BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — A woman drowned after trying to cross a flooded causeway in Australia, becoming the first victim of relentless flooding that one official has described as reaching “biblical proportions,” police said Sunday.
Days of pounding rain last week left much of northeastern Australia swamped by a sea of muddy water, with flooding affecting about 200,000 people in an area larger than France and Germany combined. The rain has stopped, but rivers are still rising and overflowing into low-lying communities as the water moves toward the ocean.
On Saturday night, two cars trying to cross a flooded causeway were swept into a river in Burketown, in western Queensland state, police said. A 41-year-old woman traveling in the second car disappeared in the rushing water, and her body was recovered Sunday about 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) away, Queensland police said.
“We‘re just grateful there weren’t more casualties,” Queensland’s Acting Assistant Police Commissioner Alistair Dawson said. “We’re focused on preventing any more.”
About 1,000 people were living in evacuation centers across the state, and it may be a month before floodwaters dry up, Dawson said.
“It’s hard to make the call that the worst is behind us,” he said. “It’s a unique event — parts of the state are still in response mode while others are in recovery. I think we’re in the middle of the event.”
Officials say half of Queensland’s 715,305 square miles (1.8 million square kilometers) has been affected by the flooding. Queensland Premier Anna Bligh warned that cleanup efforts were expected to cost billions of dollars.
Another severe thunderstorm was expected to sweep through much of southern Queensland later Sunday, bringing damaging hail and winds and the potential for flash flooding, the state Bureau of Meteorology warned.
“In many ways, it is a disaster of biblical proportions,” Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser told reporters in the flooded city of Bundaberg on Saturday.
The city of Rockhampton, near the coast, is the next community in the water’s path, and is bracing for flood levels to peak Wednesday.
Officials have been evacuating Rockhampton residents for days, and some were still being moved on Sunday. Mayor Brad Carter warned about 40 percent of the city could be affected by the surging waters, and residents could be forced to wait at least two weeks before returning home.
Around 1,000 homes had water in their yards by Sunday, Dawson said. About 30 residents were staying at an evacuation center, while others have moved in with friends and relatives.
Not everyone was outwardly worried. Water was lapping at the steps of one Rockhampton pub, but the owner had no plans to close down.
“In the big cities, they pay big bucks for canal frontage,” Fitzroy Hotel owner Tony Higgins said.
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mrfunn
Posted on January 4, 2011 at 7:15amMy significant other only gets her news from NBC and NPR. She was unaware that the flooding in Queensland and New South Wales was caused by the minimal Tropical Cyclone Tasha which struck Queensland December 25th. Why do so few news stories mention Tropical Cyclone Tasha as the cause of the flooding?
Report Post »summertime9
Posted on January 3, 2011 at 4:17amHere in Alaska we have lost almost all of our glacier ice. Pictures I took in 96 are completely different then pictures from 2010. No ice on many caps. Which means billions and billions of tons of fresh water has entered the ocean. Australia being south of us in the Pacific ocean is getting this extra water and by calculations at the oceanic observatory, looks like it will be under total water very soon. Now think of other places like Hawaii and coastal areas like Calif. and Washington and Oregon. Its just the beginning but it will come fast and so will all the other horrific earth changes like earthquakes and volcanoes. We are just getting a taste of things to come. And they will come faster and faster and bigger and bigger til the earth has finished its change. 2011 will be like no other year ever recorded. Stay close to home and keep your children close. Laugh all you want but I see this happening here. Our perma-frost is nearly gone and millions of trees falling over. Animals acting strange and doing things their specie normally don’t do and animals here now that were never here before. Plants changing and new ones showing up. Growing cycle has changed along with fishing too.
Report Post »Found Salmon that glowed in the dark in a small fishing village. If you have a lighter you can set the methane vents on fire all over the place.I could go on and on. So I think I know what Im talking about. I live it everyday.
cranes
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 5:24pmSomeone call Al Gore. Global warming. We had record snows here!
Report Post »Col. HawK
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 4:27pmAre we becoming a “Type 1” civilization?…. Do your own homework, before you call me crazy… Here’s a few links for you to decide for your self. IMHO, this is what I see us like being a Type 1 civilization.
Report Post »1= English
2= Christian
3= ?
4= ?
What do you think? but please think, think, think first, before you call me crazy?
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/science/planet-earth-videos-playlist.htm?page=2#video-14081
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPusHeDlBxQ
Bernard
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 3:56pmAustralia by and large is a dry continent nation and if the Australians were smart they should have built water catchment areas that could hold millions of gallons of water, like lakes where this excess water could be channeled into them, instead of running off into the ocean.
Report Post »Australia is a water deficient continent and rare occasions like this should have been taken advantage. It is never too late as ancient civilizations have done just that saving valuable fresh water during drought times.
summertime9
Posted on January 3, 2011 at 4:23amlike your thinking. you sound like someone who will survive a disaster. too bad so many others are with out brains and common sense. maybe you should write the Pres. of Australia and tell him what you wrote. You could save a lot of lives. Good luck
Report Post »obamasux
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 2:40pmJust another sign of the last days before the return of Christ. Accept Jesus as your Lord and savior. Today is the day of salvation.
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 2:05pmI was just wondering if Assange since he can’t keep his mouth shut. God might be sending them a lesson. Because this is still God’s country, not ours. He is just letting us stay here for a while. Seems like He might sending everyone a message.
Report Post »N37BU6
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:56pmNext we’ll be bringing back freakshows and snake oil salesman.
Oh, wait… we already have Maury Povich, Jerry Springer, and Al Gore.
Nothing has changed.
Report Post »Myresponse2010
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:32pmI wonder how long it will be before the world considers that all the bad weather events are not a coincidence, but are part of the sings that the return of Jesus Christ is coming very soon. The bad climate events are also destroying crops worldwide which will increase starvation. That will increase disease. It’s only going to get worse, you’ll see.
Report Post »Myresponse2010
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:33pmI meant to say ” ..part of the signs..”
Report Post »obama_binpharteen
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:26pmHas anyone read the story regarding 1000 +- birds falling out of the sky in Arkansas yesterday. Biblical?
Report Post »N37BU6
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:49pmCould have been a small tornado… sucked them all out of their roosts, carried them a few miles, then dissipated letting them fall to the ground. It would only have to be small, and wouldn’t necessarily show up on Dopler radar.
If it’s “Biblical” then God is taking his sweet time with us, because stuff like that happens all the time. I have an old Reader’s Digest publication called “Mysteries of the Unexplained” which I spent half my childhood re-reading. It was full of examples just like this.
Freaky as it is, it’s nothing new. Fish, frogs, birds, insects, mud, unidentified slime, seaweed, sand, leaves… all sorts of stuff falls out of the sky. All it takes is a freak updraft / cyclone (not even very big; they are only small objects) and there you have it. Stuff falling on you.
It’s an interesting little story, but as usual the media is sensationalizing it for ratings. There isn’t a real media anymore… it’s all entertainment.
Report Post »chips1
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 8:34pmIt would be biblical if they fell up. Down is normal.
Report Post »chasbronson
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:23pmThe wise man builds his house upon the Rock.The foolish man builds his house upon the sand.How ironic ,Huh?
Report Post »VerySeniorCitizen
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:04pmI guess God really didn’t mean what he promised Noah!
“And the Lord smelled a sweet savor; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any momre for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither again will I smite every living thing, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
Report Post »neverending
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:41pmWOW – well another photo op time – watch them all come out for this one.
Report Post »N37BU6
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:32pmWhat’s with all the sensational headlines lately? Now it’s happening here too? Drudge is bad enough.
Has anyone noticed the headlines over the past 3 weeks? Drudge has become Al Gore’s wet dream. Irresponsible. Everyone’s sensationalizing and acting like this is something to be alarmed about. I guess he’s just looking for clicks, no matter where they come from. The site is just a trash heap now. Well, it always was, but it’s worse than ever.
The earth was frozen halfway to the equator without our help, and it receded back without our help. The only reason North America has lakes is from glacial retreat. Canada has more lakes than any other country, and it’s all from glaciers. I can’t walk a straight line in any direction for more than an hour without hitting a lake. I have house-sized granite boulders in my backyard that were dragged here from thousands of kilometers away by ice. I can literally dig 6 inches down to bedrock in many places, because all our soil was deposited in America’s midwest. Citadel Hill (on which Fort George is built, overlooking Halifax harbor) is a drumlin left behind by a glacier. Everyone thinks it’s man made, but it’s not.
The Rocky Mountains were once seabed, and are full of fossils. Now THAT is change. And we had nothing to do with it.
All of a sudden, everyone thinks change is something new… and it‘s all the government and the media’s fault. And individual ignorance. People are just idiots. Pay more attention to something, and people think it’s on the rise. It’s not. Imagine if Al Gore was around during prehistoric times. He’d have had all the eggheads of the day trying to preserve a barren wasteland of snow and ice because it would be a “tragedy” if it receded and left us with all these beautiful lakes full of fish and millions of square kilometers of forests.
It’s up to us to adapt to the climate, not the other way around. Pollution and littering are real issues. “Emissions” are not. The earth itself emits and absorbs more gases than we could ever dream of… it’s also the source of all the material we use. Oil is 100% natural, and organic. It’s down there either way, ready to spill out from plate tectonics like it has done thousands of times before. When the earth does it, it’s a “natural disaster” but it’s still an oil spill, same as when we do it. But spills caused by humans are a joke compared to what Mother Nature does. If anything, we should get rid of it safely by burning it / using it for production. Either we do it, or the earth will. It’s just a matter of time. This whole alarmist trend is completely out of hand.
People need to relax and enjoy life. At any minute, the sun could eject a CME and destroy the planet and there would be nothing we could do about it.
Control freaks… they do more damage than good. Waste money, interfere with the ecosystem, and divert attention and resources away from things that actually matter. Dismantle the UN. Or at least parts of it. Pick a branch:
FAO, IAEA, ICAO, IFAD, ILO, IMO, IMF, ITU, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WB, WFP, WHO, WIPO, WMO, UNWTO… all useless bureaucracies.
Report Post »hkyfan36
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:17pm@n37bu6
Report Post »Very well said
N37BU6
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 4:22pm@hkyfan36
Thank you. Can you tell this stuff gets to me? ;)
This stuff builds up and I have to vent it somewhere. And it builds up just from trying to go about my life; commercials, packaging, conversation, entertainment, EVERYTHING is saturated with this idiocy. Our culture has been under propagandist attack for so long, we’re all a bunch of paranoid little wimps.
Al Gore was born, and all of a sudden the universe had to grind to a halt, and everything had to be swathed in bubble wrap and breast fed lest it die underfoot. All of a sudden nature went from the most powerful force out there to something we needed to pamper and control at every turn.
What a joke.
If you look at the most damaging effects on the environment in recent memory, lots are from environmentalist meddling. Just look at wolves: their numbers were going down, so “scientists” decided to repopulate them. This led to the already dwindling hare population almost being wiped out… turns out that when hares go down in population, so do their predators… imagine that. But “scientists” only looked at the “poor, dying wolves” and bred and released them en masse. As a result, they almost killed off the rest of the hares and then starved anyway. The rest were forced to enter human settlements and attack livestock, and are now a menace. Just like that, “scientists” altered a species’ behavior and now they have a bounty on their head.
If they had just left nature to itself, the natural cycle would have taken care of it: wolves overhunt, hares die out, wolves die out, hares repopulate, wolves repopulate. Over and over, just like has happened for thousands of years. They caught it at the end of a down cycle and panicked, assuming it was our fault. It’s a cycle, just like the climate cycle Al Gore thinks is something new. Instead of a repetitive up and down pattern, he just sees “up”. And the best part is, it was actually going down. They couldn’t even get that right.
You know all this “polar bear habitat is shrinking” crap? No, it is not. Conservationists tripled the number of polar bears to the point that they are too dense per square mile. Once again, they are forced to find food in human settlements, and now are raiding landfills and attacking people. They have gone from 5,000 to 15,000 strong. TOO MANY for the land to sustain. It’s unnatural.
Fat headed, socially undeveloped people in khakis with clipboards are the ones causing most of the problems these days. People who prefer to sleep with animals on the side of a mountain than approach a member of the opposite sex. Just look at Australia: they keep introducing new animals to kill off the last animal they introduced to kill animals they introduced. When will people clue in?
I’m all for conservation, but that’s not what is going on here. It’s land grabbing, politics, and trying to play God. Environmentalists are right about one thing: humans are the problem. But it’s about time they took a look in the mirror.
Report Post »BubbaCoop
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:22pmInteresting that they’ll call it biblical, yet they don’t actually believe in the biblical global flood.
Report Post »C.C.D.
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:54amYep, one life has been lost so far. If I’m not mistaken, “WASN’T THE ENTIRE CIVILIZATION LOST IN THE BIBLE!” besides Noah and some critters?
Report Post »Country
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:13pmIt’s the flood of lies we have to look out for.
Report Post »snowleopard3200 {cat folk art}
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:32pm@CCD
Indeed the entire predeluvian world was annhilated, mankind and animals. That one was a true global cataclysm. This one is a local cataclysm, yet I could easily see how to them, their own world having gone under water with everything save their lives, would be the end of the world.
@Country
Yes that one we need to watch out for as well.
@The folks of Australia
My prayers go out to the family of the one lost, and I ask the Almighty to strengthen and comfort them who are going through this tough trial and challenging times to follow after the waters go away and they seek to rebuild their lives once again.
Report Post »C.C.D.
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:48pmYeah, well our whole world was lost the moment they started flying the United Nation’s Flag above ours on our own soil. WAKE UP AMERICA!!
Report Post »Sergio Q
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:53amwell now that so many know that Man Made Global Warming is a LIE , back to blameing God ….just not beliving in Him nor allowing thoes of us who belive in Him , His Son & The Holy Spirit ta catch a break from the heathans & haters.
Report Post »hkyfan36
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:37am‘Biblical’ Proportions really? Really? Too much sensationalism. Sad What was that? I thought I heard someone cry wolf. Or global warming or epic snow storms.
Report Post »MamaofJ5
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:06pmThis area is known for flooding. It use to not be as big a deal, until more and more people move there. If you build up communitites in areas know for massive flooding, don’t act so suprised when it wipes out hundreds of homes. Hate it for them, but why is everyone acting like its armaggedon? Like these idiots in Califonia who build their homes one hill sides, known for mudslides, then are totally shocked when their house washes away into the ocean. They start screaming global warming, no moran, just normal natural occurances, you just decided to build in the wrong place.
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:36amThat’s normal flooding.
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:46amAnnual Queensland flooding holiday. Why pay for high consulting fees and Project management when relief help will get them by. As mormans will report, this to will pass.
Report Post »N37BU6
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 2:31pm“That’s normal flooding”
Exactly… and it’s healthy in the long run, as it increases soil fertility. If we had everything our way all the time the ground would be made of dust and we’d all be starving.
It sucks for the locals at the moment, but if you look at the bigger picture it’s nothing new or scary or mysterious; water flows downhill… you get lots of rain, it all goes to the same place. Pretty simple. It’s just a glorified rain puddle. Then the rain stops and it drains into the ground / evaporates and everyone forgets about it in a decade. Big deal.
People didn’t choose the best places to start cities, that’s all. They just went where the resources are and didn’t think much of it. Europeans settled in forested valleys, and as a result Avalanches took out towns in Europe for centuries, mostly caused by deforestation. Coastal regions get tsunamis and and the toll is high because people live off the ocean and also enjoy the view. Most deadly tsunamis aren’t even that large… they just have a lot of mass and momentum behind them, and everyone decides to live 1 inch above sea level rather than have to walk an extra 10 minutes. Young islands have volcanoes, and everyone lives at the bottom of the slopes due to the vegetation from the rich volcanic soil. Even if they live farther away, pyroclastic flows still get them. The tropics get monsoons, North America gets hurricanes and tornadoes, everyone living along fault lines gets earthquakes… that’s life. And it really wouldn‘t be all that bad on us if we didn’t sit right at death’s door every time.
I’d worry if these things STOPPED happening, because it would mean something is wrong. The earth isn’t out to get us. It’s just doing its thing. It has a huge iron core rotating around generating heat and the magnetic field that stops the sun from killing us all instantly. These are the prices we have to pay for that protection.
Seems like a fair trade to me!
Report Post »Hefsmaster
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 2:52pmHad the car been invented first. The people could have lived where it’s safe and driven to the beautiful places. What were they thinking?
Report Post »N37BU6
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 3:36pmHefsmaster, you completely missed the point of my post. You’re not catching me in anything, here.
The funny thing is, every time I post I am tempted to exhaustively elaborate on every little detail just to prevent people like you from leaving idiotic little remarks, but it’s not worth the time. I honestly started typing about early settlers not having years of experience to understand the implications of living in such places, but assumed it would be self-explanatory to most people so didn’t bother. It goes without saying to anyone with a fully functioning brain. I mean, really… it’s common sense.
Still, I do always think of the people like you. And sure enough, you show up every time to squeeze into the tiniest crack you can find in order to delude yourself into thinking you’re making an argument. Always with weak sarcastic comments, of course.
I also didn’t bother pointing out the fact that ~90% of deaths from modern natural disasters are in third-world nations, and the result of the same thing (apart from primitive medical care): settling in dangerous areas… only they aren’t pinned down like the sprawling cities of the West. They can literally move their villages if they want to, but they don’t, despite having that knowledge now. Disasters have just been part of their way of life for so long, they take them in stride. It’s just their culture, and in many cases their religion.
So your argument can still be smacked around. There are countless coastal areas that have high ground minutes or even seconds from the ocean. There’s no need to have cars. Some people just prefer to take the risk.
“What were they thinking?”
What were YOU thinking?
Report Post »StMichelob
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:35amTime for us all to be one with God…the poopstorm is fast approaching now.
Report Post »snowleopard3200 {cat folk art}
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:28pmGot news for you, the storm is already here. Earth is just going through another of her own changes of climate, unfortunately, it is happening right now in areas where large populations are located at.
Report Post »Cemoto78
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:52pmThis is sad to see for one of the most beautiful countries and people. If you have never visited Australia you really need to. The people are wonderful, friendly, and also love freedom.
Report Post »ChiefGeorge
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:31pmI’ll call this one of the last weather disasters for 2010 since the storm was brewing before the year closed out.
The signs are in the heavens, the sun, moon and stars. We are seeing signs here too! Changes have happened as documented:
http://www.omegaletter.com/articles/articles.asp?ArticleID=6871
I believe the galactic shift of earth moving below the galactic plain has a lot to do with this. God uses the physics of what he has created to perform what he has warned us would happen by Isiah, Daniel, Jesus and John. This shift is tugging at the earth and is causing shifts unseen since ancient times. We know that the poles have shifted before, this would stand as the reason why. I guess this happens in 12/21/2012. I don’t believe this wipes us completely out because Jesus said that if these days were not shortened all flesh would be destroyed but for the elects sake they would be shortened. So it makes sense that we would go through the worst part of it while in the most centered plain along the Galaxy and the most gravitational pull on us. It will subside but just as it is beginning to ramp up now it will take time until things feel somewhat normal but by then the world will be thrown into chaos.
Did you know that Jupiter lost one of its stripes after a large object hit it in 6/2010. Discovered by a back yard astronimer. Look it up on youtube.
Report Post »StMichelob
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 2:22pm@CHIEFGEORGE, yes, the sun will eclipse the very center of the galaxy on Dec 21st, 2012, and we have seen every year around that time frame a big bump in earth disasters, starting with the oceanic earthquake and resulting tsunami back in…2004? As we move closer to 2012, start looking for bigger and more destructive issues here as the gravitational line-up becomes more aligned.
Report Post »Also interresting is the theory that Niburu, or “planet X” is now inside our solar system on its 3,600 year orbit, which is thought to be pulling the earth’s north pole towards it. We know, through the satalite system put in place to monitor this, that the magnetosphere has been acting totally off kilter, and huge earthquakes have been associated with each screwy event.
See this link for more info and decide for yourselves.
http://www.doomsdaytube.com/#2012-Extinction-Doomsday-Prophecies-Proved-By-Scientists
John 1776
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 2:48pmNot ready to call it the end of the world, but one interesting note- Scientists use science to claim there is no God. They overlook the obvious; Science is just one of the tools God uses to effect his will. Just because some have caught a minuscule look backstage at God’s great show does not mean they have the slightest clue as to what the show is really about or how the story ends. And the thought that we could use science to change the ending or even the storyline is absurd.
Report Post »Cobra Blue
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 4:03pmStop with the drama. Bad…yes. Definitely not Biblical proportions. The rest of the free and/or oppressed world is not under water.
Report Post »guyperram
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:34amMust be because of global warming. Just ask Al, he’ll tell you.
Report Post »