Tag Archives: oceania

Queensland locals evacuated ahead of expected record-breaking floods

Rural Queensland is prepping for major flooding following the highest river levels seen in the state since the record-breaking March 2011 floods.

River levels in and surrounding Burketown have hit as high as 17m, causing major floods and warnings which are expected to peak on Sunday as the floods inch closer towards the township.

The flood warnings have prompted police to remove residents from their houses as experts warn the floodwaters haven't reached their peak.

READ MORE: Venomous snake found in SA without key identifying feature

Rural Queensland is submerged under floodwaters following the highest river levels ever seen in the state since the record-breaking March 2011 floods, and experts say the floods haven't reached their peaked yet.Rural Queensland is submerged under floodwaters following the highest river levels ever seen in the state since the record-breaking March 2011 floods, and experts say the floods haven't reached their peaked yet.

"The problem now is we are expected a significant downflow… all that water is expected to flow down through areas of Doomadgee and then onwards to Burketown," Mt Isa District Officer Superintendent Tom Armitt said.

"(Today) we are starting evacuation operations, we will be moving the vulnerable and the elderly first, and then looking at whether we should continue to evacuate the remainder of the town.

"At this stage, Burketown is surrounded by large volumes of water, the flood modelling is showing that there is expected record flooding into the township."

Police will shuttle the elderly in small, manned aircraft to Normanton, while young children and their parents will be taken to Mount Isa. 

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Rural Queensland is submerged under floodwaters following the highest river levels ever seen in the state since the record-breaking March 2011 floods, and experts say the floods haven't reached their peaked yet.

The river level record for the area is 6.78m from the 2011 March floods.

In the 48 hours between 9am on Wednesday and 9am on Friday, the Nicholson and Leichhardt River catchments saw 293mm of rain.

Riversleigh has seen the highest river water levels, peaking at around 18m on Thursday before slowly easing on Friday.

The Gregory River In Gregory Downs peaked at 14.7m, causing major floods in the region surrounding the river.

https://twitter.com/BOM_Qld/status/1634071646070792192

The Leichhardt River and its surrounding areas were also impacted by major flooding, with flooding peaking at Lorraine at around 17m.

River levels over 6m are considered above the major flood level.

The area is still under a major flood warning, which is expected to remain until next week.

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'What's going on?!': Frog footage has Aussies scratching heads

When even wildlife experts can't quite make sense of a strange scenario involving a snake and a frog, you know it's probably very unique.

The team at Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers think so, anyway.

Sharing an image that truly has to be seen to be believed, the Queensland-based wildlife group have shown exactly what it looks like when a green tree frog ingests a baby snake and poops it out the other end – whole.

READ MORE: Bus driver stops traffic to save massive snake from being flattened

"What is going on here?!" the snake catchers wrote on Facebook.

"We were sent in this crazy photo of a green tree frog with a baby eastern brown snake coming out it's bum.

"Was the frog struggling to digest and poop out the snake? Did the brown snake slither all the way through the digestive system?"

The group then turned to their audience for help to digest just what was taking place in the bizarre image.

READ MORE: Venomous snake found in SA without key identifying feature

"Was the frog struggling to digest and poop out the snake?," they wrote.

"Did the brown snake slither all the way through the digestive system?

"The lady who found it said the frog was trying to pull it out with its back legs, so she pulled the snake out for it.

"Wow, just wow."

The post attracted almost four thousand likes and comments, with confused social media users hypothesising about exactly what was occurring.

"What the hell?" one wrote.

"How bizarre," said another.

But others pointed out that the practice may actually common in green tree frogs. 

"This is very common, the green tree frog will pretty much eat anything that moves," a user wrote.

"They grow very fast and can get fairly big, hence the reason they eat basically anything and everything that moves in their line-of-sight, including snakes, baby ducks, other frogs and toads, birds, and small mammals.

"I'd say it's digestive can't handle a snake so ends up coming out almost the same way it went in."

Though the frog lived to tell the tale, the same could not be said for the little snake. 

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