Queensland flood crisis 'could worsen'

Queensland's flood crisis has affected 200,000 people over an area bigger than France and Germany combined, and it's not over yet, the state premier says.

Anna Bligh says the disaster has a long way to run before recovery efforts can begin in earnest, with 22 towns or cities inundated or isolated.

The crisis is still unfolding in the inland town of Emerald and the coastal city of Rockhampton is expected to be devastated within days.

"This disaster is a long way from over. We're not into the recovery stage yet. It's some way off," Ms Bligh told the Nine Network today.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard will today tour flood-ravaged communities and hopes to get to Emerald after stopping in Bundaberg, which is experiencing its worst flooding in almost four decades.

At Emerald, hundreds of people spent the night in evacuation centres after the Nogoa River reached a peak of 16 metres.

Ms Bligh said more than 1200 people had been evacuated from their homes in the town in the last 24 hours.

Central Highlands Mayor Peter Maguire said the water was still spreading and the full effects on the town were not yet known.

Large parts of the community are underwater and there's no accurate assessment yet of how many properties have been swamped by the dirty tide.

"We've still got a couple of hundred millimetres to peak in some places," Mr Maguire told the ABC.

He said power was expected to be cut to parts of the community on Friday, and there were problems with sewerage. But, so far, there was no issue with drinking water supplies.

He expressed frustration that five people had to be rescued by swift water teams overnight after they ignored warnings to move to higher ground.

"People just did not believe the water would get up to the level that we were saying it could," he said.

He said it was an unprecedented flood, with the nearby Fairbairn dam now running 5.6 metres over the spillway, well beyond the 4.4 metres seen in the 2008 flood.

Directly west, at Rockhampton, evacuation centres will open from Friday ahead of what could be one of the city's worst floods on record.

Water is already lapping at the doorsteps of some homes less than one kilometre from the city centre, the ABC reports.

The Fitzroy River is expected to get to 9.4 metres in the next two days, rivalling the floods of 1991 and 1954 - and could even rise beyond that.

It's tipped to get to nine metres by Sunday, and the city could be cut off by road, rail and air as early as Saturday.

Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter has warned that more than 4000 properties could be affected at nine metres.

"If it gets higher than that, the number goes up significantly at a greater rate," Mr Carter warned.

Bundaberg was split in two by floodwaters on Thursday, with about 100 homes and two dozen businesses inundated.

The Burnett River reached a peak of 7.9 metres on Thursday and is now slowly falling, leaving residents with a massive clean-up task.

Bundaberg Local Disaster Management Group chairman David Batt said it wasn't clear how long it would take for the water to get away.

"It's receding down now slowly. But, we're not sure how quickly it will go down. The (weather) bureau says it will take some time," he told the ABC.

Meanwhile, Western Downs Regional Mayor Ray Brown has defended the decision to order a compulsory evacuation of the entire town of Condamine on Thursday.

Many of the 100 residents refused to board choppers sent to fly them to safety after the Condamine River swelled beyond the record 1942 flood level of 14.25 metres.

Only about a third of the town initially agreed to go but the premier said she understood people were now co-operating.

Mr Brown said authorities had no choice.

"We had to get them out. They were completely isolated," he told the ABC.

"It's not something we took lightly."

Ms Bligh said she sympathised with Condamine residents, who have been warned the entire town could be swamped by the weekend.

"... The advice I'm getting is overwhelmingly that people are being very co-operative, working with police, making sure they're getting their families to safety," she told the Nine Network.

"You can understand for some people, they've lived in these towns all their lives. They've never left their home, they've got pets, they've got properties to look after."

She said police had emergency powers enabling them to force people out but so far it hadn't come to that.

"... While people are often reluctant and very traumatised by this experience, in the end they are moving," she said.

- AAP