Hundreds of homes and businesses have been inundated by major flooding in the coastal Queensland city of Bundaberg after the Burnett River burst its banks following a tropical low. The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, said on Wednesday that 197 people had spent the night at an evacuation centre and about 2,000 homes were without power.
“There are people whose homes and businesses have now been impacted for the fourth time in just over 15 years,” Crisafulli said. The city of more than 70,000 people last experienced flooding in 2010, 2011 and 2013, with the January 2013 flood inundating more than 4,000 homes.
Locals were asked to leave immediately on Tuesday afternoon before the community’s two major bridges were closed, leaving about 10,000 people isolated. Helen Blackburn, mayor of Bundaberg regional council, said on Wednesday that “a few hundred homes and properties” had been affected, but the full extent would not be known “for probably a week”. Authorities believe the Burnett River peaked at about 7.4 metres, shy of the forecast 7.6 metres.
Chief Insp Grant Marcus of the Queensland Police Service said authorities rescued one person who had driven into flood waters overnight, and another during daylight hours. Crisafulli noted that isolation continues across much of Queensland, with flood levels at Charleys Creek and in Longreach yet to peak.
Among Queensland’s highest three-day rainfall totals were 396mm at Boondooma, 381mm at Marodian, 279mm at Bundaberg South and 263mm at Gympie. The premier added that 122 agricultural surveys showed 1,200 head of cattle and 1,000km of fences had been lost in the Burnett-Fraser Coast-Gympie area.
The damage comes after days of heavy rain across northern Australia, with Darwin residents asked to reduce water use after the Darwin River Dam stopped operating due to flooding. More rain has stalled the clean-up at Katherine, which experienced its worst flooding in decades, and hundreds of people remain in shelters across the Northern Territory.
