Hundreds of residents in north Queensland have been forced out of their homes as flooding persists in Townsville and Ingham.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00About 400 people here in Townsville and north in Ingham spent the night in evacuation centres.
00:09This school hall here in the Townsville suburb of Heatley was at capacity overnight.
00:14It's filled with residents who've had nowhere else to go during this flood emergency, including
00:19elderly people and young children.
00:22Now all of them have come from what's been deemed the black zone in Townsville.
00:28It's six suburbs, six low-lying Townsville suburbs which authorities have deemed most
00:33at risk of flooding.
00:34Now the people we've spoken to today, many of them feel stuck in limbo as they wait for
00:39news of whether their homes have been affected or will be affected.
00:44Take a listen.
00:45We got out early this time because we didn't want to go the boat and have the army evacuate
00:51us out.
00:52We sleep well but I'm glad that we have shelter and food and water.
00:58Well I've never been in this situation so I found it a little harrowing.
01:02I'm pretty optimistic I think, I always look at the positives, I'm a bit of a survivor
01:07you know, you don't look at what you could encounter or what's going to happen or the
01:11negative stuff.
01:12Some residents here have been told they'll be able to move into motels maybe from this
01:17afternoon or later in the week as they wait to see when they'll be able to return home.
01:23Despite the scenario, the vibe here is relatively high, people are in quite good spirits and
01:29they've been very complimentary of the efforts that staff are going to to keeping them fed
01:35and dry.
01:36Now we've heard from authorities that the flood levels are expected to peak in the black
01:41zone around 7 o'clock tomorrow morning but for many of the residents here it'll be a
01:46longer wait than that before they're able to return home.