Queensland's MP Jason Costigan prepares for a major clean up from the damage of Cyclone Debbie.
Tens of thousands of Australians were stranded by floodwaters yesterday following the powerful cyclone which earlier swept along the country's east coast, cutting roads, destroying bridges and leaving several people missing.
The disaster zone from ex-Cyclone Debbie stretched 970km from Queensland's resort islands and Gold Coast to the farmlands of New South Wales, with more than 100,000 homes without power.
Six large rivers had hit major flood levels and were still rising in several areas, said the Bureau of Meteorology.
Stephen Gollschewski, Queensland State Disaster co-ordinator deputy commissioner, said desperate searches were under way in the state's southeast corner.
Two women died in flood waters in northern New South Wales.
"We currently have four people missing about whom we have serious concerns and have deployed significant resources of emergency services to search for those persons," Gollschewski told AAP.
Flood sirens in several towns prompted stranded residents to climb on roofs of flooded homes to await rescue, but fast-moving water and high winds hindered emergency crews in several areas.
After waking to find himself surrounded by flood waters in Lismore, NSW, William Brookes began to swim, using empty containers for flotation.
The epileptic man estimates it took him 20 minutes battling against currents to move 700m.
"A few times I almost collapsed," said Brookes. "It was a very, very harrowing ordeal."
Water rushed over Lismore's levee walls to within 1m of the 1974 record of 12.2m. Residents have been warned it could be some days before they are able to return home.
Flooding is also troubling parts of southeast Queensland, with the Brisbane metropolitan area of Logan among the worst affected.
A man paddles a kayak down a street on April 1, 2017 in Lismore, Australia. Photo / Getty Images
Logan City mayor Luke Smith said the area experienced the biggest river peaks seen since 1974's devastating floods. "It will stay (at 10m) for the next 12 hours before gradually receding," he said.
Earlier, police rescued an elderly man from public toilets at a flooded park. And swift water rescue workers helped three women and two babies escape floodwaters at Waterford West yesterday.
In northern NSW Kathleen Cameron said she wouldn't adhere to flood evacuation orders until her 19 pets were all high and dry.
The woman was among residents told to leave the small Aboriginal Cabbage Tree Island community yesterday.
But when the SES co-ordinated bus pulled up, Ms Cameron was standing on her verandah with some of her eight dogs and eight cats. Her turtle, Winston, and two birds were inside.
"It'd kill me (if they were harmed)," she said. "I'm not just going to leave them by themselves."
The SES was late yesterday warning downstream communities, such as Ballina, to be prepared as the water moves towards the ocean.
Flood waters are seen in central Lismore, New South Wales. Photo / AAP
A Lismore resident has described how he, about 10 neighbours and three dogs spent hours on a roof when near-record flooding hit the NSW town. James Lewry, 27, said the group spent six hours on a roof in the CBD, before friends came to the rescue on Friday afternoon.
He said he was forced to flee to the top of the factory after water rose to the ceiling of his two-storey house.
"They (waters) rose so quickly we couldn't really develop a steady plan as to what to do," he said yesterday.
"When that stuff happened it was incredibly stressful and quite incredibly scary at points."
Lewry said floodwater around his house was polluted by oil that had spilled from nearby businesses in the industrial area. He used a car tyre floating past the house to move his dogs to the nearby roof.
Emergency services are moving into isolated parts of cyclone-ravaged north Queensland, with restoring electricity the main priority in the "utterly smashed" disaster zone.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said crews working to restore electricity were moving as quickly as possible. She has headed to Rockhampton, where residents in low-lying areas have been warned to prepare for what could be the biggest flood in almost a century.
