City cut off by floods amid more deaths

Military flights have rushed to restock an Australian city before it was cut off by flood water as police confirmed two more deaths in the crisis.

Rain that started before Christmas has flooded an area the size of France and Germany combined in north east Queensland.

Rivers are overflowing and at least 22 towns and cities in the farming region are inundated.

In the coastal city of Rockhampton, waters from the still-swelling Fitzroy River closed the airport and cut the main highway to the state capital of Brisbane.

Scores of families abandoned their homes for relief centres on high ground.

Flood water has now inundated the last route into the city, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said.

“Rockhampton is now completely stranded – a town of 75,000 people – no airport, rail or road,” she told Australian radio.

Residents have emptied supermarket shelves of food and bottled water in recent days as they stocked up to reduce the need to move in waist-deep water.

Acting Defence Minister Warren Snowdon said a C-130 military cargo plane would fly to a town north of Rockhampton today carrying food, medical supplies and other items that would then be taken to the stricken city in lorries.

Authorities have warned the Fitzroy will continue rising until late tomorrow or early Wednesday local time.

Mayor Brad Carter has said about 40% of the city could be affected by the surging waters and residents may have to wait at least two weeks before returning home.

State authorities said about 200,000 people have been affected by the floods, Australia’s worst in a decade.

Three people have died in the flooding since Saturday, though police in Queensland state said seven other people have drowned in separate incidents involving swollen rivers and water accidents since tropical rains began in late November.

Chief Superintendent Alistair Dawson said the latest victim was a man who drowned today when the car he was travelling in was washed off a flooded causeway in the town of Aramac, in central Queensland.

Earlier, police said they had recovered the body of a man who was last seen on Saturday, when his small boat was swamped by raging waters in a different part of the state.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard today extended emergency relief to those affected, including low-interest loans to farmers to begin cleaning up and get their businesses running again.

“This is a major natural disaster, and recovery will take a significant amount of time,” she said.

The damage could ultimately amount to hundreds of millions of dollars, she said.

The rains that started the flooding have eased, and water levels have been dropping in some towns.

But officials said about 1,000 people were living in evacuation centres across Queensland, and it may be a month before the flood water dries up completely.