Receding floodwaters reveal Queensland as ‘war zone’

SYDNEY - Those who fled Brisbane’s worst flooding since 1974 were trudging Friday through the Queensland state capital’s mud-laden streets to assess damage to homes and businesses.

Anna Bligh, the premier of the northeastern state, warned of the grief awaiting many of them in a “war zone” where 33,000 properties in Australia’s third-largest city have either been swamped or damaged by the raging waters.

“Many people today, tomorrow and over the next few days will be starting to go back into their homes and their suburbs for the first time,” Bligh said. “Some of these houses will have to be demolished.”

Bligh urged returning residents to steel themselves for wrecked homes and businesses that might never trade again.

Officials said 15 deaths were confirmed in the past two weeks of the state’s worst natural disaster and 55 people were missing.

Two-thirds of the state is under water - an area bigger than France and Germany combined - and its mines and farms are idle until the floods recede.

Craig Yeomans, busy sluicing mud out of his home, told Australia’s AAP news agency that he felt he was one of the lucky ones.

“It’s a feeling of relief that we’ve still got a house - plenty of people haven’t,” he said.

Doods Manalansan told the national broadcaster ABC that he was spending his days in the evacuation centre and his nights sleeping outside his flooded home to deter looters.

“We don’t know where we’re going to go now,” he said. “For the meantime, we stay here.”

Power has been restored to 171,000 premises with 66,000 awaiting safety inspections before possible reconnections.

Public transport is moving again, and supermarkets are being resupplied. Officials have deposited 150 skips in affected suburbs so returning residents could discard wrecked furniture and fittings.

Terry Pawson, manager of a painting business, said most of the stock was gone and the premises gutted as the waters went through.

“There’s stuff still here. We can possibly carry on for a while, but the clean-up operation - that’s just heartbreaking,” he told the ABC.

Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser urged holidaymakers to help the benighted state by not cancelling hotel bookings and going elsewhere.

“Tourism is an industry we want to keep going during this time,” he said. “If you want to do something for Queensland this afternoon, get online and book a holiday here.”