Huge floods send Australian wildlife fleeing

Massive floods in northern Australia washed a crocodile into the road, where it got run over by a passing truck.

Rain-battered residents in Queensland were today on alert for snakes and other unpleasant wildlife seeking sanctuary in their homes following repeated storms.

More than half the state was declared a disaster area yesterday because of rains that started in late December and are expected to continue.

In Queensland’s hardest-hit town of Ingham, David Harkin was today preparing to evacuate after watching floods wash through his two-level home. He said he had seen several snakes around his home.

“That’s why I keep the broom here (at the front door) to chase the snakes away,” he said. Some 2,900 homes have been damaged in Ingham and hundreds of people evacuated to a temporary shelter.

In the coastal city of Townsville, the floods were blamed for washing the freshwater crocodile into the street.

The five-foot-long crocodile survived and was being treated for an injured eye and several broken teeth, the Townsville Bulletin newspaper reported .

Wildlife Carers volunteer Lana Allcroft said the service had been overwhelmed with injured and displaced animals since the floods began.

“A lady rang up this morning and said she had a snake in her bathroom. I said, ’Well, I’ve got a crocodile in mine',” Allcroft told the newspaper. “We’ve had wallabies, curlews, snakes and flying foxes, and that’s just this morning.”

After weeks of storms that have submerged parts of Queensland, the area was battered again on Sunday when a tropical storm landed. More rain is forecast this week, including a possible cyclone.

The Queensland Environmental Protection Agency has warned residents to watch out for wildlife on roads and in their gardens.

“Crocodiles might move about looking for a quiet place to wait for floodwaters to recede and snakes may swim into peoples’ properties,” Environmental Protection Agency project officer Brian Wright said after the late January floods.

Deputy Premier Paul Lucas, who visited Ingham, said he did not think the ground could cope with more rain.

“It’s like pouring water over a wet towel,” he said.

Ingham had received 14.41 inches of rain in 24 hours to this morning, on top of more than 15.75 inches dumped in the previous days.

Some coastal areas are completely cut off by flooding and authorities fear the stagnant water could worsen an outbreak of dengue fever.

Meanwhile the south of the country was still recovering from last week’s massive heatwave where wildfires destroyed more than 20 homes.

About six people died from heat stress in Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city, over three days before the temperature mellowed to 31C on Saturday.