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
00:32been set up as a base for emergency services who have been flown in from Brisbane to help
00:36with the recovery.
00:37The main area of concern at the moment is the small town of Thargominda, a thousand
00:42kilometres west of Brisbane in southwest 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.
01:27Aviation fuel is in short supply, the ADF has brought in a Black Hawk 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.
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