Main street of St George, Queensland. Wikipedia

EDIS Number: FF-20120131-33991-AUS
Date / time: 31/01/2012 15:09:20 [UTC]
Event: Flash Flood
Area: Australia
Country: Australia
State/County: State of Queensland
Location: Charleville
Number of Deads: N/A
Number of Injured: N/A
Number of Infected: N/A
Number of Missing: N/A
Number of Affected: N/A
Number of Evacuated: N/A
Damage level: Moderate

Description:

Nursing home residents were evacuated from a southern Queensland town last night, as flood levels continued to rise across regional Queensland. Tiny communities across regional Queensland were on alert after a monsoon low dumped heavy rain across major catchments on the weekend. More rain is forecast this week across southern Queensland catchments, where towns inundated in last year's unprecedented floods - such as St George - are expected to again suffer major flood levels. Last night the weather bureau predicted severe thunderstorms and possible flash-flooding in a band across southern, western and central Queensland. About 42 people were last night staying at an evacuation centre in the southern Queensland sheep-producing town of Charleville, 800km west of Brisbane, largely due to power outages. Sixteen elderly nursing-home patients were yesterday flown out as rising floodwater in Bradleys Gully inundated low-lying parts of the town. Local mayor Mark O'Brien said about six businesses were inundated across the town and the nursing-home residents were evacuated "as a precaution".

He said the townsfolk were familiar with flooding around the town. “The way it works is people are very familiar with where the [river] guage is in town,” he said. “There are a lot of people who come and check it has peaked and as soon as it has, the word spreads very quickly and they go back to their bases.” Bradleys Gully, a tributary of the Warrego River, ultimately flows south into the Darling and Murray Rivers. Emergency Management Queensland was last night transporting a temporary 500m flood barrier to Charleville. In the township of Eulo, 900km west of Brisbane, some of the 70 locals evacuated before the town was cut off by road yesterday. A major flood of the Paroo similar to the record 2010 flood by the end of the week. Further south, the Balonne river is expected to remain at major flood levels in Surat, 450km west of Brisbane, before moving on to the small town of Waroo tomorrow and cotton town, St George, by the end of the week. In central Queensland, tributaries of the Fitzroy River – Australia’s second-largest catchment – continue to record flood levels. Moderate flood levels are continuing in the Comet river at Rolleston while levels are easing in the Dawson river at Taroom.Last night Premier Anna Bligh travelled to Charleville’s third flood in three years and visited residents at the evacuation centre. Today she will attend a local disaster management group meeting to coordinate response efforts to the flood. She said it was “an anxious time” for locals.