Brisbane residents flee homes as floodwaters rise | World news | The Guardian: "Thousands of Brisbane residents were today stockpiling food and stacking sandbags or fleeing their homes as the worst floodwaters to hit Queensland for 50 years surged towards Australia's third-largest city.
Many people in the state capital, fearful of the damage already done by the water, appeared to have heeded the authorities' evacuation warnings.
By tonight, Brisbane city centre was a ghost town populated only by a few shopowners hoping to save their businesses with last-minute barricades of sandbags and plastic sheeting.
Ten people died yesterday as cars and pedestrians were swept away in an 'inland instant tsunami' that sent a wall of water coursing through the city of Toowoomba, west of Brisbane.
More than 40 people were pulled from rooftops by military helicopters that were still searching for 78 missing people today. Another 200 Australian Defence Force personnel are being dispatched to southern Queensland, which has been declared a disaster area."
Many people in the state capital, fearful of the damage already done by the water, appeared to have heeded the authorities' evacuation warnings.
By tonight, Brisbane city centre was a ghost town populated only by a few shopowners hoping to save their businesses with last-minute barricades of sandbags and plastic sheeting.
Ten people died yesterday as cars and pedestrians were swept away in an 'inland instant tsunami' that sent a wall of water coursing through the city of Toowoomba, west of Brisbane.
More than 40 people were pulled from rooftops by military helicopters that were still searching for 78 missing people today. Another 200 Australian Defence Force personnel are being dispatched to southern Queensland, which has been declared a disaster area."
