BSY loyalists resign, Shettar in trouble

BANGALORE: The resignations of former CM B S Yeddyurappa's loyalists on Tuesday seems to have left chief minister Jagadish Shettar with only two options -- dissolve the assembly or prove majority.

Yeddyurappa's 13 supporters resigned from their assembly membership on Tuesday, after a high drama. The resignations of 12 MLAs was accepted, while that of Vittal Katakadhonda was kept pending due to technical reasons. Tarikere MLA Suresh is likely to resign in a couple of days. KJP leaders said he couldn't make it on Tuesday as he was out of town.

The KJP leaders claimed more MLAs would resign in the coming days, forcing the government to dissolve the assembly before the commencement of the budget session on February 4. For the moment, in terms of numbers, the BJP government seems safe. But, if more resignations follow, as claimed by KJP leaders, then the fate of the government would hang in balance.

The 225-member assembly has two vacancies. Now, with the 12 resignations, the strength has been reduced to 211. The Magic Number required is 106. The BJP has 107 members (including speaker and nominated member) and the support of an Independent MLA Varthur Prakash, who is a minister in the cabinet. Congress has 71 MLAs, JD(S) 26 and independents six.

The Speaker tried to delay the acceptance of resignations citing technical and legal reasons. But, the determined MLAs sat in his office and refused to leave the office until the resignations were accepted. They even began preparing to stage an over-night dharna in front of the Speaker's office. As things seemed to be going out of control, the Speaker had to accept the resignations.

How the drama unfoled: It all began at 11.30 am when 12 MLAs came to the Speaker's office to resign. Bopaiah, who had arrived in the city on Monday night, was already at his office by 10.40 am. Former minister Shobha Karandlaje joined the MLAs at 11.55 am.

All of them had come personally as the resignation papers have to be in a proper format and handed over personally to the speaker. It is to ascertain the identity of the person and ensure that he/she wasn't resigning under pressure or duress.

The BJP had filed a petition before the speaker on Monday, seeking the disqualification of Yeddyurappa's loyalists. The idea was to drag the resignation issue till the budget session was over. The Speaker's office wrote a letter to Lok Sabha secretary-general seeking advice on how to treat the resignations of the MLAs, as the disqualification petition was pending.

The Speaker had a one-on-one meeting with all the MLAs and scrutinized the resignation papers taking his own sweet time. ``It was unusual and intense scrutiny. Even full stop and comma was keenly observed,'' said a MLA.
The speaker accepted the resignation of Challakere MLA Thippeswamy and pointed technical glitches in the resignation papers of seven MLAs. As the MLAs refused to step out even for lunch, the speaker's office arranged them lunch. Bopaiah left for lunch around 2.15 pm and returned only after 4 pm.

Meanwhile, the MLAs, prepared their resignations afresh by referring to Thippeswamy's resignation letter, which had been accepted. Citing the pending disqualification petition, the Speaker told the MLAs that he would decide on the pending resignations after taking a legal view.

The MLAs refused to budge and remained glued in his office in protest and clearly told him that they wouldn't budge till their resignations are accepted.
As the MLAs refused to move, more police personnel, including women cops, began to assemble in and around the Speaker's office. They were ready to forcibly evict the MLAs once the Speaker left the office. ``We will not move from here till our resignations are accepted,'' declared BP Harish.

After 8 pm, as things were going out of control and due to criticism, Speaker Bopaiah began to consult the MLAs and scrutinize their resignations. Around 9.45 pm, he accepted all their resignations, after which the MLAs left Vidhana Soudha.

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Space Pictures This Week: Martian Gas, Cloud Trails

Image courtesy SDO/NASA

The sun is more than meets the eye, and researchers should know. They've equipped telescopes on Earth and in space with instruments that view the sun in at least ten different wavelengths of light, some of which are represented in this collage compiled by NASA and released January 22. (See more pictures of the sun.)

By viewing the different wavelengths of light given off by the sun, researchers can monitor its surface and atmosphere, picking up on activity that can create space weather.

If directed towards Earth, that weather can disrupt satellite communications and electronics—and result in spectacular auroras. (Read an article on solar storms in National Geographic magazine.)

The surface of the sun contains material at about 10,000°F (5,700°C), which gives off yellow-green light. Atoms at 11 million°F (6.3 million°C) gives off ultraviolet light, which scientists use to observe solar flares in the sun's corona. There are even instruments that image wavelengths of light highlighting the sun's magnetic field lines.

—Jane J. Lee

Published January 28, 2013

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Obama's Immigration Plan to Have More Direct Path

President Barack Obama is expected to lay out his principles for immigration reform in a speech in Las Vegas today that will include a potentially quicker path to citizenship than the bipartisan plan a group of senators unveiled earlier this week.

The president will offer some new details about the White House's immigration reform plan, which expands on a blueprint it released in 2011, a senior administration official told ABC News. But for now Obama will stop short of offering his own piece of legislation because of the progress made by the Senate "Gang of Eight."

See Also: Senate Wants Immigration Bill Passed in Months

The White House has sounded positive notes about the Senate group's plan thus far, but the specifics that Obama announces are expected to have some key differences that might cause concern for some Republican senators who have signed onto the senate deal.

Like the senators' plan, Obama's proposal calls for a pathway to citizenship for many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. The senators' plan would grant "probationary legal status" immediately to eligible undocumented immigrants, but would not allow them to apply for permanent legal status, or a green card, until the border is deemed to be secure. Think of that as a trigger system.

On the other hand, administration officials told media outlets that they believe a path to citizenship needs to be more straightforward. They believe a trigger system, like the one in the senate plan, could lead to a state of legal limbo for the undocumented immigrants who receive legal status, The Washington Post reported.

'Lucha Libre' Wrestler: Crusader Against Illegal Immigration Watch Video

The border-security-first plan, however, is essential to Republican senators who signed onto the Senate "Gang of Eight" deal.

"I will not be supporting any law that does not ensure that the enforcement things happen," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a member of the group, told conservative blogger Ed Morrissey on his web radio show.

See Also: 3 Flashpoints in the Senate Immigration Blueprint

Obama's plan is likely to include language that would allow same-sex bi-national couples to have the same rights as heterosexual couples, BuzzFeed and The Washington Post reported. Under current law, gays and lesbians who are married to U.S. citizens under state laws cannot obtain a green card. Obama's plan would allow them a path to citizenship, but the issue is not mentioned in the Senate "Gang of Eight" proposal.

As noted by the Post, that language may anger Christian groups who have signaled they would support comprehensive immigration reform.

But the White House remains optimistic about the progress that has been made so far. An official described the senators' announcement as a "breakthrough" to ABC News because it wasn't clear whether Republicans would sign on to any path to citizenship.

Some observers couched the Senate group's decision to come out with his plan a day before Obama as an attempt to outfox the White House politically. But administration officials told media outlets they remain generally pleased with the plan and believe that the president's speech could build momentum for a final bill.

Updated, 12:15 PM

The White House reiterated that the president was very encouraged by the Senate's proposal since it includes a pathway to citizenship that is endorsed by Republicans, who have previously opposed immigration reform that includes such a path.

"Our focus is that this is a positive development," White House spokesman Luis Miranda told ABC/Univision. "We feel very positive that there is a proposal in the first place and that it is consistent with what the president has supported in the past."

The White House clarified that it is withholding judgment on language in the Senate framework that requires a border security "trigger" to obtain a green card until actual legislative language is released by the senators.

"What we have said is that there needs to be a clear path to citizenship," said Miranda. "We'll wait to see what they flesh out."

ABC's Reena Ninan contributed reporting.

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Bipartisan group of senators to unveil framework for immigration overhaul

A key group of senators from both parties will unveil on Monday the framework of a broad overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws, including a pathway to citizenship for more than 11 million illegal immigrants.

The detailed, four-page statement of principles will carry the signatures of four Republicans and four Democrats, a bipartisan push that would have been unimaginable just months ago on one of the country’s most emotionally divisive issues.

The document is intended to provide guideposts that would allow legislation to be drafted by the end of March, including a potentially controversial “tough but fair” route to citizenship for those now living in the country illegally.

[Do you think the new immigration plan will work? Discuss this and other immigration issues in The Washington Post’s new political forums.]

It would allow undocumented immigrants with otherwise clean criminal records to quickly achieve probationary legal residency after paying a fine and back taxes.

But they could pursue full citizenship — giving them the right to vote and access to government benefits — only after new measures are in place to prevent a future influx of illegal immigrants.

Those would include additional border security, a new program to help employers verify the legal status of their employees and more-stringent checks to prevent immigrants from overstaying visas.

And those undocumented immigrants seeking citizenship would be required to go to the end of the waiting list to get a green card that would allow permanent residency and eventual citizenship, behind those who had already legally applied at the time of the law’s enactment.

The goal is to balance a fervent desire by advocates and many Democrats to allow illegal immigrants to emerge from society’s shadows without fear of deportation with a concern held by many Republicans that doing so would only encourage more illegal immigration.

“We will ensure that this is a successful permanent reform to our immigration system that will not need to be revisited,” the group asserts in its statement of principles.

The framework identifies two groups as deserving of special consideration for a separate and potentially speedier pathway to full citizenship: young people who were brought to the country illegally as minors and agricultural workers whose labor, often at subsistence wages, has long been critical to the nation’s food supply.

Expanding visas

The plan also addresses the need to expand available visas for high-tech workers and promises to make green cards available for those who pursue graduate education in certain fields in the United States.

“We must reduce backlogs in the family and employment visa categories so that future immigrants view our future legal immigration system as the exclusive means for entry into the United States,” the group will declare.

The new proposal marks the most substantive bipartisan step Congress has taken toward new immigration laws since a comprehensive reform bill failed on the floor of the Senate in 2007.

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Iran sends monkey into space

TEHRAN: Iran on Monday successfully sent a monkey into orbit, paving the way for a manned space flight, Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi told state television.

Arabic-language channel Al-Alam and other Iranian news agencies said the monkey returned alive after travelling in a capsule to an altitude of 120 kilometres (75 miles) for a sub-orbital flight.

"This success is the first step towards man conquering the space and it paves the way for other moves," General Vahidi said, but added that the process of putting a human into space would be a lengthy one.

"Today's successful launch follows previous successes we had in launching (space) probes with other living creatures (on board)," he added.

"The monkey which was sent in this launch landed safely and alive and this is a big step for our experts and scientists."

Iranian state television showed still pictures of the capsule and of a monkey being fitted with a vest and then placed in a device similar to a child's car-seat.

A previous attempt in 2011 by the Islamic republic to put a monkey into space failed. No official explanation was ever given.

A defence ministry statement quoted by Iranian media said earlier Iran had "successfully launched a capsule, codenamed Pishgam (Pioneer), containing a monkey and recovered the shipment on the ground intact".

Iran announced in mid-January its intention to launch a monkey into orbit as part of "preparations for sending a man into space," which is scheduled for 2020.

Iran's space programme deeply unsettles Western nations, which fear it could be used to develop ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads they suspect are being developed in secret.

The same technology used in space launch rockets can also be used in ballistic missiles.

The Security Council has imposed on Iran an almost total embargo on nuclear and space technologies since 2007.

Tehran has repeatedly denied that its nuclear and scientific programmes mask military ambitions.

Iran's previous satellite launches were met by condemnation from the West who accused Tehran of "provocation."

The Islamic republic has previously sent a rat, turtles and worms into space. It has also successfully launched three satellites -- Omid in February 2009, Rassad in June 2011 and Navid in February 2012.

In mid-May last year, Tehran announced plans to launch an experimental observation satellite Fajr (Dawn) within a week but it did not happen and Iran gave no explanation for the delay.

The Fajr satellite was presented by Iranian officials as "an observation and measurement" satellite weighing 50 kilos (110 pounds), built by Sa-Iran, a company affiliated to the defence ministry.

- AFP/ir

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BJP seeks disqualification of rebel MLAs in Karnataka

BANGALORE: Two BJP MLAs submitted a memorandum to assembly Speaker's office on Monday seeking the disqualification of former CM B S Yeddyurappa's 13 supporters.

The complainants — Belur Gopalakrishna and Sarvabhouma Bagli — want 13 MLAs disqualified for their 'anti-party activities.'

Along with the memorandum, they also submitted some evidence, both documentary and visual to prove the association of the 13 BJP MLAs with the KJP.

"The petitions have been given to the assembly secretary, as he is the authority to receive our petitions. They (Yeddyurappa loyalists) will not resign, but are only enacting a drama," said Belur Gopalakrishna.

Meanwhile, former PWD minister CM Udasi, a Yeddyurappa loyalist, said all the 13 MLAs would tender their resignations to the Speaker on Tuesday.

Sources said Yeddyurappa was trying to garner the support of more MLAs to topple the government. However, speaking to reporters, Yeddyurappa said his intention was not to bring down the government.

The resignation of MLAs would prompt the governor to direct CM Jagadish Shettar to prove his majority in the assembly.

Legal view

Former advocate general B V Acharya said the petition for disqualification was meaningless when the MLAs are voluntarily willing to give up their assembly membership.

"It is like preventing a person who wants to commit suicide by saying that he would be hanged after a trial. Meaningless. The disqualification takes a lot of time. The Speaker can't keep the resignations pending for long. After verifying the identity and ascertaining that the member is voluntarily giving up the membership, the Speaker has to accept the resignations," Acharya said.

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Doomed Dolphin Speaks to New York's Vibrant Wildlife

By the time New Yorkers spied a dolphin swimming through the superfund sludge of the Gowanus Canal last Friday, it was too late. The marine mammal didn't even survive long enough for a rescue plan to come together. First sighted on Friday afternoon, the dolphin perished at 6:00 p.m.

The reason the marine mammal died, and why the dolphin swam up the polluted waterway in the first place, is as yet unknown. But the sad story of the wayward creature highlights the strange nature of New York City, the global epitome of urbanity. Hidden within Gotham are native carnivores, marine mammals, and even species that have scarcely been seen before.

Marine mammals are arguably the most high-profile of New York City's wild residents and visitors. The Gowanus Canal dolphin was only the latest to venture within city limits. Just a month ago, a 60-foot-long finback whale (Balaenoptera physalus) became stranded in the Rockaway Inlet of Queens. The emaciated animal died the day after it was discovered.

There seems to be no singular reason explaining why marine mammals such as the Gowanus dolphin and Queens' finback whale wander up the city's rivers or strand on beaches. Each case is unique. But not all the city's marine mammal visitors suffer terrible fates.

In 2006, a hefty manatee (Trichechus spp.) took a long jaunt from its Florida home up the East Coast, including a detour down New York's Hudson River. The sirenian survived the trip, continuing on to Cape Cod before reportedly turning back south to a destination unknown. Hopefully the manatee didn't encounter any great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) on the return journey, a marine predator we know patrols the waters off New York.

Of course, New York City's whales, seals, and occasional manatee can only skirt the city along its shores and canals. You likely won't see a seal caterpillaring its way along Broadway.

Yet the city's interior also hosts a strange accumulation of wildlife, including native animals that are carving out spaces for themselves in the concrete corridors and exotic species that we have introduced to city life.

Coyotes (Canis latrans) may be the cleverest of New York City's hidden wildlife. Thanks to camera traps, and the occasional police chase through Lower Manhattan, researchers are keeping track of the wily canids and studying how they are so successfully taking up residence in many of the nation's cities. "Most small, urban parks will likely hold a pair and their offspring at most—coyotes are very territorial," said Cornell University ecologist Paul Curtis.

The secretive carnivorans bring a welcome element to urban neighborhoods—an appetite for rodents—and are experts at cracking open new niches alongside people.

Black bears (Ursus americanus) may be next. The bears have proliferated in northern New Jersey in recent years, and in 2010, a black bear came within three miles of the George Washington Bridge, a major thoroughfare between New Jersey and Manhattan. The bear obviously would have eschewed rush hour traffic and the tolls, but the local population is so bountiful that it's not unreasonable to think some enterprising bear might eventually wander into the big city.

Strangely, you may actually be more likely to run into a crocodylian predator in New York City than a black bear. New Yorkers have a nagging habit of importing—and losing-alligator—like caimans and other reptiles within the city.

In 2010, an 18-inch long caiman took refuge under a parked Datsun in Astoria, Queens. No one knows how the reptile wound up on the street, but given the trend of owners buying cute crocodylians and later dumping them, someone may have abandoned the poor little caiman.

This would hardly be the first time. In 2006, another little caiman was found in the leaf litter behind Brooklyn's Spring Creek Towers, while "Damon the Caiman" swam around a Central Park lake in the summer of 2001. These caimans are only some of the most famous—according to a New York Times report, the Brooklyn-based Animal Care and Control deals with about ten caimans each year.

Many other unusual and exotic animals have romped through New York. Under some of their most notable animal celebrities, the city's Parks and Recreation department lists guinea pigs, boa snakes, and even a tiger that escaped from a circus in 2004 and ran down Jackie Robinson Parkway before his owners were able to get him back.

The Big Apple even contains species that have never been documented before. No, not the ballyhooed "Montauk Monster"—actually a rotted raccoon—but a distinct species of leopard frog. Described early this year, the cryptic amphibian was given away by its unique mating call.

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Grand Jury Wanted to Indict JonBenet's Parents

A grand jury believed there was enough evidence in 1999 to indict John and Patsy Ramsey on charges relating to the still-unsolved killing of their beauty queen daughter JonBenet Ramsey, ABC News sources say.

Six-year-old JonBenet was found dead in the basement of her family's upscale Boulder, Colo., home Christmas Day 1996. Suspicion fell on her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, but they insisted an intruder was to blame and they were never prosecuted.

In an interview with ABC News' Barbara Walters after her death, both of the girl's parents denied that they had killed her. They were eventually cleared by prosecutors.

JonBenet Ramsey Case: New Grand Jury Report Watch Video

After meeting for more than a year, a grand jury found sufficient evidence to indict the couple on charges of child abuse resulting in death, as first reported Sunday by the Boulder Daily Camera newspaper and confirmed by two separate sources by ABC News.

"This grand jury, in effect, came up with a compromise finding, 'No, it's not murder,' but, 'Yes, we think they were responsible' for the death based on abuse," ABC News legal analyst Dan Abrams said.

PHOTOS: JonBenet Ramsey: Never-Before-Seen Photos

But District Attorney Alex Hunter refused to sign off on the grand jury's decision, saying there was too little proof.

"I and my prosecution task force believe we do not have sufficient evidence to warrant the filing of charges against anyone who has been investigated at this time," Hunter said then.

Hunter believed a conviction would be impossible. Abrams said that he agrees with the decision.

"I've seen the majority of the case files and I think Alex Hunter made the right call," he said. "I think there simply was not enough evidence to move forward."

Patsy Ramsey died in 2006 after a battle with ovarian cancer. John Ramsey remarried. His attorney told ABC News that Hunter is "a hero who wisely avoided a miscarriage of justice."

The case is still officially open but, as in 1996, investigators seem no closer to solving the crime this year, when JonBenet would have turned 23.

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As GOP looks to pick up Senate seats, caution is the watchword

When Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) announced Saturday that he wouldn’t seek a sixth term, Republicans rejoiced at the possibility of picking up the seat in 2014.

But, that joy soon gave way to political reality — the likelihood of a primary between conservative, tea-party-aligned Rep. Steve King and a more establishment GOP figure such as Rep. Tom Latham or Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds. And, just in case Republicans thought they might avoid that sort of primary fight, King released this statement Saturday night: “Iowans now have a real opportunity to elect a true Constitutional conservative.” (In case you were wondering, he is referring to himself.)

Iowa is one of a handful of states where Republicans have the opportunity to pick up Democratic Senate seats in 2014 — West Virginia, Minnesota and Alaska are the three other obvious examples. However, the party also seems likely to face a political dynamic that has plagued it for each of the last two elections: the most conservative candidate wins the primary, but then loses the general election.

The names are now famous — actually infamous — in Republican strategist circles: Sharron Angle (Nev.), Christine O’Donnell (Del.), Ken Buck (Colo.), Richard Mourdock (Ind.) and Todd Akin (Mo.). Over the past four years each of them took races that were somewhere between slam dunks and should-have-wons and managed to lose them. Take those five seats and put them into Republican hands and the Senate is a 50-50 partisan split.

In 2014, just like in 2010 and 2012, the Senate map favors Republicans. Twenty-one Democrats have to stand for reelection, compared with 14 Republicans. And, many of the Democrats seeking reelection will do so in places like South Dakota, Louisiana and Arkansas — not exactly friendly territory for the president’s party.

And yet, caution is the watchword among the Republican smart set; twice bitten, thrice shy — or something like that.

A look at some of the top Republican pickup opportunities suggests wariness is the best approach for party strategists. Aside from South Dakota, where popular former Republican governor Mike Roundslooks like he will have clear shot at Sen. Tim Johnson (D), potentially problematic primaries loom.

In West Virginia, polling suggests Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R) would be a favorite to replace retiring Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D), but some conservatives believe she is insufficiently loyal to party principles to allow her to be their standard-bearer. Soon after she announced her candidacy in late 2012, Chris Chocola, president of the Club for Growth, lambasted Capito’s “long record of support of bailouts, pork and bigger government,” adding: “That’s not the formula for GOP success in U.S. Senate races.”

So far, no Republican opponent for Capito has emerged. Rep. David McKinley, who is being recruited by conservatives to run, seems disinclined to do so, but has yet to publicly endorse Capito. If McKinley says no, conservatives seem likely to look elsewhere.

In Alaska, where Sen. Mark Begich (D) is imperiled due to the strong conservative tilt of the state, Republican Joe Miller made the rounds on Capitol Hill last week, according to National Review’s Bob Costa. Miller, a tea party favorite who ousted Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) in 2010 only to lose to her in the general election, is considering a second Senate run — a bid that would put him in a primary fight with Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell (R), who has a far more moderate reputation in the Last Frontier.

Then there is Minnesota, where Sen. Al Franken (D) will stand for a second term in November. The Republican field is largely unformed at the moment with names like Reps. Erik Paulsen and John Kline being mentioned. But, a recent Public Policy Polling survey— an automated poll with a Democratic lean — showed that one candidate would crush all comers in a Republican primary: Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Bachmann, a 2012 presidential candidate and beloved figure within the tea party, would fare far less well in a general election matchup with Franken, however. According to the poll, Franken would take 54 percent to 40 percent for Bachmann.

And, it’s not just in Democrat-held seats where divisive primaries won by conservatives with little crossover appeal could be a problem. The retirement of Sen. Saxby Chambliss in Georgia, for example, will almost certainly set off a massive GOP primary scramble. If an ideological purist who can’t reach to the middle is nominated, it’s possible that Democrats with the right candidate — Rep. John Barrow, perhaps? — could have a real shot in what is a Republican-leaning state. (Did anyone think Democrats were going to win in Missouri and Indiana last fall?)

What happens in these Senate races will not only go a long way toward determining which party controls the chamber in 2015, but also will set the tone for the Republican presidential primary in 2016. What kind of the party do Republicans want for themselves: ideologically pure but without governing power or less rigid ideologically but with genuine control?

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Major floods sweep northeast Australia

SYDNEY: Two people were missing and the body of a third person was recovered from raging floodwaters as severe storms pounded northeastern Australia on Sunday, forcing more than 1,000 to flee their homes.

Army aircraft were deployed in the northern state of Queensland, where storms generated by former tropical cyclone Oswald unleashed punishing rains and localised tornadoes and floodwaters threatened several major towns.

One woman was plucked to safety in Biloela, 600 kilometres northwest of the state capital Brisbane, after she spent eight hours clinging to a tree.

At Gympie, north of Brisbane, three families waited on the roofs of their homes for seven hours before rescue helicopters, hampered by high winds, managed to reach them, town mayor Ron Dyne said.

A 27-year-old man was missing after he tried to cross a swollen creek near Gympie, and state Premier Campbell Newman said there were serious concerns for another young woman.

"Emergency services are searching for a young woman who reportedly drove into waters near Pacific Haven this morning, and we have grave fears for her safety," Newman told reporters.

Separately on Sunday, police said the body of an elderly man who went to check on a yacht had been recovered from waters north of Bundaberg, where the engorged Burnett River broke its banks and was expected to engulf 300 homes.

Bundaberg was among dozens of towns devastated by floods in Queensland two years ago that claimed 35 lives. Newman said residents there were bracing for the river to peak above nine metres, well in excess of the 7.92 metres seen in 2011.

Further north at Gladstone, about 900 homes were evacuated and several towns in the region were already isolated by the rising waters.

Across the state some 58,000 homes were without power and that number was growing by the hour, according to Newman.

"We are right in the middle of this now, I can hear it bucketing down on the roof as we speak," he said.

Authorities warned residents in New South Wales to prepare for possible flash floods and strong winds of up to 100 kilometres per hour on Monday as the storm system moves further south, the AAP news agency reported.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the emergency had revived "memories of the floods of two summers ago", which she said were "still fresh".

The Insurance Council of Australia declared a statewide catastrophe, noting that there had already been "severe inundation... in several towns and cities" and that major flood warnings had been issued.

"Unfortunately, this catastrophe declaration is the result of the first cyclone to come close to the coast this season, and the weather bureau has warned it's highly possible we will see more before the end of summer," said council chief Rob Whelan.

At least one international flight was diverted from Brisbane to Sydney due to the high winds and Qantas cancelled a number of domestic services, with the Sunshine Coast regional airport shut down.

A staggering 1-1.5 metres of rain was estimated to have fallen since the storms began.

Cyclones and floods are common in Australia's northeast during the warmer summer months. A massive inundation of Queensland in 2011 killed 35 people and brought Brisbane to a standstill for several days, swamping some 30,000 homes.

Brisbane was expected to be spared the kind of flooding seen two years ago, with officials predicting 3,600 homes and 1,250 businesses will be inundated, none in the central city.

- AFP/de

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