of circumstances to predict," he said.

"We still are expecting very high flood levels, possibly the second or third-highest flood level that this region has experienced."

He said the airport could be cut for up to three weeks.

"It takes a fair bit to reengage an airport and re-activate an airport after the flood waters go its tarmac," he said.

"The purpose of these flood barriers is to protect the critical infrastructure around the airport to allow essential services to operate.

"We believe the airport will cease to operate for fixed-wing aircraft later this afternoon."



Above: Flooding in the area of the Fitzroy River, Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia.

It is expected that 130 homes today and 70 homes tomorrow would have their power cut off, generally around the low-lying area of Depot Hill.

Queensland Public Works Minister Robert Schwarten said all homes had been door-knocked to advise them of the electricity outages.

"This massive turn-off of power has been necessitated as a workplace health and safety issue," he said. "It's an extraordinary step."



Above: Emerald, Australia flooding after Nogoa River reached peak.

Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser said today the state is suffering a disaster "of biblical proportions" that will set back its economic recovery and warned there'll be serious economic consequences from the worst flooding in the state's recorded history.

"In many ways, it is a disaster of biblical proportions," he told reporters today in the flood-hit city of Bundaberg.

The treasurer has been forced to delay delivering his mid-year Fiscal and Economic review so he can factor in enormous costs from the floods. He's warned of a double whammy, with the bottom line taking hits from huge clean-up, recovery and assistance costs and reduced royalties as the mining industry recovers.



Above: A house surrounded by floodwater in Emerald, Queensland, Australia.

Inland, at the flood-stricken town of Emerald, it's hoped a limited number of people might be able to return to their homes on Saturday afternoon after the Nogoa River receded slightly.

Central Highlands Mayor Peter Maguire told AAP the river, which peaked at 16 metres, had dropped to 15.7 metres this morning.

He said that at best an aerial shot of the entire Central Highlands region showed 1000 homes had been inundated while another 3000 homes had been affected by water.

"There may be more homes affected, we don't know," he said, adding it would be months before life returned to normal.

Mr Fraser said families in some areas were beginning to return to their homes to find them uninhabitable.

"That's a huge toll for them, a huge toll on them psychologically," he told reporters.

He said the "silent problem" of heartache would continue for some time, with so many communities affected.

Victoria will send an urgent deployment of State Emergency Service (SES) personnel which have specialised skills in flood incident management and emergency response to Queensland to help respond to the floods crisis.





Above: Dalby, west of Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.

Premier Ted Baillieu said an initial team of five SES personnel would travel to Queensland and be based at the Queensland Emergency Operations Centre in Kedron for up to five days.

"I spoke yesterday with Queensland Premier Anna Bligh about the devastating situation in Queensland and offered Victoria's full support in responding to the disaster," Mr Baillieu said in a statement.
Meantime the Australian Defence Force set up a joint task force to support Queensland through the crisis.

Operation Queensland Flood Assist, also known as JTF 637, was established as the state comes to grips with the mounting natural disaster.

The task force will be headed by Colonel Luke Foster, an experienced Army officer. It will set up special headquarters at Gallipoli Barracks at Enoggera in Brisbane.

The operation will provide “the best possible support to the Queensland government in response to the flood crisis”, Defence said in a statement.

JTF 637 will control the helicopters and units already assisting in the emergency, including three Army Black Hawk helicopters operating around Emerald.