Fresh rain may add to Brisbane's water woes
REUTERS, Jan 14, 2011, 04.47am
BRISBANE: Flood water in Australia's third-biggest city peaked below feared catastrophic levels on Thursday but Brisbane and other devastated regions faced years of rebuilding, while fresh flood threats loom with a cyclone forecast off the coast.
Large parts of the capital of Queensland state resembled a muddy lake, with an entire waterfront cafe among the debris washing down Brisbane River, a torrent that has flooded 12,000 homes in the city of 2million and left 118,000 buildings without power.
With 35 suburbs flooded, many parts of Brisbane looked more like Venice as residents used boats to move about flooded streets, where traffic signs peeped above the stagnant water. The floodwaters destroyed or damaged many parts of the city's infrastructure. One group of residents was lucky not to disappear into gushing waters when the street they were walking along collapsed.
Aerial views of Brisbane showed a sea of brown water with rooftops poking through the surface. "All I could see was their rooftops ... underneath every rooftop is a horror story," Queensland premier Anna Bligh said after an aerial survey.
REUTERS, Jan 14, 2011, 04.47am
BRISBANE: Flood water in Australia's third-biggest city peaked below feared catastrophic levels on Thursday but Brisbane and other devastated regions faced years of rebuilding, while fresh flood threats loom with a cyclone forecast off the coast.
Large parts of the capital of Queensland state resembled a muddy lake, with an entire waterfront cafe among the debris washing down Brisbane River, a torrent that has flooded 12,000 homes in the city of 2million and left 118,000 buildings without power.
With 35 suburbs flooded, many parts of Brisbane looked more like Venice as residents used boats to move about flooded streets, where traffic signs peeped above the stagnant water. The floodwaters destroyed or damaged many parts of the city's infrastructure. One group of residents was lucky not to disappear into gushing waters when the street they were walking along collapsed.
Aerial views of Brisbane showed a sea of brown water with rooftops poking through the surface. "All I could see was their rooftops ... underneath every rooftop is a horror story," Queensland premier Anna Bligh said after an aerial survey.
