Thousands still left stranded in Australian floods
Pastor Dale Morgan
Thousands still left stranded in Australian floods*
Rod McGuirk, Associated Press, in Canberra
Tuesday January 8, 2008
The Guardian
Australians battled fires and some of the worst flooding in decades
yesterday after days of intense summer heat and storms.
Gordon McKay, a hydrologist at the bureau of meteorology said parts of
New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, had experienced their
worst floods for more than 50 years after a week of rain. Those trapped
included 1,000 fans attending a four-day music festival near Tenterfield.
Flood waters also isolated several communities in Queensland and the
Northern Territory, which were lashed by a cyclone over the weekend.
The main road from the east to the west coast city of Perth was closed
yesterday because of a blaze that remained out of control eight days
after three truck drivers died trying to drive through a wall of fire.
Federal lawmaker Barry Haase, whose 2.3m sq km (890,000 sq mile) outback
electorate is described as the largest in the world, called for the
Great Eastern Highway to be reopened despite the danger so that
interstate trade could resume.
But state official Peter Keppel said the fire, which has burned 45,000
hectares (111,200 acres) of scrubland since it started on December 28,
remained dangerous.
Water-dropping aircraft were used to attack a fire in a national park in
Victoria. North of Victoria in New South Wales, thousands of people
might remain cut off for up to a week, emergency service spokesman Phil
Campbell said.