Sydney, January 11: Prime Minister Julia Gillard has warned Queenslanders there are more dark days ahead as they try to deal with massive flash flooding across the south of the state.
Eight people are confirmed dead and fears are held for more than 70 people still missing after the unprecedented flooding yesterday.
Ms Gillard has warned the death toll will rise.
“We are in a situation where, as a nation, we are grieving the loss of eight Australian lives,” she said.
“Seventy-two Australians are unaccounted for, and that means in Queensland and around the nation there are people who are frightened, people desperately waiting for news of loved ones.
“To those people who are bereaved, to those who are now waiting for news of their loved ones, my thoughts and my sympathies are now with you.
“The nation does need to brace itself for the fact that the death toll as a result of yesterday’s flash flooding is likely to rise.”
In the Lockyer Valley emergency service workers are battling heavy rain in a frantic effort to find those missing.
In Brisbane residents in inner-city areas and the CBD are being told to evacuate after the river broke its banks earlier today.
Ms Gillard has been meeting with national disaster response teams and she says the Federal Government is ready to throw whatever assistance is needed into Queensland.
“As we speak we have helicopters – Black Hawks and Sea Kings – working hand in glove with [emergency services],” she said.
“Floodwaters are now threatening more parts of Queensland including Ipswich and some parts of Brisbane.
“The circumstances in Queensland continue to be very dire indeed.”
She says she has been in touch with Premier Anna Bligh and has offered the assistance of the Australian Defence Force.
Earlier today Ms Bligh held a press conference warning people in southern Queensland to listen to their radios for emergency service announcements.
She says emergency service crews are stretched to the limit.
“We know that we have people stranded and people lost. We are doing our best to protect our emergency workers,” she said.
“There’s no doubt that we are now in a very different sort of disaster. What it is doing is testing our emergency response. It will test us as communities and as people.
“This weather I think… might be breaking our hearts at the moment but it will not break our will.”
–Agencies–