MELBOURNE: Major flooding threatened several thousand homes on Monday in the Australian state of Queensland, forcing more than 1,100 people to be evacuated, after authorities opened up dam gates after days of torrential rains filled reservoirs to overflowing.
Emergency services tackled thousands of calls from people overnight around the city of Townsville, where evacuation centres were filling up. Crocodiles were even spotted in suburban streets, pictures on social media showed.
“Once in a century event happening here. I have never seen the likes of this before,” Queensland state Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said in an interview on Australian Broadcasting Corp TV, in a state often hit by cyclones and flooding. – Reuters
