More than 100,000 cattle and sheep are estimated to be dead or missing in the devastating flooding continuing in outback Queensland. Supplies are being flown by helicopter into isolated towns, evacuation centres have been abandoned and residents forced to spend the night in their cars at the airport.
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00:00The floodwaters have started to recede in some parts of the state, but here on the outskirts
00:06of Longreach, the Thompson River has broken its banks and the water is continuing to rise.
00:11There are blue skies at the moment, but more rain is on the way.
00:14We are told there are heavy falls, potentially thunderstorms forecast for this afternoon
00:19and tomorrow, which could bring as much as 30 millimetres of rain to a region that is
00:23already experiencing the worst flood disaster in its history.
00:27Thankfully, the town of Longreach is not expected to be impacted directly and it has been set
00:32up as a base for emergency services who have been flown in from Brisbane to help with the
00:36recovery.
00:37The main area of concern at the moment is the small town of Thargominda, a thousand
00:42kilometres west of Brisbane in south-west Queensland.
00:46It's home to about 200 residents who experienced a very nervous night last night as they waited
00:51to see how high that water would come.
00:54Unfortunately, their greatest fears were realised when the levee that had been constructed
00:58around the outskirts of town broke its banks and a foot of water has inundated almost every
01:04home and business in the town.
01:06The evacuation centre had to be evacuated, a lot of those residents spent the night in
01:10their cars at the airport and are now facing an uncertain future and will likely have to
01:15be evacuated by helicopter to get them to safety.
01:18It could be days or weeks before the floodwaters in some parts of the state recede, roads are
01:23cut and the only transportation method is by helicopter.
01:26Aviation fuel is in short supply, the ADF has brought in a Blackhawk helicopter with
01:31a three tonne lift capacity, it's going to be based out of Blackhall to help deliver
01:35supplies.
01:36The biggest blow has been to the agricultural sector, the key industry in western Queensland.
01:42The Department of Primary Industries has provided some preliminary figures from their damage
01:45assessment and the numbers are devastating.
01:48They estimate more than 105,000 head of livestock have been missing or are killed, there's 3,200
01:55kilometres of fences and more than 4,000 kilometres of private roads that have been either damaged
02:01or washed away.
02:02Those are only preliminary figures and based on only surveys of 82 landholders so we're
02:08expecting over the coming days and weeks those numbers will get a lot worse.