Australia’s record floods are causing catastrophic damage to infrastructure in the state of Queensland and have forced 75 percent of its coal mines, which fuel Asia’s steel mills, to grind to a halt, Queensland’s premier said yesterday.
The worst flooding in decades has affected an area the size of Germany and France, leaving towns virtual islands in a muddy inland sea, devastating crops, cutting major rail and road links to coal ports, slashing exports and forcing up world coal prices.
“Seventy-five percent of our mines are currently not [in] operation because of this flood,” Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told local television. “So, that’s a massive impact on the international markets and the international manufacturer of steel.”
PHOTO: AFP
The floods, which have cut off 22 towns and affected 200,000 people, have resulted from the La Nina weather phenomenon, which produces monsoonal rains over the western Pacific and Southeast Asia.
La Nina is expected to last another three months after it produced Australia’s third-wettest year on record last year, the nation’s weather bureau said yesterday.
“Queensland is a very big state. It relies on the lifelines of its transport system, and those transport systems in some cases are facing catastrophic damage,” Bligh said. “Without doubt this disaster is without precedent in its size and its scale here in Queensland. What I’m seeing in every community I visit is heartbreak, devastation.”
Residents in flooded towns scrambled to build sandbag levees yesterday in the hope of holding back the rising waters, which analysts estimate could shave around 0.4 percentage point of Australia’s economic activity.
In Rockhampton, a cattle town of 75,000, a rise of just 20cm in floodwaters would inundate another 400 homes and lap at the front door of a further 4,000 properties.
“Let’s hope we dodge the bullet. Every centimeter counts,” said Ian Stewart, Queensland’s state disaster co-ordinator.
Three people have drowned in the floods. Authorities are warning people to stay out of floodwaters not just because of the risk of drowning but because snakes and crocodiles are being washed into homes and shops.
Some coal mines in Queensland, the world’s biggest exporter of coal used in steel-making, were resuming production although the outlook remained uncertain.
Macarthur Coal said yesterday it had resumed transporting coal by rail to Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal this week, but force majeure notices remained in place and future coal trains would depend on coal availability.
“Once the pits are free of water, we’ll have more coal exposed that can be processed and transported,” Nicole Hollows, Macarthur’s managing director, said. “It is not possible to predict when we will return to a steady state of mining as that largely depends on any future rain.”
Wesfarmers is resuming output at its Curragh mine in the Bowen Basin, but maintained its force majeure.
A spokesman for Dalrymple port warned that unless mine companies resume production in the nation’s biggest coal region soon, coal export shipments could again be cut.
Some rail lines carrying coal from inland mines expected to stay partially underwater for another week.
“In terms of river levels, they might recede by next week, but these big mining establishments are obviously going to feel the affects for months to come,” said Jess Carey, a flood forecaster for the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
Coal mines with annual production capacity of more than 90 million tonnes have issued force majeure notices, which release them from delivery obligations.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
SECURITY: The New Zealand and Australian navies also sailed military vessels through the Strait yesterday to assert the right of freedom of navigation The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on Wednesday made its first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait in response to the intrusion by a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft into Japan’s sovereign airspace last month, Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. The Japanese news platform reported that the destroyer JS Sazanamisailed down through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, citing sources in the Japanese government with knowledge of the matter. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment on the reports at a regular briefing because they concern military operations. Military vessels from New Zealand and Australia also sailed through the Strait on the same day, Wellington’s defense ministry
RSS