No Pinoy casualties in Australia flood

MANILA, Philippines - There are no Filipino casualties in the floods that swept Queensland, particularly its capital city Brisbane, an embassy report said yesterday.

In a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Philippine embassy in Canberra said that Filipinos affected by the floods are currently in evacuation centers.

“The Philippine honorary consul in Brisbane Alan Albert Gummit said that the Filipinos in the area are safe and in government-designated evacuation centers and there are no known Filipino casualties as of the moment,” said Philippine charges d’affaires Mary Anne Padua.

“The embassy stands ready to provide assistance to those affected by the floods. We are in touch with the Honorary Consulate in Brisbane and the Filipino community leaders there,” she said.

The Honorary Consulate has been instructed to continue coordinating with the Filipinos in the area to ascertain their conditions and to extend assistance to those in need.

She added that those in flooded areas are under instructions by the Australian authorities to stay in the evacuation centers until the floods recede.

Roads going to the flood-affected areas are inaccessible as of this time, and electricity and communications lines are down.

There are around 300,000 Filipinos living in Australia, 18,000 of whom are in Queensland.

Rains have stopped in the region, allowing Australian authorities to mount search and rescue efforts.

Rivers have overflowed and spawned flashfloods in Queensland after Australia suffered from two weeks of heavy rains. Electricity and communications have been cut in several areas.

The entire central business district of Ipswich was completely closed off yesterday morning when a quarry filled with water collapsed in the town of Fernvale, flooding homes and leaving hundreds of people stranded.

More than 50,000 people in the southeast of Queensland were without power yesterday morning, including 15,000 in Brisbane and 22,000 in Ipswich.

In Brisbane, thousands of homes and businesses were inundated as swirling floodwaters rose in and around the riverside city, forcing residents to flee with few possessions to higher ground and evacuation centers.

The floods have also reached the bordering state of New South Wales, with about 4,500 people stranded. About 2,000 residents in the Lower Clarence Valley in northern New South Wales have been ordered to evacuate.

Search and rescue efforts are ongoing for more than 90 people missing, even as 20 people have been reported dead due to the flooding.

Meanwhile, the Australian embassy in Manila released a statement yesterday saying that there is serious risk of further flooding over the period Jan. 12-13.

Moreover, they advise Philippine nationals in the flood-affected areas to monitor the local media and follow the instructions of Queensland authorities, who are working hard to provide relief to flood-affected communities.

On a similar note, the Australian embassy also extended their heartfelt sympathies to the victims who have had to evacuate their homes and who have suffered from the widespread flooding across Southern Luzon, Eastern Visayas and northern Mindanao.