Bad Storms in Australia

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ccheese

Member In Perpetuity
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Jul 10, 2007
Virginia Beach, Va.
Australia cleans up after crushing storms

SYDNEY, Australia - Australia's prime minister on Tuesday toured an area devastated by violent weekend storms and promised cash payments to residents left homeless.

Sunday's storms blew roofs off houses, dumped golf ball-sized hail and torrential rains, causing flash flooding and knocking out power to more than 230,000 homes and businesses along a 112-mile stretch of southeast Queensland state coastline. One man was killed in the storm after being swept down a storm drain.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Tuesday visited a badly damaged suburb of Brisbane, the state's capital."This is a natural disaster big time," he told reporters.

He said the government would make payments of 1,000 Australia dollars ($646) per adult, and AU$400 ($259) per dependent child to families whose homes were destroyed.

Rudd also said 350 army troops were being deployed to assist in the clean up and more would be sent if needed.
Around 12,000 homes were still without power on Tuesday, energy supplier Energex said.

Queensland state premier Anna Bligh said it could be days before the full extent of the damage was realized.

"There's a lot of work to be done and it's going to take days," she said. "We're not expecting sunshine till Friday, so it's all going to be done in rain."

Bligh likened Sunday's storm to Cyclone Larry, the category 5 storm that battered Queensland with 180 mph winds two years ago, devastating farming towns and flattening banana and sugar cane plantations.

"It looks like there's been a bomb, a great big bomb go off in all the streets. It's just terrible," Brisbane resident Davina Thomas told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Monday. "My daughter's had her roof blown off. It's in the pool."

Between 2 and 2 3/4 inches of rain soaked the region, with winds gusting at up to 80 mph, the Bureau of Meteorology reported.

This from The Norfolk Virginian Pilot

I hope our mates in Oz are all ok .....

Charles
 
Yeah didn't affect us down here, and my family up in Queensland were lucky enough not to be in its path. I hope Emac and family made it through alright? and Scooter1992 is up that way as well.
 
we got nothing up here...yet, except today we had a thunderstorm this morning thunder, lightning heavy rain a bit of wind but nothing as bad as down south near Brisbane. I hope the guys down there are going fine
 
Hopefully our brethren down yonder are doing good........i still think its all luckys fault........he likes old chryslers :lol: guys seriously i hope youall are doin ok
 
My sister lives in Brisbane.....I rang her yesterday. She said the storms were very localised, but severe where they did hit. The worst affected areas are the west and northern suburbs of Brisbane.

Thirty homes have already been totally destroyed, and a further 200 or so heavily damaged . About 4-5000 have varying amounts of damage.

Biggest worry at the momentis that more rain and high winds are forecast for late tomorrow. There are shortages of tarpaulins (many homes have lost all or part of their roofs), and the debris in the streets that are preventing easy access y the emergency services. Power is out for many homes and likley to stay that way until at least the end of the week.

Things are bad for those affected, but the event is localised.

Thanks for the good wishes
 

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