No guarantee of safety in St George: Bligh

6 Feb 2012, 12:11 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Almost the entire community of 3000 fled St George on Sunday night - the largest evacuation in the state's history. (AAP)

Almost the entire community of 3000 fled St George on Sunday night - the largest evacuation in the state's history. (AAP)

Authorities are scrambling to strengthen a levee bank protecting the inland southwest Queensland town of St George amid record flooding.

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Authorities are scrambling to strengthen a levee bank protecting the inland southwest Queensland town of St George amid record flooding.
 


View Queensland, NSW floods 2012 in a larger map

More than 20 homes have already flooded as the Balonne River continues to rise, Balonne Shire Mayor Donna Stewart told AAP on Monday.

Almost the entire community of 3000 fled St George on Sunday night - the largest evacuation in the state's history.

About 300 people remain there, mostly emergency services and council workers.

But some are residents who are refusing to leave their homes despite being warned that emergency services may not be able to help them as the river climbs to historic heights.

At 6am (AEST) it was at 13.48 metres, just above the 13.4m record.

Barnaby Joyce: St.George flood update (mp3)

But there is hope the town will escape a major disaster, with Nationals Senate Leader and local resident Barnaby Joyce saying the river is now expected to peak below the predicted 15 metres.

"Below fourteen and a half is where they think it's going to be, which is good because that's below the level of the levee," he told AAP as he went into an emergency meeting in St George.

"We hope it's going to be lower.  We'll just wait and see - wait and see and sandbag, there's not a lot more to be done at the moment."

Premier Anna Bligh told the ABC those who remained in St George had been warned.

"In town we have given people very clear advice that we cannot guarantee their safety if they stay," she said.

Authorities are dumping mountains of dirt around the town to shore up its flood defences.

Senator Barnaby Joyce said his home may be used as a refuge for emergency services and others.

It was "awesome but a little bit scary" to be in the town as the flood crisis unfolded, he told the ABC.

"What I'm looking at is something that would fill Sydney Harbour every two days.

"Luckily the levee hasn't breached but those outside it would be experiencing a record flood."

Senator Joyce said the river was raging near his home.

"There is something that sounds a little bit like the sea but it is not actually the sea, it's a river and it is just outside the back door," he said.

Teams of emergency services have been sent to St George, including extra police to prevent looting.

"We are going to do everything we can to make sure people's homes are safe," Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said.

At Roma, to the north of St George, a mini mud army is starting the clean-up in the flood-hit town.

More than 400 volunteers answered the call on Monday to help residents, with almost 200 homes in need of mopping up and repairs.

Maranoa Mayor Robert Loughnan said nine homes were severely damaged, 58 had moderate damage and 120 had minor damage.

Assessing flood damage at nearby Mitchell will begin when an access bridge reopens, but the scale of damage there is vast.

About half of the homes in the town of 1000 people went under.

At Dalby, authorities have taken in more than 300 St George residents at evacuation centres.

"Some people do not know when they are going back, that's an unknown," Western Downs Mayor Ray Brown told AAP.

"The main thing is to keep people comfortable. Everyone is digging in to help."

Others from St George are at an evacuation centre at Brisbane's RNA showgrounds.

Bureau of Meteorology senior hydrologist Peter Baddeley says it could be three more days before floodwaters start to recede and people can return to their homes at St George.

Waters will move downstream towards the Balonne flood plain near Dirranbandi.

"It will be high levels at the end of this week into the weekend and we are predicting about 5.4m at Dirranbandi," Mr Baddeley said.

"It's already about 5.2m now and rising, so it's just spreading far and wide as it goes down the flood plain."

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