Australia: over 90 missing as floods inundate Brisbane
World
Australia: over 90 missing as floods inundate Brisbane
Thousands of residents of Australia's third-largest city evacuated homes on Wednesday as massive floods began to inundate the financial district, sparked panic buying of food and left authorities despairing for more than 90 people missing.The biggest floods in a century have so far killed 14 people since starting their march across the northern mining state of Queensland last month, crippling the coking coal industry, destroying infrastructure, putting a brake on the economy and sending the local currency to four-week lows. With a flood surge expected to peak in the state capital of Brisbane, a city of two million, on Thursday, residents pushed shopping carts laden with food through flooded streets as supermarkets ran out of staples such as milk and bread. At one business center, people waded in shoulder-high water trying to rescue possessions. Rescue crews took advantage of rare sunshine to look for 90 people still missing from tsunami-like flash floods that tore through townships west of the city this week.We can take no comfort from that blue sky, Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh told reporters, predicting that almost 20,000 homes could be flooded at the river's peak in what she called Queensland's worst natural disaster. The water and the rain have already done their damage. This is a deeply serious natural disaster.
