Australian Flood Could Wash Out 20,000 Homes in Brisbane

The downtown core of the city of 2 million has emptied of people as water reaches as high as traffic lights.

Unfortunately the worst is yet to come in Brisbane. The floodwaters that have inundated Australia’s third-largest city are not expected to peak until Thursday and won’t start receding until Saturday. Until then authorities are taking drastic action to limit the damage, with Brisbane’s energy company shutting off power to much of the city and officials considering sinking a barge moored on the river to prevent it from breaking free and wreaking havoc. Many residents of the city have fled to higher ground amid warnings from the mayor that 20,000 houses could be completely flooded. The northeastern state of Queensland has faced flooding since November, but Monday a deluge produced a huge flash flood some described as “an inland tsunami.”