Australian PM: Queensland's floods are shocking
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Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Wednesday said she has been shocked by the images of flood devastation in Queensland, and the dimensions of the disaster are truly mind-boggling.
Australia confronts its worst flood disaster in living memory, with 10 people confirmed dead, half the victims children, and about 78 went missing in southeast Queensland.
A senior emergency official told The Australian newspaper that more than 30 people had actually died, including nine whose bodies had been located but not yet recovered.
Also, the water bearing down on Brisbane, the third largest city in Australia, threatens to engulf 6,000 homes and put about more people at risk, as the Wivenhoe Dam, built to spare the Queensland capital a repeat of devastating floods in 1974, is at its limit.
"I think we've all been shocked by the images of that wall of water just wreaking such devastation (in Toowoomba) and I agree with you that when we hear the statistics about how many homes are going to be hit in Ipswich and here in Brisbane, the dimensions of it are truly mind-boggling," Gillard told the Seven network on Wednesday morning.
"We are bracing for further bad news."
Initial emergency payments were being made available quickly, with 10,000 claims already processed and around 17 million U.S. dollars going into people's pockets, Gillard said, adding that one thousand staff were working on the payments.
Meanwhile, the defense forces had been helping every day of the flood crisis, and as the flood has worsened the government had increased the assets available.
Gillard announced the government will send seven additional helicopters available on Wednesday, that bring to 15 the number in Queensland. Eleven of those helicopters will be available to assist in search and rescue.
Additional C130 transport planes would also be assigned to flood relief efforts, to move food and supplies to isolated regional areas.
Gillard said several hundred defense personnel were on notice to move if needed.
"We will keep increasing (defence force assets) as necessary to meet the evolving needs of this widespread flood crisis," she said.
Gillard said she would be taking time to meet flood-affected people later in the week.
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