Perilous
Times and Climate Change
Southeast Australia set for more weeks of floods
By ROHAN SULLIVAN
The Associated Press
Saturday, January 22, 2011; 11:52 PM
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Rural Australian towns braced for another
week of flooding Sunday as a vast lake continued to spread across
the country's southeast and a potential tropical storm threatened
the northeast.
The flooding began more than a month ago in Australia's northeast
Queensland state, where 30 people have died, more than 30,000
homes have been damaged or destroyed and at least 3 billion
Australian dollars ($3 billion) in crops and coal exports have
been lost.
Record rains have shifted the flood emergency focus to southeast
Victoria state, which is usually parched during the southern
summer.
Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan said in a statement Sunday that
the floods will rank as one of the most costly natural disasters
in Australian history and its impact on the economy will be felt
for years.
The government will announce its first cost estimates on Friday,
he said.
The State Emergency Service has warned that a lake about 55 miles
(90 kilometers) long northwest of the Victorian capital of
Melbourne will continue coursing inland for the next week until it
spills into the Murray River.
Emergency services were focusing their efforts 210 miles (340
kilometers) northwest of Melbourne at Swan Hill, a town of 10,000
where the Murray meets the swollen Lodden River and flood waters
are expected to peak mid week, SES spokesman Sam Bishop said
Sunday.
SES said 75 towns in the state have been affected by flooding and
another five to 10 towns are still in the floodwaters' northern
path across flat wheat-growing country.
Almost 2,000 homes and businesses were flooded or isolated and
close to 5,000 people have been evacuated, SES said.
Meanwhile, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology warned Sunday that
a low pressure system off the north Queensland coast could develop
into a cyclone over the next few days.
The bureau rated the chances of a cyclone - which could lash the
coast with gale-force winds and torrential rains - at between 20
percent and 50 percent.