poor Australia keeps getting whacked

first and still the fires
still the draught
and now heavy rain - flooding



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Torrens Flood - Australia


Much of northern Queensland is awash today after days of torrential rain from Cairns to Mackay. Falls of up to 400 millimetres are causing chaos for transport across the north. Rail services are also interrupted between Mackay and Cairns, with Ingham also flood-bound. Proserpine police say both the town and nearby Airlie Beach remain isolated by flood waters, with the Bruce Highway cut in many sections and rail services interrupted. Flights from Sydney and Brisbane to Proserpine and Hamilton Island were cancelled yesterday, with Jetstar passengers unable to be taken to accommodation because of road closures. About 170 airline passengers were stranded at the Whitsunday Airport, though earlier figures put the number at 230. A special charter plane from Sydney is being organised to retrieve the stranded passengers. Meanwhile, some schools in the northern region have also been forced to close. In the township of Ingham, buses have cancelled all school runs today. Two Catholic schools near Ingham will not be staffed because the schools have been flooded in. Vicki Baylis from Education Queensland says the school at Giru, south of Townsville, will not open again until Monday. "I'm led to believe we've got quite a lot of water around Giru at this point in time," she said. In Townsville, Charters Towers, the Burdekin and Bowen, schools will operate as normal but Education Queensland says there is no pressure on parents to risk student safety trying to get to school.

A cyclone watch is current in the Gulf of Carpentaria amid fears a low pressure system could whip up more wild weather. Weather bureau spokesman Jonty Hall says a low in the Gulf of Carpentaria is unlikely to develop into a cyclone today. But he says there is been no let-up overnight, with torrential rain continuing to fall on the north coast and more is on its way. "The Ingham area right down through Townsville, Ayr and Bowen, right down south to Mackay and the adjacent inland, we've seen lots of rainfall totals in the 100 - 200 range since nine o'clock (AEST) yesterday, with a few heavier ones thrown in there as well," he said.
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