Q’land interior flooded

Press, 7 February 1986, Page 6

Q’land interior flooded

NZPA-AAP Brisbane Queensland’s State Emergency Service turned its attention -to flooded areas of western Queensland yesterday after reducing activities in the north of the state where cyclone Winifred caused tens of millions of dollars damage. ’ Hundreds of people were left homeless after the cyclone swept across the coast on Saturday night between Innlsfail and Tully with 220km/h winds and torrential rain. Floodwaters from the cyclone, which degenerated into a rain depression, poured down the channel country and inundated thousands of square kilometres in central and south-western Queensland.

The S.E.S. assistant ' director, Lance Bickford, said yesterday there was moderate flooding around Adavale, Windorah and Winton, but no serious problems yet. “The flooding out west is keeping us on our toes,” he said.

Mark Everitt, a storekeeper at Adavale, 900 km west of Brisbane, said floodwaters had entered the streets of the town overnight but had subsided by the afternoon. Residents had been preparing for flood because levels in the Bulloo River and Blackwater Creek had been rising and many had shifted furniture and other goods to safe places. Some flooding was also reported around Windorah, about 200 km west of Adavale.