F6, flash flood 8m inland tsunami in Toowoomba .. 60mm rain in one hour, 8 confirmed dead .. 72 missing .. death toll expected to rise .. water moving to Brisbane .. i know one family who are making evacuation plans in a low lying Brisbane area ..
Eight dead as inland tsunami strikes Queensland but number missing could be revised down
* Jared Owens .. * From: The Australian .. * January 11, 2011 11:03AM
A car is trapped in flash flooding in Toowoomba, where at least eight people have died. Picture: ABC Source: Supplied
EIGHT people are dead and fears are held for many more as the wall of water that tore through Toowoomba rages through the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane.
Authorities expect the death toll to rise today, although 50 of the 72 people feared missing in Grantham are reported to have been found safe in a school hall.
Fierce conditions are hampering efforts to rescue dozens of stranded Queenslanders, including those who last night slept on their isolated rooftops.
Rescue efforts are focussed on Grantham, Gatton, Withcott and Murphys Creek.
Thirty suburbs of Brisbane are also on standby to evacuate, with local authorities saying the Wivenhoe Dam, built after crushing floods in 1974, will be unable to save 455 properties along the Brisbane River.
Brisbane recorded 100mm of rain in one hour this morning, with further deluges predicted.
Queensland Police will update the public at a news conference at 10.30am (AEDT).
The state's disaster co-ordinator Ian Stewart said there was no precedent for the "inland instant tsunami" that was roaring through the Lockyer Valley.
"I personally believe it will get worse today, and we are waiting on confirmation from a number of concerning reports," Mr Stewart told the ABC this morning.
"I can still only confirm eight deaths from this event (but) we are concerned about 72 other missing persons that we have reports on," he told the Nine Network.
"Obviously, our focus now, today, will be to try and help the survivors because we still have a large number of people isolated in the township of Grantham.
"Grantham is going to be, in my view, just a disaster in terms of the number of homes that have been damaged or destroyed and we're waiting on confirmation of potential extra loss of life.
"There is actually bad weather right across Toowoomba and that part of the Lockyer Valley so we're actually being hampered in our efforts to get personnel in there to do a full and comprehensive search.
"The Myall Creek at Dalby, west of Toowoomba, is expected to rise again today, with the town already cut in two. There have been no fatalities so far.
‘Incredibly harrowing circumstances’: QLD floods .. [now also moving to northern NSW] by Amber Jamieson Tuesday, 11 January 2011
A torrent of water swept through Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley yesterday afternoon, devastating the region with flash flooding and leaving eight people confirmed dead (another five bodies have apparently been found, but reports are unconfirmed) and 72 missing. Brisbane, Ipswich and surrounding areas are preparing for flood waters. Crikey will be updating this story as it unfolds.
Update: 3:15 pm
A look at the latest photos from Twitter on the floods.
Photos from Brisbane, posted by @nathan_m. Riverwalk: ..
GPs in Toowoomba are the latest to be hit by the Queensland flooding disaster as torrents of water swept through the city yesterday. by Gemma Collins
Many practices across the area remained shut today as the Toowoomba’s city centre was closed off and the search for those 72 people still missing in the area, west of Brisbane, continues.
Dr David Van Gend who runs the Mackenzie House Family Medical Centre opened this morning to see emergency patients, but says he is battling with no telephone line or internet and is concerned for his patients.
He told 6minutes he watched the “angry and disturbing scene” as raging waters swept past his surgery yesterday afternoon.
“The window of the furniture store had been smashed so there were tables, sofas, and cars being carried by the flood down the café precinct,” he said.
“I walked up the road to see where the main torrent had hit and it had come up so strongly. One man had to be rescued from a tree and I later heard a car had been washed away with a mother and daughter in it who drowned.
“It is a very depressing and bewildering shambles. I still do not know if my patients were able to get home yesterday.
“Our surgery is 100 years old, but we had never seen anything like this before.”
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