- Third person dies in floodwaters after car washed off causeway in Aramac
- Water levels hit 30ft in some areas as towns are cut off
- Police step up patrols in affected towns to prevent looting
- Rivers expected to peak, but it could be a month before waters fully recede
Australia's killer floods are expected to last for weeks, it has emerged, amid reports of looting and warnings that snakes and crocodiles will be washed into homes.
The flooding in the state of Queensland – the worst in Australia for half a century – began before Christmas and has affected a region the size of France and Germany combined.
Three lives have been lost in the past three days, at least 22 towns and cities are inundated, 200,000 residents have been affected, ports closed and the main road through the vast farming region submerged.
Submerged: Depot Hill in Rockhampton is badly hit by the worst flooding in a decade
A small aircraft manages to take off from a portion of the Rockhampton runway before it was shut
Rescue: An emergency services worker wades through the Capricorn Highway. Three people have so far been killed in the disaster
As forecasters predicted more heavy rainfall and flash floods over the next few days, police warned that the swollen waters would wash crocodiles and snakes into homes, but their efforts to get more residents to leave their houses have been hampered by reports of looting.
In Rockhampton, a coastal town, waters from the still-swelling Fitzroy River closed the airport and cut the main highway to the state capital of Brisbane. Scores of families abandoned their homes for flood relief centres on high ground.
By Monday night, floodwaters had inundated the last route into the city, Queensland premier Anna Bligh said, and they were not expected to peak in the town until tomorrow.
Trying to carry on: Locals, include this lady's pet dog, struggle through the waist high water in Rockhampton, carrying what they can
Slippery customer: A snake slithers across the Capricorn Highway. Residents have been warned to look out for crocodiles and snakes in rising floodwaters
Under threat: A lone property in Emerald, Queensland, is in danger of being submerged by floods that have covered an area the size of France and Germany combined
‘Rockhampton is now completely stranded – a town of 75,000 people – no airport, rail or road,’ she told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.
‘The worst [is] still to come. Supplying them with food, ensuring that we keep them safe during this flood is absolutely critical.
‘Given the scale and size of this disaster, and the prospect that we will see waters sitting potentially for a couple of weeks, we will continue to have major issues to deal with throughout January.’
Her words were echoed by Australia’s prime minister, Julia Gillard, who said: ‘This is a major natural disaster, and recovery will take a significant amount of time.’ Kay Becker, chief executive of Capricorn Helicopter Rescue, said: ‘People are seeing water in places that they’ve never ever seen it before.’
Residents have emptied supermarket shelves of food and bottled water in recent days as they stocked up to reduce the need to get around in waist-deep waters.
Evacuation: Families are rescued in by emergency services personnel as the town of Rockhampton was all but cut off
Disaster: A property near Emerald is almost totally covered by the floodwaters in this aerial photo taken by Queensland Police
Torrent: Water covers the Capricorn Highway - the main route between Brisbane and Rockhampton
A C-130 military cargo plane was scheduled to fly to a town north of Rockhampton yesterday carrying food, medical supplies and other items that would then be taken by truck to the stricken city.
In addition to the three people who have died in the main flooding since Saturday, Queensland police say seven more have drowned in separate accidents involving swollen rivers since tropical deluges began in late November.
Police said the latest victim was a man who drowned yesterday when the car he was travelling in was washed off a flooded causeway in the town of Aramac.
Relief: Military aircraft are dropping supplies into affected areas as waters are expected to peak within 24 hours
Impact: Industry and farming has been badly affected by the floods
Unprecedented: The flooding has hit virtually the whole of Queensland as waters move towards the coast
Earlier yesterday, officers said they had recovered the body of a man who was last seen on Saturday when his small boat was swamped by raging waters in a different part of the state.
Officials said about 1,000 people were living in evacuation centres across Queensland, and it may be a month before the floodwaters dry up completely. The damage could ultimately amount to hundreds of millions of pounds. Queensland is an important economic region for Australia. It is responsible for almost all the country’s sugar production, and with cane fields drenched, Australia, usually a net exporter, will be forced to import.
Operations have been halted at three-quarters of the state’s coal fields, which supply half of the world’s coking coal needed in steel-manufacturing.