Medical and Hospital News  
SHAKE AND BLOW
'Biblical' floods threaten thousands of Australian homes

Nine schoolgirls among 15 dead in Egypt flood
Cairo (AFP) Dec 30, 2010 - Nine schoolgirls were among 15 people killed when torrential rains swept away a bus in southern Egypt, police said in a final toll on Friday, two days after the tragedy. The bus, with 77 passengers, was heading to Asyut, south of Cairo, after a day trip in Minya when it was caught in the downpour and swept into a three-metre (around 10-foot-deep) ditch by the side of the road. Along with the schoolgirls, six other people died, including two school supervisors, police said. An ambulance driver who was among a team of rescuers dispatched to the scene also drowned after having rescued 20 schoolgirls, they said. Two of the girls had been trapped in the waters for 15 and 20 hours, respectively. An initial death toll on Thursday said seven people were killed.
by Staff Writers
Bundaberg, Australia (AFP) Jan 1, 2011
Flood waters swept through vast areas of northeastern Australia Saturday, threatening to inundate thousands more homes in a disaster one official said was of "biblical proportions".

As Queen Elizabeth II sent her "sincere sympathies" to Queenslanders who rang in a damp new year, helicopters were being used to deliver food and other supplies to isolated towns.

Up to 200,000 people have been affected by the floods, which have hurt the nation's lucrative mining industry and cut off major highways as the water rushes through sodden inland regions to the sea.

"In many ways, it is a disaster of biblical proportions," Queensland State Treasurer Andrew Fraser told reporters in flood-hit Bundaberg.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who on Friday toured inundated regions, said the floods had been devastating and would clearly have an economic impact.

"We're still directly battling floodwaters -- we haven't seen the peak of the flood yet at centres like Rockhampton -- so the people of Queensland in many places are doing it tough today," she said.

Gillard said the mining sector had been particularly badly hit, with some companies using the force majeure clauses in their contracts.

"They've had to say to the people who buy their minerals that at this time, circumstances are such that they can't keep supply moving," she told reporters.

"Even those mines that could continue to mine obviously have got difficulties with supply routes because so many roads have been affected," she said, adding that farmers, small businesses and tourism would also suffer.

Emergency workers were focusing their efforts on Rockhampton where the Fitzroy River had broken its banks and was rising dangerously, threatening some 2,000 to 4,000 homes ahead of reaching its expected peak on Wednesday.

"The community is likely to be cut off for a period of 10 days from the south and through this airport," said Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter.

"It's possible that our airport could be closed for anything up to three weeks because it takes a fair bit to re-engage ... and reactivate an airport once floodwaters cover its tarmac.

"The community is still expecting to have significant amounts of floodwaters at the height of about 8.5 metres into the middle of January."

But as some wait for the flood peak, in other towns residents are preparing to return to homes they evacuated last week in the wake of torrential downpours.

In the central Queensland town of Emerald, where about 80 percent of the town was submerged by the worst flooding on record, water from the Nogoa River has inundated some 1,000 homes.

"We've only worked that out by taking aerial shots," Central Highlands Mayor Peter Maguire told Australian news agency AAP. "There may be more homes affected, we don't know."

"We're talking months of cleaning up and repairs," he said, adding that in total about 4,000 homes in the region were flood affected to some degree.

In Bundaberg in the state's southeast, the clean-up was set to begin in about 300 homes and 120 businesses as the flood waters rapidly recede, but other towns such as Theodore and Condamine remain evacuated after days of surging waters.

Flooding hit record levels in Condamine and the town could remain abandoned for a week, according to Western Downs Regional Mayor Ray Brown.

"You're talking a substantial length of time, at least a week, if everything runs smoothly and recedes, before anybody can actually get back in there to have a look," he told ABC Radio.

Treasurer Fraser said the state's finances would be hard hit by the deluge, which will affect mining revenues because of expected losses in production.

"The cost to the state will be huge -- both in direct costs such as rebuilding roads, and other damaged infrastructure and providing relief payments to families -- but also in lost income, while the mining, agriculture and tourism sectors recover," he said.

The floods prompted a message of support from the Queen, who said she had been following "with great concern" news of the devastating floods.

"Please extend my sincere sympathies to all the people whose communities and livelihoods have been so badly damaged in this disaster," she wrote to her Queensland representative Governor Penelope Wensley.



Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
When the Earth Quakes
A world of storm and tempest



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


SHAKE AND BLOW
Australia PM praises 'resilience' of thousands hit by floods
Bundaberg, Australia (AFP) Dec 31, 2010
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard Friday consoled evacuees from "devastating" floods that have swamped vast swathes of the rural northeast, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. Gillard made a "humbling" visit to an evacuation centre sheltering refugees from the floods, which have left entire towns under water and cut off many more over an area the size of France and Germany combi ... read more







SHAKE AND BLOW
Adopted Haitian children fly in to Paris on Christmas Eve

Plane carrying adopted Haitian children arrives in France

Adoptive parents arrive in Haiti to fetch children

Caricom-Australia chide empty promises to Haiti

SHAKE AND BLOW
Launch Of New Russian Navigation Satellite Postponed To Next Year

Galileo's Navigation Control Hub Opens In Fucino

China Launches Seventh Orbiter For Indigenous Global SatNav System

Universal Address And GPS Enhanced Google Maps For iPhones

SHAKE AND BLOW
Designer Probiotics Could Reduce Obesity

The Ideal Temperature For Keeping Fungi Away And Hunger At Bay

You Are What Your Father Ate

'Living pigment' in rock art discovered

SHAKE AND BLOW
Seeing Double: Africa's Two Elephant Species

Drifting Fish Larvae Allow Marine Reserves To Rebuild Fisheries

Chinese Fossil Site Shows Long Recovery Of Life From Largest Extinction

Pakistan floods, fighting destroy wildlife

SHAKE AND BLOW
S.Korea reports first bird flu outbreak since 2008

British flu death toll hits 39

Simple trap could combat dengue fever

Two dead as flu cases widen in France

SHAKE AND BLOW
China political satire scores big at box office

China orders crackdown on land hoarding amid rising prices

Jailed China milk activist free on parole, supporters worry

China says corruption 'still very serious' problem

SHAKE AND BLOW
Pirates: Ship released, another taken

Guns to fight Somali pirates seized in S.Africa: police

France passes law beefing up navy's anti-piracy powers

Mexican drug cartel branches out in Costa Rica: US

SHAKE AND BLOW
China's Hu urges stable prices

Chinese economist predicts yuan rise: WikiLeaks

Wen says China confident of keeping inflation in check

China ratings agency rattles cages of Western rivals


The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement