Daily News Roundup

THURSDAY, August 8

A Queensland mother of three has died from the flu, with her husband sharing his grief just hours after her death to warn others about how quickly the virus can take hold. 

Jacinta Foulds, 35, had flu symptoms for more than a week and was diagnosed with influenza A on Friday. She died on Wednesday morning in Toowoomba hospital. 

There have been 37,000 cases of the flu reported in Queensland this year, with Ms Foulds the 84th person to die. 

Jacinta had been feeling out of breath and tired for days but took a turn for the worse on Tuesday morning and decided to call her husband Daniel Foulds at work.

“She just sounded off,” the self-employed Toowoomba carpenter said. 

“So I jumped into the ute and headed straight home, I walked in the door and took one look at her and knew. 

“She had just took a massive turn, boom.

“I had to ring an ambulance. 

“She was in and out, and they took an hour to stabilise her”.

Mr Foulds said his wife was swarmed by doctors when they arrived at the Toowoomba hospital. 

He was told she could die. 

They put her in an induced coma and gave her a 50:50 chance of survival. 

“I couldn’t comprehend it,” he said. 

Ms Foulds who was a nail technician, had developed septicaemia and her heart had to be restarted three times. 

“She was fighting the flu so hard, the bug got in and it destroyed her,” Mr Foulds said. 

“We got to say our last words together.

“She apologised. I said ‘don’t be sorry’. 

“After that, they put her out and she crashed. 

“I still can’t believe she’s gone.” 

Mr Foulds urged anyone who is sick to “go to the doctor,” and seek treatment. 

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Canadian police say they have found two bodies they believe are the teenagers suspected of murdering three people, including Sydney man Lucas Fowler. 

Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, were wanted in connection with the July 15 murders of Australian Lucas Fowler, 23, and his American girlfriend Chynna Deese, 24. 

They were also charged with the murder of University lecturer Leonard Dyck, 64. All three bodies were found in the province of British Columbia, on Canada’s west coast.  

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy said the bodies believed to be the wanted teens were found in dense scrub in Manitoba, 1 kilometre from where items linked to the fugitives were found a day earlier. It was also 8 kilometres from where a grey Toyota RAV4 they were known to have been driving was found in flames on a highway. 

Ms MacLatchy said she was “confident” the bodies were the two suspects but told reporters an autopsy would be completed to confirm the identities. 

“To the families of everyone affected by the series of events over the last few weeks, I know it has been so very difficult and I hope today’s announcement can begin to bring some closure,” she said at a press conference. 

“Your lives have been disrupted. Many of you lived with uncertainty and fear but throughout you were resilient.

“You came together as communities and you helped our officers get the job done.” 

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Millions of people in Australia have been warned to “prepare now” as an icy Antarctic blast sweeps up from the south today. 

The “strongest weather system this winter” will bring high winds, cold temperatures, sleet and snow from today until Sunday. 

Sky News Weather chief meteorologist Tom Saunders earlier today warned Aussies the weather system “deserves our attention”. 

“We’ve been hyping up this storm system all week but it deserves our attention”, Mr Saunders said. 

“We’re looking at close to all-time-record low pressure systems in parts of Bass Strait and we therefore are looking at fairly extreme weather. 

“The major winter storm is expected to last for four days. There will be rain for southeast farmers, damaging wind gusts from Thursday to Sunday and heavy snow along the ranges.” 

Saunders said the deep, polar low was moving a long way north, which the system rarely does. 

“This system will move right through Bass Strait,” he said. 

The system will be pretty close to all-time-low record low pressures for the Victorian coastline and will bring strong gale force winds across Victoria. 

The storm will move east today and tomorrow, hitting Tasmania before pushing north. 

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) also issueed a range of warnings across New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria because of the cold front. 

“This could be the strongest cold outbreak so far this winter,” BOM’s Michael Logan said. 

“We’ll see temperatures really plummet and snow levels down to 500 metres in Victoria and NSW and blizzard conditions in Alpine areas.”

The cold weather could reach as far north as southern Queensland with snow flurries in the Granite Belt and Tablelands and damaging winds for Sydney and the South Coast.