Queensland Prime Minister says the destruction is “incredible”
The state Prime Minister said that the floods in Australia have caused “incredible” destruction to societies throughout northern Queensland, although the circumstances give up faster than it predicted.
Thousands of residents who were evacuated started returning to their homes on Tuesday, but it is afraid that hundreds of real estate and companies will be sunken. A woman has died.
“It is a catastrophe that will test people’s determination,” David Crysevolley, Chairman of the Queensland Board of Directors, told ABC.
Parts of the area were beaten due to approximately 2 meters (6.5 feet) of rain since Saturday, which prompted continuous warnings of floods and power outages – but the Prime Minister said that the weather conditions were “really nice” in the last hours.
In Townsville, the local population woke up on Tuesday to Gray Skies and Ridzhle, and the news that expected that the flood levels were not achieved there. It was a flagrant contradiction with the intense heavy rains that struck the region during the past few days.
“We believe that the danger has passed,” Andrew Robinson, head of the Townsville Disaster Management Group, told reporters.
Pointing to the previous predictions, which suggested that up to 2000 homes in Townsville could have faced the risk of floods, Crisafulli said that “the city may escape a bullet.”
The local resident told Joe Perry BBC She and her family among those who returned home on Tuesday, after spending a sleeping night watching the rains.
“People talk about post -shock disorder when it rains here and I am completely understood,” says Ms. Perry previously from Leicester in the United Kingdom.
“We were at home here for more than 20 years, and we passed some hurricane and flood events for 2019, so it is not our first Rodio,” she added, referring to the flood disaster that caused $ 1.24 billion (£ 620m;
Monday night, another Local population told the BBC that they were “on the edge of a knife” When they waited to find out if their homes will remain.
But to the north in the state, it has made power outages and damaged methods it is difficult to assess the full range of destruction in cities such as Ingeham and Cardilus.
Crisafulli said early reports indicating that the damage was “unbelievable.”
“There are people who were flooded at home, their work, and in their farms,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
On Sunday, a 63 -year -old woman died when the government emergency service (SES) was overturned while the rescue attempt.
More than 8000 properties remain without salad, according to the state provider, and Partial collapse of the critical highway It continues to hinder efforts to help some of the most affected areas.
Crisafulli said the recovery voltage “will take some time” and that the priority in the coming hours will be working with the army to make energy generators to isolated communities and “return them online.”
He added that the hospital in Ingeham was working again, as it was a supermarket and a gas station.
North Queensland is located in tropical areas, exposed to destroyed hurricanes, storms and floods.
Speaking to BBC in Townsville, Scott Heron, local resident and climate expert, said that the last disaster was not expected.
“For a long time, climate scientists have been clear that harsh weather events would become more extreme, and we see that,” said Professor Heron, who works at James Cook University, a UNESCO chair on heritage.
Professor Heron added that while politicians talk about recovery and rebuilding operations – such as Bruce High Express Road – the effects of the climate on the region should be considered.
“It will be naive to include planning for infrastructure, especially for long -term infrastructure such as roads and bridges, changing threats due to climate change. Wasting public funds to ignore it will be.”
