“I am feeling a sense of horror and awe at the power of the river. Sadly in coming hours we will see bits of people’s homes float down the river,” Brisbane Mayor Campbell Newman said, warning the torrent could take three to four days to subside.
“Brisbane will go to sleep tonight (Wednesday) and wake up to scenes many will never have seen before in their lives,” Queensland State Premier Anna Bligh warned. BRISBANE, Australia (Reuters) – – Massive floods shut down the centre of Australia’s third-largest city, sent thousands fleeing from their homes and sparked panic buying of food yesterday as rescuers searched for 43 people missing in floodwaters.
Australia’s biggest floods in a century have so far killed 16 people since starting their onslaught across northern mining state Queensland last month, crippling the coking coal industry, destroying infrastructure, putting a brake on the economy and sending the local currency to four-week lows.
The flood surge is expected to peak in Brisbane, a riverside city of two million people, before sunrise today and last for days.
“We are in the grip of a very serious natural disaster,” Queensland State Premier Anna Bligh said, predicting almost 20,000 homes could be flooded at the river’s peak.
“Brisbane will go to sleep tonight and wake up to scenes many will never have seen before in their lives,” she warned.
The flood peak hit Ipswich, a satellite town to the west, late on Wednesday. More than 1,500 Ipswich residents sheltered in evacuation centres, but others fled homes with little more than what they are wearing, as floodwater rose around the city.
Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale said the flood peaked at 19.4 meters, about a meter below expectations, saving some 6,000 homes from flooding. “It’s the difference between bad news and devastation,” he said.
Brisbane residents yesterday pushed food-laden shopping carts through submerged streets, others waded in shoulder-high water to rescue possessions, while boats and pontoons were ripped from moorings in the Brisbane River and smashed into bridges as the muddy brown tide gathered strength.
At flooded intersections people paddled surfboards through floodwaters, balancing their possessions on the deck of the boards, while boats ferried evacuees to dry ground.
“I am feeling a sense of horror and awe at the power of the river. Sadly in coming hours we will see bits of people’s homes float down the river,” Brisbane Mayor Campbell Newman said, warning the torrent could take three to four days to subside.
Four thousand people sheltered in evacuation centres.

FLOODS HIT AUSTRALIA ECONOMY
Economists have raised their estimates of the economic impact of the flooding, with one central bank board member saying on Wednesday the disaster could cut 1 percent off growth — equal to almost $13 billion, double the previous highest estimate.
The Australian dollar sank to a fresh four-week low of $0.9803 on the comments from Warwick McKibbin, an academic and a member of the central bank’s policymaking board.
Australia exports more than half the world’s coking coal, which is used in steel manufacturing, and it is also the second-biggest exporter of thermal coal used for power generation.