Air evacuations from remote town ahead of record flood
Nick Gibbs |
Aerial evacuations are underway in a remote outback town as rivers continue to rise towards record flood levels in northwest Queensland.
Small mustering helicopters and planes are being used to airlift elderly people from Burketown near the Gulf of Carpentaria, with the entire region on flood watch.
Police Superintendent Tom Armitt says record flooding is forecast to swamp the remote township of 168 residents after days of persistent rain.
“We don’t know whether that’s going to affect a lot of structures … we’ve got limited flood modelling because we’re already at record levels, we need to be safer and surer at this stage,” he told reporters in Mount Isa on Friday.
“We’ll be much more comfortable once we have vulnerable people out.”
About 25 elderly people will be airlifted about 230km east to Normanton and 18 children with parents will be flown to Mount Isa, about 440km south.
Supt Armitt said there could be further evacuations in the coming days, with residents keeping a close eye on the river.
“The water is starting to rise a bit quicker at the moment,” Marc Adamson, who runs a local plumbing business, told AAP on Friday.
However, he said the mood around town is still positive.
“Everyone’s fine mate, there’s still food and beer at the pub.”
About 100km southwest in the Indigenous community of Doomadgee, 10 elderly people have also been moved from an aged care home to a hospital as a precaution.
The Nicholson River is at record flood levels and though stormwater is backing up, there’s no spillover in the town, a QFES spokeswoman said.
Essential supplies were flown into Domadgee from Cairns on Thursday, with further resupply flights planned.
A number of outlying cattle stations in the Nicholson and Gregory river catchment areas have also been evacuated.
Meteorologists say the downpours have eased to showers with isolated thunderstorms across catchments in the northwest.
“Widespread daily rainfall totals of 20 to 50mm are possible for the remainder of Friday, with isolated higher totals greater than 80mm possible across the flood watch area,” a Bureau of Meteorology warning said.
“Rainfall is forecast to contract to the southeast of the state in the coming days.”
The widespread drenching has stranded many people in remote areas, including a group at The Drovers Camp in Camooweal, about 200km west of Mount Isa.
Traffic is moving to the Northern Territory border, about 14km west, but the Barkly Highway link to Mount Isa remains cut by floodwaters.
Josie Rowlands from The Drovers Camp said the country is “very green, very wet and very soggy”, but the rain is welcome.
“It’s going to be good because we’re going to be at a point when we have no rain,” she told AAP.
Major flood warnings are in place for the lower Flinders, Nicholson, Gregory and Leichhardt rivers, while the Gulf Country and parts of the Lake Eyre Basin rivers are also on flood watch.
AAP
