Residents relieved as Australia’s flood crisis rolls on

SYDNEY - Rockhampton residents were relieved Thursday when the Fitzroy River crested below the predicted level and hundreds of houses were spared from joining those already flooded.

“It looks like it’s peaked,” Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter said. “It’s plateaued, and it’s showing signs of dropping.”

The 9.4-metre projected crest would have matched the devastating 1954 flood but come in short of the 10.1-metre record set in 1918. The Fitzroy is now at 9.15 metres.

Carter warned the 75,000 residents of the east-coast Australian city that it could be a year before life returned to normal because of the damage to thousands of houses and businesses.

Only one road is open, and it will be weeks before the Rockhampton airport and rail line are reopened.

“There are many issues to be addressed before we can let people back into the township,” Queensland disaster co-ordinator Ian Stewart said. “The warnings are still there. Flood waters are still there.”

Queensland has had its wettest year ever, and officials warned of a rolling flood crisis over the next six months as enormous volumes of water spill out over pancake-flat floodplains.

The next emergency is looming at the weekend in St George, a town of 3,500 people, 500 kilometres west of Brisbane.

As floodwaters barreled down the Balonne River, locals filled sandbags to defend their homes with makeshift levees to thwart a projected 14-metre peak. If the levees are breached, 80 percent of the town will be inundated.

“It’s pretty nerve-racking to have to wait,” Ella Worboys said. “I think it’s safe for 14 metres. If it goes over 14 metres it will go inside the house. There’s nothing we can do about it.”