Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

F6, the response has been one all of Australia should be proud of, yet there are idiot Australian conservatives striving to get
partisan jabs at the expense of Anna Bligh, Premier Queensland, and at Julia Gillard PM. Have you seen any of Bligh on tv there?

New floods still occurring farther south .. Victoria Weather and Warnings.

Victorian city braces for 'one-in-200-year' flood threat
Thomas Hunter and Adam Carey
January 17, 2011 - 10:50AM


Victorian towns brace for peaks

Parts of inland Victoria are preparing for more devastation
with communities being evacuated and power supplies shut off.

.. video inside ..

A furious sandbagging operation is under way in the western Victorian city of Horsham, which
faces a "one-in-200-year" flood event as the Wimmera River threatens to inundate 500 homes.

State Emergency Service spokeswoman Bridie O’Connor says residents are on high
alert as the river climbs towards an expected record peak, due about lunchtime.


Floodwaters inundate Skipton's main street. Photo:
Melanie Faith Dove

With monthly rain records falling in a matter of days last week, the city of 14,000 about 300 kilometres north-
west of Melbourne faces isolation as roads succumb to rising water. The Wimmera is also expected to split the city.

Ms O’Connor said 500 properties were at risk from the torrent, which could top the major floods of September 1988 and August 1909.

Ms O’Connor said that, while there had been no evacuation warnings "a relief
centre has been opened and extensive community work is being undertaken’’.

‘‘Residents are on high alert,’’ she said.

Nearby Burnt Creek had already inundated one bridge on Williams Road and was lapping at two other bridges.

"It is not expected to peak for another two to three days, which could put those bridges at risk,’’ she said.

Earlier, SES spokeswoman Natasha Duckett said: "This could be a one-
in-200-year flood event. That's the worst-case scenario but it could happen,"

"The Wimmera River is higher than the levels seen in September 2010 and it's
still rising. They have had 130mm (of rain) in the river over a three-day period.

"The township could be bisected with a waterway right through the middle of town and the (Western) Highway cut."

Meanwhile, low-lying sections of Echuca are under water this morning after
the Campaspe River peaked at the predicted height of 95.48 metres last night.

Up to 100 homes were inundated and about 170 people evacuated. The river reached
its highest level at the Ogilvie Avenue Bridge near the centre of town at 9pm.

Houses on both sides of the avenue were inundated. The road was reduced to one lane, which soon
jammed with traffic as hundreds of people headed into town in cars and on foot to see the spectacle.

The river level had dropped significantly today and the water was moving considerably slower.

Forty-six Victorian towns have now been flooded, affecting more than 1600 properties
and more than 3500 people, with 5200 calls for assistance to emergency services.

About 35km south at Rochester, water has inundated the local sewage treatment
works, and residents must now wait for drinking water to be trucked in.

There is a new flood threat at Warrnambool, where it's feared some properties might be inundated near the junction of
the Hopkins River and Emu Creek, east of the west coast city. Homes at Panmure and Allansford were also under threat.

At Wycheproof in the Mallee region northwest of Melbourne, residents at 522 properties on the town's west
side were given a preliminary evacuation warning via Victoria's automated telephone warning system.

Those that chose to leave were taken to a relief centre at nearby Donald.

And at Dadswells Bridge, near Horsham, water streaming across the Western Highway at Burnt Creek has lifted the road surface, forcing its closure.

Around Victoria, more than 3500 people have fled their homes, 43 towns have been affected and more than 1400 properties have been flooded.

More towns could be affected later this week by the extreme rainfall that has
battered the state, many of them having endured two other floods in the past five months.

Police deputy commissioner Kieran Walshe has warned that people should never enter floodwaters
and that 50 people have been rescued in the past week, 30 of whom were in stranded vehicles.

The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting drier weather in affected regions this week.

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/weather/victorian-city-braces-for-onein200year-flood-threat-20110117-19ss4.html