Major flood warnings remain in place as rivers continue to rise in western Queensland

Floodwaters are continuing to wreak havoc in western Queensland.

Transcript

00:00We've heard this morning about 70 people have been evacuated from their homes and moved

00:07to higher ground in the southwest Queensland town of Thargominda, where they're preparing

00:11for further flooding today.

00:13This extreme weather event started about midway through last week with prolonged heavy rainfall.

00:19As you can see around me, that rainfall has cleared, but the disaster is still unfolding

00:24in parts of outback Queensland.

00:26The focus today is on these towns Thargominda and Yulo, Yulo is close to the New South Wales

00:31border.

00:32Over the weekend, some of the levees were breached in parts due to this flood water

00:37coming through, but this is truly unprecedented flooding for this part of outback Queensland.

00:43The real economic impact and what will flow through the community is the devastation to

00:48agriculture and we're going to have to make sure that we continue in the short term to

00:52deliver fuel and fodder, which the work's been going around the clock to do that, to

00:56give every hope where there is dry land to be able to keep those animals fed.

01:01And then in the long term, we're going to need to lead a big recovery, including re-establishing

01:06exclusion fencing and helping them restock after what will be really devastating scenes.

01:11So that's Queensland Premier David Chrisafulli.

01:14He was in outback Queensland last week speaking there because the agricultural industry will

01:19certainly be the hardest hit here.

01:22Ag Force President Shane McCarthy spoke to us earlier today.

01:26He said it's hard to know just how much stock has been lost because the floodwaters are

01:30still present.

01:31Graziers haven't been able to get out and about to actually measure the full extent

01:35of the damage.

01:36But he says he's spoken to some people who've lost 100% of their stock.

01:40And at this stage, it's about trying to keep that cattle alive.

01:44And one of the major concerns here is forgetting enough aviation fuel.

01:48Shoppers have been integral to the effort here to make sure that they can get people

01:52out safely, they can take cattle to higher ground, and they can even bring food and medication

01:58supplies to towns that have been cut off for days and will likely continue to be cut off.

02:03So in this part of outback Queensland, it's very much a waiting game.

02:07The Weather Bureau says that more rainfall is forecast tomorrow and into Wednesday into

02:12already saturated parts of Queensland, which is bringing anxiety for people who've already

02:18had to weather this storm so far.