Exiled flood residents forced to wait

Cedric Ingra looks over belongings in his Rockhampton home. The impact of flooding will be felt for at least two years. Photo / Getty Images

CAIRNS - Residents of the evacuated Darling Downs town of Condamine - hit by two major floods in three weeks - must wait until at least the middle of the week to return home.

The town's population of 150 or so was evacuated about the middle of last week, just days after returning home following a record flood that swamped most homes and businesses.

A team of volunteers from New Zealand moved in to help them clean out their homes, but householders and Kiwi helpers alike had to be moved out when the latest flood began building.

Mayor Ray Brown said the Condamine River was expected to peak about 14.8m early today, below the 15.2m record set at the start of the month.

But he said the river was flowing faster now, raising concerns about structural damage to properties.

"The velocity of the river this time is much faster, the pace is of alarming proportions," he said.

The river had last night inundated at least 15 homes and five businesses.

Brown said the water level would recede slowly and it was unlikely residents would be able to return to the town before Wednesday.

Efforts were continuing in Brisbane to clean up the putrid sludge left behind by the receding Brisbane River.

Thousands of rubber-gloved and gumboot-clad volunteers hauled sodden debris from soaked homes, shovelled muck and swept and mopped muddy floors in some of the 30,000 homes and businesses flooded.

Officials have said the complete clean-up of the Queensland capital would take months, and reconstruction up to two years.

Another body has been found in the Lockyer Valley, bringing the death toll from flash flooding to 17. The floods have caused 27 deaths in Australia's northeast since late November, and 14 other people are missing.

In Grantham, described as the flash flood's epicentre, 70 per cent of the town remained cordoned off yesterday while searchers looked for the missing.

Police and army personnel have finished their sweep of the waterways between Murphys Creek and Grantham. The search will now focus downstream of Grantham.

"People, I hope, will understand the pressure that the police are working under in these sorts of circumstances and be patient," Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh said. "They are working as hard as they can to be in a position to allow people back into Grantham as quickly as possible."

The engorged rivers that flooded Queensland towns have now swelled south into other states.

In New South Wales, nearly 7000 people have been isolated by floodwaters that overflowed highways and emergency services helicopters air-dropped food and other supplies to residents. In northern Victoria, a dozen small communities were sandbagging amid fears of high-peaking rivers, and 3000 people have been evacuated.

The biggest defence deployment for a natural disaster since Darwin's Cyclone Tracy in 1974 has been sent into Queensland, where the 1200 defence personnel have been joined by more than 50,000 volunteers across the state.

That's in addition to the family, friends and neighbours who are helping people with the heartbreaking task of throwing ruined possessions out into the street and clearing murky water and mud from homes.

A 7000-strong army of volunteers was dispatched to flood-stricken areas of Brisbane. The volunteers, armed with shovels, mops and brooms, turned up to four registration centres set up by the Brisbane City Council and bussed to where they were most needed.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard praised the "tremendous Aussie spirit" being shown by the volunteers.

"Right across Queensland today people have got up, they've marched out of their homes and they've gone to find people to help. The scale of the volunteering is taking people's breath away that literally everyone is trying to find someone to help, selflessly going and helping a neighbour."

President Barack Obama offered Gillard condolences over the flooding and they discussed US help.

An economist has estimated the Queensland floods' cost could be A$13 billion ($16.7 billion), or 1 per cent of gross domestic product.

- AP, AAP