'It's just heartbreaking': Woman's harrowing fears for sister as Townsville flood worsens
A woman is desperately trying to find her sister after her street was immersed by floodwaters in Townsville.
Milly Roberts has been trying to get to her sibling’s flooded home after her power was cut off yesterday. Her sister also has two children and she is worried as water is flowing quickly down the street.
“We just don’t know what her situation is,” Ms Roberts told 7News as she choked back tears.
“Our main concern is the children.”
She said she was fearing for the children’s safety because crocodiles and snakes were roaming the floodwaters.
“Our whole family is worried and we just want her at my house where she will be safe and not in all of this. It really is heartbreaking and like I said, we haven’t heard from her and we all just want to know she is OK.”
A man had left the street on a boat and she was desperately hoping he would return so she could ask him to take her down to her sister’s house.
Ms Roberts’ mother lives across the road from her sister and water was up to the doors and flowing in to her mum’s house. They could see her sister’s house but could not get there because of the strong current and have not been able to contact them to see if they are safe.
“She has probably lost everything except for the stuff upstairs. It is really devastating not just for our family, but everyone’s families,” she said.
“It is very horrible. It is not nice at all.”
“I was hoping that maybe we could park up as close as we could get and I could walk along the fence line and it should be OK but looking at the state now, there’s no possible way I could do that,” she said.
“I tried everything in my power to get them to me and unfortunately none of the worked.”
20,000 Townsville homes could go under
Thousands of residents in Townsville are without power and cut off by flooded roads.
Unprecedented water releases from the city’s swollen dam have sent torrents of water down the Ross River and into the city, swamping roads, yards and homes.
Crocodiles have been spotted in suburban streets, and the water is teeming with snakes.
It’s unclear how many more homes may have been inundated. On Sunday the figure was between 400 and 500.
But that was before dam releases doubled to their maximum level in anticipation of more rain, sending almost 2000 cubic metres of water per second charging out of the Ross River Dam.
Authorities have warned between 10,000 and 20,000 homes could be at risk.
With days of more rain ahead, the crisis is far from over and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says forecasters are closely watching the monsoon trough amid fears it could form into a cyclone if it moves off the coast.
“This system, if it moves out to the sea, it could develop into a cyclone,” she told Seven Network on Monday.
“These are early days and we won’t know for certain until the next few days.”
The Bureau of Meteorology has also warned that tornadoes could form, with gale-force winds seen in Townsville overnight.
Queensland Fire and Rescue Services received 850 calls for flood assistance in the past 24 hours, most in Townsville.
The monsoon trough that’s been dumping flooding rain on north Queensland’s east coast, and drought-hit parts of western Queensland, will drive the state’s emergency for days to come.
Intense rain with significant flash flooding is expected between Ingham and Bowen, and possibly as far south as Mackay, extending inland to Mt Isa near the Northern Territory border.
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