Brisbane and Ipswich Floods: 100,000 Without Power (Video)

by Jordan Yerman | January 11, 2011 at 09:19 am

1801 views | 1 Recommendation | 0 comments

Brisbane and Ipswich Floods 'Worst Since 1974'

The flooding that swamped Toowoomba is making its way to the Queensland coast, and Brisbane is enduring its worst flooding in over 30 years. Ten deaths in the Queensland flooding have been confirmed in the past 24 hours. Up to one third of Ipswich is under water.

Over 100,000 residents are without electricity as of 7am local time, and thousands have evacuated.

Brisbane's outer suburbs were deluged, and the inner suburbs and CBD (central business district) are at risk. The Wivenhoe dam, with a capacity of over a million megaliters, is now full: that's twice the capacity of Sydney Harbour.

Brisbane is headed for its worst floods since 1893, as a tenth flood death is confirmed.

A disaster declaration had been made for the lower half of Queensland, including the greater Brisbane area, giving authorities forced evacuation powers if necessary.

"Police recommend exercising caution and minimising travel in such rapidly changing conditions.

"Flooding risks in Brisbane are predicted to significantly increase on Thursday, and police are strongly advising against all travel in or around flood affected areas."

Three quarters of Queensland have been declared a disaster area: that's over 500,000 square miles of land.