Five swept away in Australian floods
‘Bodies of Australians executed in Indonesia arrive home’
SYDNEY, May 2, (AFP): Five people have been swept to their deaths by flash flooding in northeastern Australia, officials said Saturday, after what the Queensland state premier described as an “off-the-scale” deluge.
State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had warned that the weather bureau had forecast extremely heavy weather for southeast Queensland on Friday afternoon.
But in announcing the first three deaths late Friday, Palaszczuk said that a deluge of 277 millimetres (almost 11 inches) of rain fell in the area where the deaths occurred in just three hours. “This is off the scale,” she said. Police said four of the deaths occurred when two 4-wheel drive vehicles were swept away from the same bridge in Caboolture, some 44 kms (27 miles) north of Brisbane on Friday afternoon.
In the first accident, a 74-year-old man, a 39-year-old woman and a fiveyear-old boy all died.
In the second, two passengers — a 21-year-old woman and a boy aged 16 — managed to escape. The body of the driver, a 49-year-old man, was found early on Saturday.
In a third fatal incident involving vehicles being swept away, a 75-yearold man died in nearby Burpengary but police were able to rescue a 68year-old woman found clinging to a tree.
“We are devastated,” said Queensland’s Police, Fire and Emergency Minister Jo-Ann Miller as she revealed that authorities had received some 4,000 calls for assistance over a five-hour period on Friday afternoon.
Almost 60 swift water rescues were conducted as the storm hit, she said.
But police warned again of the dan- gers of driving into floodwaters.
“It’s unfortunate that with events like this, we again need to highlight to the community the dangers of entering flooded road waters. If it’s flooded, forget it,” Queensland Police Inspector Lee Jeffries said.
“The reports that I have is that the roads were well-and-truly flooded at the time and vehicles have entered flooded roads.”
Southeast Queensland was lashed by the storm, which forced the postponement of a rugby league Test between Australia and New Zealand in Brisbane.
Torrential rains closed roads, prompted dozens of rescues and cut power to thousands of homes
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the federal government would assist Queensland in the wake of the deadly storms.
“Obviously our thoughts and our prayers are with the families of those who have suffered,” he said.
The weather bureau said Saturday that the worst of the storm was over for Queensland, and the weather was weakening as it moved south into New South Wales state.
Conditions
“Apart from still some pretty wild surf conditions along the coast, apart from that the event is pretty much over for us in southeast Queensland,” Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Jonty Hall told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
New South Wales was hit by wild weather last month that left four people dead and caused millions of dollars in damage across Sydney and surrounding areas.
In that event, relentless gale force winds and torrential rain brought down trees and power lines, many crushing houses and cars, with a handful of homes washed away in what was described as a once-in-a-decade storm.
Also: SYDNEY: Prime Minister
said he was confident Australia could restore its relationship with despite anger over the execution of two drug convicts, whose bodies reportedly returned home Saturday.
31, and 34, were killed by firing squad on Wednesday over their role in a plot to bring heroin to Australia from the Indonesian resort island of Bali, despite international pleas to Jakarta for clemency.
Abbott said he understood the dismay and anger over the executions but respected Indonesia’s sovereignty.
“It really was terrible that these cruel and unnecessary executions went ahead,” he told reporters in Sydney.
“Our anger and our grief, sadly, is not going to bring those two young men back.
“The important thing now is not to do any thing that would make a difficult situation worse.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was unable to confirm reports that the men’s bodies were on a flight which touched down early Saturday in Sydney.
The flight was carrying Sukumaran’s parents, brother and sister and Chan’s wife Febyanti Herewila, who married him on the eve of his execution.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said Chan’s mother and brother were understood to have wanted to travel back with his body, but were unable to due to a hold-up with the repatriation. They returned on Friday.
Chan and Sukumaran were among seven foreigners and one Indonesian executed in Indonesia in the early hours of Wednesday.
The Australians had spent a decade in prison for their role in masterminding the so-called ‘Bali Nine’ group of smugglers, during which time Chan had become a Christian pastor and Sukumaran had studied art.
The executions have cast a shadow over Australia’s relationship with its important neighbour Indonesia, with Abbott withdrawing Canberra’s ambassador to Indonesia.
But the prime minister said Saturday that it remained important for the country’s future that the relationship with be restored.
“I am confident that we will be able to rebuild the relationship,” Abbott said.
“It’s important to Australia, it’s important to Indonesia and it’s important to the wider world that Australia and Indonesia’s friendship is strong and growing in the months and years ahead.”
Australia and Indonesia are key allies in counter-terrorism efforts, while Indonesia is also a significant economic partner.
Earlier, Abbott had he described as “odd” a decision by the Australian Catholic University (ACU) to introduce scholarships in memory of the executed pair for Indonesian students wishing to study in Australia.
“We did this because ACU is committed to the dignity of the human person, and that applies equally to all human beings: victims as well as to those who have been convicted of crimes,” Vice Chancellor
said. Abbott said the men had met their deaths with a “kind of nobility”, but he questioned whether that justified establishing scholarships in their name.