A kangaroo has been killed by a car in the Rockhampton CBD after trying to escape floodwaters surrounding the central Queensland city.
The roo was hit on Quay street, next to the Fitzroy river, with witnesses saying it was jumping erratically across the road.
Svetlana Mitin from Wildlife Rockhampton said the kangaroo almost certainly had a joey, but there was no sign of it near the accident site.
"She's lactating, so she had a joey, but she probably lost it at some point recently as she was moving to higher ground," Ms Mitin told AAP.
"The injuries she had wouldn't have been enough to kill her, but I'd say she was very stressed, and the stress and the accident got her."
She said the joey would, unfortunately, have very little chance of survival without its mother, especially if it was still suckling.
Ms Mitin said lots of land animals would be on the move because of rising floodwaters, including snakes, and urged locals to be extra vigilant, even if they were directly affected by floodwaters.
"Pythons will just climb a tree, but brown snakes and that sort of thing will seek higher ground, which means houses for the most part."
Police have also urged drivers to be alert for animals moving across roads.
The Fitzroy river is expected to peak at 9 metres on Thursday, with the flood gauge at Rockhampton reading 7.7 metres at 10am on Tuesday.
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