Flood alerts issued in state’s southwest
FLOOD alerts have been issued in parts of southwest Queensland, as areas like St George brace for significant inundation.
River levels of the Balonne River are expected to peak in the coming days, prompting Balonne Shire Council to issue a flood warning to residents in rural areas around the rural town.
The town’s local disaster management group does not expect an already flooded Balonne River to peak until this afternoon or tomorrow morning.
It is expected to exceed 12 metres, which threatens to flood low-lying properties and cut the Balonne Hwy.
Further west, the Warrego River in Charleville was yesterday rising quickly.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a major flood warning for the Warrego River, and predicted the flood peak of 6m to 6.3m would arrive last night.
The Sturt St Bridge in the town was expected to close at 6pm yesterday.
Falls in excess of 250mm were recorded in many parts of southwest Queensland across the weekend.
Widespread falls of 100-130mm were recorded in the Upper Warrego River catchment in the 24 hours to 9am on Sunday, with isolated heavier falls up to 200mm recorded just to the north of Charleville.
Both council areas advised residents to stay away from flood water.
Roads around Roma,
Surat and Mitchell were also yesterday cut by floodwater.
This included parts of the Warrego, Carnarvon and Condamine Highways.
A truck driver was hospitalised at the weekend after their road train was swept off the Warrego Highway in floodwaters near Mitchell.
Local fire and rescue services and an SES crew were called to the scene at Amby Creek about 10.15pm and executed a rescue operation.
An SES flood boat was dispatched from Mitchell to retrieve the driver, who was trapped in the cab, with the water rising up to his feet inside.
The driver was uninjured, and the Queensland Ambulance Service took them to hospital as a precaution.