Heavy rain in Australia triggers flood evacuations in Queensland

SYDNEY - Emergency services in Australia’s Queensland state evacuated residents to higher ground on Saturday, as record-breaking floods sparked by heavy rain lashed the region’s north-west.

Fifty-three residents of the isolated Gulf Country town of Burketown, about 2,115km north-west of state capital Brisbane, had been evacuated since heavy rain triggered floods earlier this week, the police said on Saturday.

Around 100 residents remained in the town, with the police set to evacuate more people on Saturday, as the nation’s weather forecaster predicted that river levels in the area would peak on Sunday.

“We are confident we can move the remaining people if we have to,” Superintendent Tom Armitt told the Australian Broadcasting Corp, adding that flood waters were still rising in the remote area.

The emergency comes after frequent flooding in Australia’s east over the last two years due to a multi-year La Nina weather event, including “once in a century” floods that hit remote areas in the neighbouring Northern Territory, in January.

In Burketown, the flood topped the March 2011 record of 6.87m after up to 293mm of rain fell on Thursday and Friday, the Bureau of Meteorology previously said.

The police were coordinating the evacuation via helicopter to the mining town of Mount Isa, about 425km south.

At Gregory, a small town about 120km south of Burketown, the impact of flooding was not yet clear as contacting the community remained difficult, the ABC said.

Flood alerts were current on Saturday for large swathes of Queensland, and there were warnings for severe storms, heavy rainfall and potential flash flooding in many parts, including the Gulf Country. REUTERS