More Australians were forced to abandon their homes today as flood waters continue to disrupt life in an area the size of France and Germany combined.
Rockhampton, a Queensland town with a population of 75,000, is now surrounded by water and is virtually sealed off from the rest of the country.
The Bureau of Meteorology said floodwaters in the Bowen Basin in Queensland were "certainly receding, but
still high", adding that the peak of flooding had now moved through the major coal mining region around the town of Emerald.
Queensland premier Anna Bligh said last night the flooding in her state, which has already claimed 10 lives, is “an unfolding disaster”.
Three major river systems are in flood and there are more than 1,000 people in 17 evacuation centres. Thousands more are staying with relatives and friends because they cannot get back to their homes. The Fitzroy river passed the nine-metre mark yesterday, cutting off the city of Rockhampton and leaving its 75,000 residents reliant on the Australian military for food and medical supplies.
Ms Bligh said there may be worse to come. "We're really still in the middle of an unfolding disaster. The Australian Defence Force this morning started flights with C130s out of Amberley to resupply food, taking it into Mackay and then driving it down into Rockhampton.
"Keeping these towns supplied while they are cut off is one of our main priorities right now," the state premier told ABC television last night.
The state is the world's biggest exporter of coal used in steel-making and the floodwaters have brought production and shipments overseas to a virtual standstill, pushing world coal prices higher.
Queensland Resource Council said it would take until next week to determine when exports would return to normal.
"This is a three part drama: first mining production has to resume, then transport and then ports," said a council spokesman.
Greg Goebel, executive director of the Australian Red Cross, said this was the worst natural disaster Queensland has seen in living memory. "The scale of it is huge. It certainly is heartbreaking for many, many people, but what has been the unique feature is that when the water in a town rises and an evacuation centre is set up, the water then moves to different areas.
"So in a sense it's a moving feast in a number of areas," he said.
Ms Bligh said that once the water receded, clean-up efforts would be a huge task. "We have some towns and cities now starting the heartbreaking business of clean-up and recovery, while we're still in response mode in places like Rockhampton, St George and in that southwest area," she said.
"As we turn to recover, there's certainly some big logistical issues. The city of Emerald, for example, we flew 13 tonnes of cleaning equipment and disinfectant in there this morning and they need more. So that's just one town. I expect to see this unfold for months, frankly. Once the water goes down there is still a lot of work to be done."
Ms Bligh warned people who had left or been evacuated from flood-damaged homes not to return until given the all clear to do so. "People cannot go back into their homes until they've been certified as safe by an electrician," she said, "but they will then need – if they've been inundated – to have those homes often rebuilt completely from the inside.
"These are wooden . . . old homes in many cases. They'll need to have their walls stripped, their kitchens replaced; otherwise it would all be mould. There's a lot of work and it's a big rebuilding programme, and some of them [the residents] . . . will not be back in their homes for months.
"Our job is to rebuild regional Queensland and that's what we're going to do," she said.
The floods are costing the economy dearly, with losses expected to top A$1 billion (€760 million), including huge losses for the agriculture and mining industries.
"People around here are used to seeing great stretches of brown dirt after a decade of drought, and now they are seeing massive sheets of brown water as far as the eye can see," one Rockhampton resident said.
Bindi Boshammer, a farmer in the Western Darling Downs, said about 200 tonnes of waterlogged melons would be left in the sun to rot after the floods. "At this time of year, that's our source of income, so that makes things pretty hard from now on," she said.
Australia's prime minister Julia Gillard said the New Zealand and US governments had offered assistance. However she added that international aid was not necessary at the moment.
"I know the premier of Queensland has been in contact with a number of her counterparts and other [Australian] states are going to provide assistance as necessary," she said. "So at the moment, through our own Australian resources, we can manage these circumstances."
