Posted on 01/01/2011 9:14:55 PM PST by TaraP
200,000 affected in area the size of Germany and France combined
Residents of an Australian coastal city were evacuated yesterday as surging floodwaters edged closer to their community, with one official describing the devastation as reaching 'biblical proportions'.
And rescuers are today searching for a woman swept into a swollen river, with fears growing she may be the first victim of relentless flooding.
Days of driving rain last week swamped northeastern Australia, with around 200,000 people affected by floodwaters in an area larger than France and Germany combined. While the rain has stopped, rivers are still surging to new heights and overflowing into low-lying towns as the water makes its way towards the ocean.
Last night, two cars trying to cross a flooded causeway were swept into a river in Burketown, in western Queensland state. A 41-year-old woman traveling in the second car disappeared in the rushing water, and police are now searching the river and its banks for her.
'In many ways, it is a disaster of biblical proportions,' Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser said in the flooded city of Bundaberg.
The city of Rockhampton, near the coast, is the next community in the water's path, and is bracing for flood levels to peak on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Rockhampton residents stocked up on food and supplies yesterday, with officials moving those living in low-lying areas into an evacuation center.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Incredible. Prayers for all the folks there.
Flooding, drought, forest fires — the Aussies are tough. They can handle anything.
Thanks for posting the map for those of us who are not familiar with some of the place names. It’s a real help on a story like this one.
Dreadful.
Interesting terms in the description.
Thx.
Just sent a prayer.
Is this one of the areas that has suffered a drought for the last few years?. I wonder if I will live long enough to see live Google Earth satellite views of events like this?
Large summer floods in Australia.
Terrible tragedy!
Australia has suffered a drought for some years so the summer rains were quite unexpected. The eastern half of the continent is heavily populated and is suffering the brunt of the flooding.
Does “biblical proportions” only apply to flood waters? How about earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes? Is it because they are not described in the Bible? Maybe locusts could be biblically proportional.
An interesting question.
Perhaps it’s because Noah’s flood was soooooooooo global and horrifically comprehensive in an unparalleled way.
Certainly the prophesied coming global devastating earthquake will also be “of Biblical proportions.”
Likewise the super intense beyond hurricane force winds scheduled for the future.
Likewise the super heat scheduled for the future.
I don’t know if those are scheduled for these END TIMES or at the end of the Millenium when evidently this current form/iteration of the world and the current heavens are trashed and replaced with new. I’m more inclined to think they are for the end of the Millenial reign of Christ that follows immediately after Armageddon.
I think I have read of a plague of locusts being “of Biblical proportions” in Africa.
That region is sometimes labelled, ‘Capricornia’. Not a common practice, though.
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