Flood-hit Australian city receives relief flights

MILITARY flights rushed yesterday to restock an Australian city before it was cut off by floodwaters that have turned a huge swath of the outback into a lake, while police confirmed two more deaths in the crisis.

Drenching rain that started before Christmas has flooded an area the size of France and Germany combined in northeastern Queensland state. Rivers are overflowing and at least 22 towns and cities in the farming region are inundated.

In the coastal city of Rockhampton, waters from the still-swelling Fitzroy River closed the airport and cut the main highway to the state capital of Brisbane. Scores of families abandoned their homes for relief centres on high ground.

By last night, floodwaters had inundated the last route into the city, according to Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.

“Rockhampton is now completely stranded — a town of 75,000 people — no airport, rail or road,” Bligh told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio.

Residents emptied supermarket shelves of food and bottled water in recent days as they stocked up to reduce the need to get around in waist-deep waters.

Acting Defence Minister Warren Snowdon said a C-130 military cargo plane would fly to a town north of Rockhampton yesterday carrying food, medical supplies and other items that would then be trucked to the stricken city.

Authorities have warned the Fitzroy will continue rising until late tonight or early tomorrow local time.

Mayor Brad Carter has said about 40% of the city could be affected by the surging waters and residents could be forced to wait at least two weeks before returning home.

State authorities say about 200,000 people have been affected by the floods, Australia’s worst in a decade, and Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday extended emergency relief to those affected, including low-interest loans to farmers to begin cleaning up and get their businesses running again.

“This is a major natural disaster, and recovery will take a significant amount of time,” Gillard said. The damage could, ultimately, amount to hundreds of millions of Australian dollars, she told reporters.

Three people have died in the flooding since Saturday, though police in Queensland state say seven other people have drowned separately involving swollen rivers and water accidents since tropical deluges began in late November.

Chief Superintendent Alistair Dawson said the latest victim was a man who drowned yesterday when the car he was travelling in was washed off a flooded causeway in the town of Aramac, in central Queensland.

Earlier in the day , police said they recovered the body of a man who was last seen Saturday when his small boat was swamped by raging waters in a different part of the state.

The rains that started the flooding have eased and water levels have been dropping in some towns, but officials said about 1,000 people were living in evacuation centres across Queensland and it may be a month before the floodwaters dry up completely.