Campers Queue Up To Flee Island

Sun Herald

Sunday December 30, 2007

By Eamonn Duff, Sarah Price and AAP

THOUSANDS of campers fled Fraser Island yesterday in an attempt to beat the 90kmh winds and big swells expected to lash the Queensland coastline.

An intense low pressure system about 480kilometres east-north-east of Fraser Island is forecast to produce abnormally high tides, with swells expected to be up to six metres on Fraser Island today.

Beaches on the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast were also expected to be hit.

Queensland Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts asked Fraser Island's 3000 campers plus other holidaymakers to make an "orderly exit". Police were prepared to forcibly remove stragglers if necessary, he said.

Anita Cope, 30, was staying with eight others in a holiday house. Word reached them on Friday of the impending storm. "The caretaker came to the door and informed us that police were recommending we all depart immediately," she said.

"They said that if we left it to Saturday, tides could already be too high and we might not get off the island in time. As we left, we could see everyone packing up. There was a massive line-up for the barges."

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Gavin Holcombe said the low was expected to remain off Fraser Island until lunchtime today, then drift north-west, parallel to the coast.

The main areas to be affected by the large swell were "Fraser Island and the northern part of the Sunshine Coast", he said.

The gales were expected to hit the Queensland coastline from Rockhampton south to Coolangatta, with strong winds predicted further south, along the NSW North Coast.

© 2007 Sun Herald

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