Four airlifted from flooded homes

FOUR people were winched from houses near Caboolture during a dramatic day of rescues for the AGL Action Rescue Helicopter today.

Cars were swamped at Morayfield Shopping Centre as the Caboolture region was hit hard by flood waters.

FOUR people were winched from houses near Caboolture during a dramatic day of rescues for the AGL Action Rescue Helicopter today.

The service responded to eight missions associated with floods during Tuesday's day shift alone.

To achieve these numbers, the rescue service brought in an extra crew to operate an additional rescue helicopter (rescue 513) along with Rescue 511 & Rescue 512.

Rescue operations included:
 

• Rescue 511 transported and treated a man who was stranded by the floods near Kilcoy and was suffering from a cardiac condition.

• 65 year old resident of Imbil suffering from a cardiac condition. Rescue 513 landed at the Imbil bowls club car park due to the local showgrounds being under water. The resident was treated and airlifted from Imbil. Due to the worsening weather, rescue pilot Brent Hall diverted to Cooroy School oval where they were met by a road ambulance who transported the patient to Nambour Hospital. The patient was listed as stable.

• After completing their previous mission, Rescue 511 was tasked by Queensland Police to winch two people from the roof of a house near Caboolture. The two rescued people were then transported to Morayfield with no injuries reported.

• Rescue 511 was then tasked to another similar mission, with two people stranded on a rooftop at Caboolture.

• Rescue 513 was then requested to track to Caboolture where a two year had fallen two metres onto concrete and sustained head injuries. As pilot Brent Hall approached the scene, information was received that an ambulance had managed to reach the child.

• Rescue 513 was then tasked to a second child, 12 years old, also suffering from a head injury, this time at Morayfield. During the flight, the rescue crew received confirmation that an ambulance had reached the child.
• Rescue 513 then refuelled and was late today on their way to a mission in Esk.

 
Caboolture completely cut off

THE deadly and relentless driving rain has cut off Caboolture from the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane as creeks and rivers rise rapidly.

Residents in low-lying areas of Caboolture are being evacuated with major roads closed as police and SES try to sandbag homes in Elimbah, Lower King Street, Bellmere, central Caboolture near Tullawong schools and Morayfield.

Elimbah resident Darren Briggs said the SES was handing out sand and undertaking sandbagging of the Dances’s Road and Cotterill Road areas.

Gympie Road, Beerburrum Road, Bellmere Road, Torrens and Morayfield Roads as well as Lower King Street roads are all closed to traffic and police are turning drivers back.

“We are effectively cut off at this time,’’ Caboolture News editor Cath Fouracre said.

Photographer Vicki Wood at Elimbah is cut off from Caboolture and the power has gone.

Real estate agent Boss Real Estate said police and SES officers were evacuating business people and residents from Morayfield.

 A massive wall of water has turned Morayfield and Caboolture South into an inland lake. Caboolture River and its tributary Wararba Creek have cut off Bellmere residents from the centre of town.

Caboolture River is lapping Captain Whish Bridge and turn-offs to the highway are closed.

 Thousand of homes have lost power.

Earlier police  urged residents in low-lying area to move to higher ground as the town isolated with the Bruce Highway and other roads closed by floodwaters.

Evacuation out of town by car is now impossible.

"The flood levels are expected to be greater than the 1974 floods. Do not stay in your homes please leave immediately,'' police said in a statement.

"Cars should be moved from low-lying areas."

Ipswich should also prepare to evacuate, the city's mayor says.

Mayor Paul Pisasale said residents in low-lying areas and near the Bremer River should get out, with rivers due to peak overnight.

"I'm told by the experts we are likely to see levels similar to the dreadful 1974 floods," Mr Pisasale said today.

"At this stage the Bremer River in Ipswich is expected to reach 17.2 metres at between 11pm (AEST) tonight and 1am tomorrow, which is nearly two metres below the 1974 level."

He said river heights were expected to remain high for one or two days.

Police said the Ipswich Motorway, running to the west of Brisbane, may be closed before 1.30pm (AEST) due to flooding in both directions.

Modelling is being conducted to see what floodwaters in the Brisbane and Bremer rivers will mean for Ipswich and Brisbane.

The Brisbane City Council has warned about 200 properties could be flooded, most in the areas of Rocklea, Albion, Milton and Auchenflower.

People in West End, in inner-city Brisbane, have already been asked to move to higher ground.

Authorities say Wivenhoe Dam, built partly as a flood mitigation strategy after the 1974 flood, was all that stood in the way of a repeat of the devastating event.

At least 6700 homes were partially or totally flooded in the Brisbane metropolitan area and some homes were completely washed away in the 1974 flood.

At Ipswich, 1800 homes and businesses were totally or partially inundated and 41 homes were washed away.

Fourteen people died and more than 300 were injured.

Originally published as Four airlifted from flooded homes