The flooding that's inundated much of south and central Queensland, Australia, is the worst to hit the country in half a century. It was triggered by unusually heavy monsoon rains just before Christmas and has been fed by much higher-than-normal rainfall since.
Here are some other facts and figures from the floods:
1,000,000: The area in square kilometres (approximately) affected by the flooding. That's larger than France and Germany combined and 10 per cent larger than British Columbia.
200,000: The number of people affected by the floods.
10 million: The number in tonnes of the country's wheat crop that has been downgraded to less than milling quality because of rain damage. That's equal to half the country's wheat crop.
343: The number of millimetres of rain that hit some areas of Queensland in a 24-hour period ending Jan. 10, 2011.
150: The number of millimetres of rain that fell in half an hour near the city of Toowoomba on Monday.
15: The number of people killed during a flash flood that followed that deluge of rainfall.
22: The number of towns or cities that are either substantially flooded or isolated.
45: The percentage increase in the global grain prices because of the flood damage to Australia's wheat crop.
30: The percentage by which food prices in Australia could rise, according to investment bank JP Morgan.
20: The percentage of all crops in Queensland that have been wiped out by the floods.
$10 billion: Estimated damage caused by the floods — so far.
Read what people are saying online about the recent flooding and see cellphone images taken by Australians who have been affected by the rising waters.
-- Edited by apcowboy on Tuesday 15th of February 2011 01:53:46 AM
