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Title: Australia's `Biblical' Floods to Worsen as Waters Cut Off Queensland City (75k people)
Source:
Bloomberg
URL Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011- ... en-as-waters-cut-off-city.html
Published: Jan 3, 2011
Author: Bloomberg
Post Date: 2011-01-03 11:18:12 by go65
Keywords: None
Views: 172
Comments: 2
Flooding is set to worsen in the Australian state of Queensland in the next 48 hours, cutting off tens of thousands of people as the military is mobilized and cabinet recalled. Rockhampton, home to 75,000 people about 500 kilometers (300 miles) north of the state capital Brisbane, will lose its last road access as the Fitzroy river reaches its forecast peak, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said yesterday. That will hamper military food supplies that are being flown into Mackay before being trucked the 330 kilometers south to the stricken city. Towns across the nation’s third-most populous state have been evacuated, at least two people have died and mines have been shut as flooding spreads over an area the size of France and Germany, affecting 200,000 people. The Queensland cabinet will hold an emergency meeting tomorrow to discuss repairs to the damage that may cost more than A$1 billion ($1.02 billion). “An enormous amount of the state has been inundated and devastated,” Bligh said. “The long-term impact will still take some time to determine but there are literally thousands of Queenslanders who need our support.” Rockhampton shut its airport to commercial jets after waters covered the runway, train links have been cut off and roads to the south and west of the city have been closed. Black Hawk helicopters may be used for emergency evacuation and food drops in outlying areas, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said. “The main supply issue at the moment is in Rockhampton,” Gillard told reporters in Sydney. “Which is why that is the focus of the airlift.” Bligh last week said the floods will cost “billions” as the state rebuilds roads and bridges, provides assistance for those who lose their homes as well as the loss of royalty payments from waterlogged mines. ‘Biblical Proportions’ The disaster is of “biblical proportions,” Treasurer Andrew Fraser said. Weeks of rain destroyed cotton crops, halted coal deliveries, shut mines and prompted BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group to declare force majeure, a legal clause allowing them to miss contracted deliveries. Operations remain suspended at the affected mines, Bruce Tobin, a spokesman for Rio Tinto, and Kelly Quirke, a BHP Billiton spokeswoman, said yesterday. The body of a 38-year old man swept from his boat on the Boyne river was found yesterday while the day before a 41-year old woman’s body was recovered after her car was swept into a river at Burketown in the state’s northwest, state police said. Flood alerts are in place for at least 10 rivers in Queensland after some regions recorded record rainfall during December, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. ‘Natural Disaster’ States of natural disaster have been declared in 41 of Queensland’s 73 municipalities covering about a million square kilometers. New South Wales and Victoria, the nation’s most populous states, offered relief personnel to help with the flood response with 25 specialists being sent to help. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and the U.S. embassy have also offered assistance, Gillard said yesterday. The federal government will provide payments of as much as A$1,000 per person for those that have lost their homes while grants of up to A$25,000 may be provided to small businesses and farmers. The cash grants will help pay cleanup expenses and recovery costs including providing feed to stranded livestock while employers may be eligible for concessional loans of A$250,000, Gillard said.
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#1. To: All (#0)
heavy rains are projected to continue over at least the next week.
Day highs In Chicago, the world's benchmark wheat market, the March contract soared 3.9% to $8.25 a bushel at one point, a five-month high for a spot contract. In Kansas, which trades hard red winter wheat, the March lot touched a two-year high of $8.81 ½ a bushel, while Minneapolis spring wheat for March achieving a similar feat by hitting $9.08 a bushel. In Europe, Paris wheat for January also hit a two-year top, of E258.25 a tonne, up 2.3% on the day. London markets were closed for a UK holiday.
On January 3, 2011 the GOP assumes responsibility for deficit spending.
#2. To: go65 (#1)
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