Floodwaters in the Brisbane CBD have reached their peak but the crisis is far from over, with the death toll reaching 12, the number of missing people rising to 71 and hundreds of thousands of homes either still underwater or without electricity.
Thousands of Brisbanites are still unable to reach their homes and are taking shelter at evacuation centres set up across the city, while businesses in Brisbane, Ipswich and other suburbs are expected to be closed for the next few days.
The Brisbane CBD is still a no-go zone, according to Queensland police, who have told residents they should avoid travelling into the city unless absolutely necessary.
However, meteorology officials have said the waters are expected to peak today, or may have done so already. A spokesperson told the ABC this morning the Brisbane River was “at or near its peak”, although the flood will persist into the weekend.
“We still expect it to be above major flood levels until sometime during Friday and remain high over the weekend,” the spokesperson said.
Officials and rescue workers have urged people to stay away from the floodwaters, with debris continuing to flow at dangerous speeds. Last night a section of the Riverwalk structure was carried away by the waters, which forced officials to close the Gateway bridges.
The revised figures suggest over 11,900 properties will be fully flooded, along with 14,700 which will be partially affected. Up to 5,000 businesses will be hit, but the Australian Taxation Office has said it will grant some assistance to those companies affected.
The suburbs worst hit include Brisbane City, St Lucia, West End, Rocklea and Graceville.
Energex has continued to starve the CBD and surrounding districts of power, leaving over 115,000 Queensland homes without electricity. About 80,000 of those are in Brisbane, with another 30,000 located in Ipswich.
But although the waters are expected to peak, the worst is far from over with the death toll from the floods now standing at 12. And Queensland deputy police commissioner Ian Stewart has said the number of missing people has now risen to 74 – 11 of them are suspected to be in the Murphys Creek area.
“‘Unfortunately, the sheer scale of this disaster in the Murphys Creek area would suggest to us that the people who are missing there – and there are two families who account for most of those 11 – they have not been located,” Stewart said this morning. “We hope we can determine what has happened to them today.”
Debris, including boats and furniture, has been spotted floating down the middle of the Brisbane River, while the debris in areas such as Ipswich and Gympie is also beginning to pile up on roads and bridges. Cars, and even shipping containers, have also piled up in the flood-affected areas.
In areas where flood waters are beginning to subside, including Toowoomba, clean-up efforts are beginning to take place. Mayor Campbell Newman has said the recovery will take a significant amount of time and resources.
”We all now have to rally together to help these people clean up, the ones that have suffered impacts,” he said.
Premier Anna Bligh has also said the damage to homes and businesses is “massive”, and that “we will face some real logistical issues to get food and water out”.
“People are living in what I would describe as a post-war zone,” she said.
Floods are continuing to affect other areas on the eastern coast, with the Clarance River peaking over 7.5 metres in Grafton, along with continued severe weather warnings for the Broken Hill area.
In Victoria, flash floods have hit Bendigo, and more warnings have been issued for the Avoca, Loddon, Wimmera and Campaspe rivers.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
