Rockhampton’s Fitzroy River now expected to peak tomorrow

Rockhampton residents are on alert with the Fitzroy river expected to peak tomorrow morning, as Queensland floodwaters slowly move downstream.

Transcript

00:00Rockhampton has been on alert for the better part of the last week.

00:05We have been watching those catchments slowly fill up through the Fitzroy River

00:09as that rain out west and up in northern Queensland came through.

00:13As you said, the moderate peak is meant to hit tomorrow morning 7.5 metres.

00:18At the moment, the river is sitting at about 7 metres.

00:21It reached that minor level just after midnight this morning.

00:24It's expected around 280 homes will be affected by the flood waters.

00:28Most of that will just be water in backyards.

00:31Lots of people have prepared already.

00:33There's been sandbagging stations open all across Rockhampton

00:36and in Livingstone Shire over the past week.

00:38So at the moment it's really just a waiting game.

00:40There's lots of people out and about checking out the flood gauge

00:43and seeing where the river is up to.

00:45We spoke with Mayor Tony Williams this morning from Rockhampton Regional Council

00:49and he had really strong messaging around people swimming in flood waters.

00:52The big message coming in the next few days is please stay out of the flood waters

00:56because they are dangerous.

00:58There's health risks that are associated with that with any cuts and abrasions

01:01but there's also the danger of the debris

01:03and then we have crocodiles in this system as well.

01:05So it's a big message that, you know, stay away from the flood waters.

01:08Don't pay or enter into them at all.

01:10And after that peak hits, just looking ahead to that clean up,

01:13the Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting those waters may take a while to recede

01:17just because they've taken so long to come through.

01:21So they when they're fixing the road, and they do so,

01:24they're just a few people trustworthy and we'll remove that.

01:26You can't control the boat.

01:27They're not going through.

01:28They're willing to see that, you know,

01:30the end of the flood waters are the most,

01:31because they're not going through.

01:33They're just going through.

01:34Or not getting into them.

01:35Even now they're not going through the air.

01:37They're going through the air.

01:38They're just going through, and they're not going through.

01:40They will work through that.

01:42They're going through.