Thursday, January 13, 2011

World Expo 88 site and icons inundated by the Brisbane floods

At last, a report from flood-inundated Brisbane City.

My mother and I returned to Brisbane from our holiday to Sydney yesterday to find that the City was in 'shut-down' mode, preparing for the worst flood in over 30 - if not 100 years.

We were very lucky to get home, as essential services were being suspended in anticipation for the 4am peak in the river this morning at 5.5 metres, which comes after weeks of flooding in northern Queensland, to nearly an area more than the State of Texas, or France and Germany combined.

75% of the State of Queensland has been declared a disaster zone, and in the Brisbane central business district 10 city blocks are underwater, with the former World Expo 88 site, the now South Bank Parklands, on the southern bank of the Brisbane River, also underwater.

The neighbouring suburb of West End, where the Expo 88 symbol tower is located (here pictured, courtesy of Jackie Ryan, Facebook) is also affected. It may be many days or even weeks before access to South Bank Parklands or West End is restored.

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