A woman swept into a swollen river was found dead Sunday, the first victim of relentless flooding that one official has described as reaching "biblical proportions."
Days of driving rain last week swamped 22 communities, with around 200,000 people affected by floodwaters in an area larger than Texas. While the rain has stopped, rivers are still surging to new heights and overflowing into low-lying towns as the water makes its way toward the ocean.
On Saturday night, two cars trying to cross a flooded causeway were swept into a river in Burketown, in western Queensland state, police said. Two adults and two children in the first car were found safe, the Sydney Morning Herald reported, as were an adult and three children in the second vehicle. But a 41-year-old woman traveling in the second car disappeared, and her body was found Sunday morning.
Officials say half of Queensland's 715,305 square miles has been affected by the flooding. Queensland Premier Anna Bligh warned that drenched communities could be underwater for more than a week, and cleanup efforts were expected to cost billions of dollars.
"In many ways, it is a disaster of biblical proportions," Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser told reporters in the flooded city of Bundaberg on Saturday.
The city of Rockhampton, near the coast, is the next community in the water's path, and is bracing for flood levels to peak Tuesday or Wednesday.
Rockhampton residents stocked up on food and supplies Saturday, with officials moving those living in low-lying areas into an evacuation center. Mayor Brad Carter warned about 40 percent of the city could be affected by the surging waters, and residents could be forced to wait at least two weeks before returning home.
"Some of them will not know whether their floorboards have been covered and their personal property destroyed, or whether they've been saved and the water has only come up and spared their property," he said. "That's going to be a difficult waiting period for many members of our community."
The town's airport was closed to commercial flights, while relief officials warned the floods would likely reach more than 30 feet in height.
Officials say half of Queensland's 715,305 square miles has been affected by the flooding. Queensland Premier Anna Bligh warned that drenched communities could be underwater for more than a week, and cleanup efforts were expected to cost billions of dollars.
Australia has endured its wettest spring on record, causing six river systems in tropical Queensland to flood, as soaring temperatures in the states of Victoria and South Australia sparked warnings of devastating wildfires.
The rain has flooded coal mines and hit farming hard, with many roads still impassable, and prompted warnings of the dangers of crocodiles and snakes in flooded homes.
The inland sea that stretches across Queensland is dotted with the roofs of flooded homes, islands of dry ground crowded with stranded livestock and small boats ferrying people and emergency supplies.
As the northeast struggled to recover, a new storm was brewing off the coast of mineral-rich Western Australia.
A weather system that forecasters said could become a tropical cyclone brought gale-force winds, forcing several leading oil producers to halt operations and evacuate staff.
