Severe Floodings Activate High Alert in Australia

The giant water spouts that have shaken Australia since yesterday were placed on high alert by the Government of Brisbane, the worst affected city in the country with more than two million people. The authorities have warned of the seriousness of the situation and have begun to evacuate several areas with the expectation that the water can completely flood the surface.

Among the mud and water, Australia seeks today 78 people missing after severe floods that were generated yesterday and last night in 20 towns from the State of Queensland, northeast of the country.
Rescuers look for survivors from the giant wave that reached two meters which yesterday was called  by officials an “inland tsunami”

The video about the giant water spouts released yesterday by ABC showed chilling images of a wall of water carrying in its wake the town of Toowooba. Today, The Australian published an article about this “wave that no one knew it was coming.”

There are whole families among the missing, and both the Red Cross as the rescue teams could not even reach some of the most devastated areas around the city of Toowoomba. At this time, a wall of water, which in some places is more than eight feet high, continues down the Lockyer river valley in Queensland and draws everything in its path as entire houses can be seen coming down the stream in television images. Forecasters believe that the rains will continue over the next few hours, and they are trying to assess which would be the impact of floods as soon as they reach the Wivenhoe Dam.

In the north of the capital, police have asked residents of West End, Strathpine, and Caboolture to leave their homes and go to higher areas, reports The Australian.
In the east, residents of Ipswich are being relocated to several shelters because there is the possibility  that waters of Bremer may also exceeded normal levels. In the Lockyer Valley, the population was evacuated yesterday with the arrival of the first floods in Brisbane. In the capital, some districts have already been evicted. In the upper areas public transport is still running.
The Australian Government has so far paid four million dollars (about three million euros) to help the 200,000 homeless and it has approved a special fund of nearly $ 77 million (59.5 million) for local governments. Agriculture, mining, and tourism are the ones who suffer the most from the damage caused by this natural disaster that, according to provisional estimates of the authorities, is above 6,000 million dollars (4.628 million euros). These estimates do not include damage to mining and agriculture, the two most important sectors of the country.

Source: El País / Agencies