Australia Floods: Rockhampton Cut Off (Rockhampton Flood Video)

by Jordan Yerman | January 3, 2011 at 09:44 am

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Rockhampton, QLD Cut Off By Flood Waters

Rockhampton has been cut off by the floods that continue to plague Queensland and New South Wales. The central Queensland city has been cut off by road, and the airport is unusable. Roads will be closed for at least 10 days; Rockhampton Airport could be closed for three weeks.

Queensland Floods

So far, ten people have been killed in the Queensland flooding, which has been going on since late November 2010. Over 150 homes in Rockhampton have been completely flooded, with 400 more in immediate danger. Over 1,000 homes are expected to be flooded. Meanwhile, electricity and water may be cut off from the city. Throughout Queensland, 75% of coal-mining operations have shut down.

No relief is in sight for the affected areas in Queensland and New South Wales, as more wet weather is on the way. Meanwhile, Rockhampton residents, as well as those living in other flood-affected areas, must keep an eye out for encroaching crocodiles and venomous snakes, whose habitats now physically overlap the paved world of humans.

The highway is expected to be closed about 10 days, and the airport was closed yesterday, for an expected 20 days.

Today the Fitzroy River reached 8.8m, ahead of an expected 9.4m peak on Wednesday.

''Only the real self-sufficient ones are still here, the ones with camping equipment and boats and generators; everyone else has been evacuated,'' Fitzroy Hotel owner Tony Higgins said.

Rockhampton mayor Brad Carter, speaking before the city was cut off, said police were working to empty at-risk homes, with people able to go to an evacuation centre or board special buses to take them to family and friends on higher ground.