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Massive tracts of northeastern Australia remained under water yesterday as floodwaters from rivers swollen by torrential rain continued to flow south, threatening towns, farms and mines in Queensland and New South Wales.
More than 1000 people evacuated from their homes in Emerald, in central Queensland, are in emergency shelter while floodwaters inundating the town begin to flow towards Rockhampton, about 270km to the east.
The Bureau of Meteorology has flood warnings for 12 rivers in the state, and similar warnings for towns and rural districts downstream in northern NSW.
So far the floods in Queensland alone have caused estimated damage of more than A$1 billion ($1.034 billion) to homes, businesses, farms and livestock, fencing, machinery, mines and roads, with more costs to come through lost production.
But the disaster will later become a boon for huge areas of Australia that have been trapped in one of the longest and most severe droughts in the nation's recorded history.
The deluge will allow farmers to lift plantings of grain crops and restock cattle and sheep stations, and is expected to flow into the parched Murray River basin and help boost production in Australia's foodbowl.
Flooding began just before Christmas, as the el Nino that had plunged the continent into a decade-long drought collapsed into a la Nina event, with rain-bearing clouds above warm Pacific currents blown across Australia by trade winds.
The Meteorology Bureau said the la Nina was firmly established in the Pacific and was expected to persist into autumn.
It began in late November when record rain pounded the northwestern NSW town of Brewarrina and poured into the Darling River, merging into the Castlereagh River to the southeast and pouring over its banks in flooding that caused damage of more than A$100 million.
This month torrential rains dumped on Queensland, pounding and flooding areas as diverse as the northern coastal shire of Whitsunday, above Mackay, the Gold Coast and Beaudesert, west of Surfers Paradise.
Flooding has since hit Clermont, to the north of Emerald, Blackall, on the Barcoo River in the state's central west, and Finch Hatton, near Mackay.
Rockhampton, downstream from Emerald, is now bracing for its own crisis, and the Meteorology Bureau warned yesterday that torrents were pouring south towards Cunnamulla near the border with NSW and Barringun, just across the state line.
Floodwaters from the swollen Parloo River will also flow into NSW, with serious flooding expected to hit the district of Wanaaring, west of Bourke, about February 1.
But Charleville, south of Blackall, appears to have escaped after an emergency levee diverted floodwaters.
"So far the floods have led to the evacuation of about 2500 people," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said.
"While in the long term the floods will prove a boon for the pastoral and agricultural industries, the short-term pain ... will be significant."
Yesterday floodwaters reached their peak in Emerald after cutting off the Capricorn Highway to Longreach in the west and Rockhampton to the east and pouring at thigh-height through towns, shops and industries.
Farmers have reported major stock losses, and mines have been inundated. Miners had to be rescued by helicopter from the nearby Ensham coal mine as the flood hit at the weekend, and the Queensland Resources Council warned the industry was likely to lose tens of millions of dollars.
