Heavy rain in Australia triggers flood evacuations in Queensland

SYDNEY -- Emergency services in Australia's Queensland state evacuated residents to higher ground on Saturday, as record-breaking floods sparked by heavy rain lashed the region's northwest. Fifty three residents of the isolated Gulf Country town of Burketown, about 2,115 km (1,314 miles) northwest of state capital Brisbane, had been evacuated since heavy rain triggered floods earlier this week, police said Saturday. Police were co-ordinating the evacuation via helicopter to the mining town of Mount Isa, about 425 km (264 miles) south. SYDNEY -- Emergency services in Australia's Queensland state evacuated residents to higher ground on Saturday, as record-breaking floods sparked by heavy rain lashed the region's northwest. Police were co-ordinating the evacuation via helicopter to the mining town of Mount Isa, about 425 km (264 miles) south.