Queensland rivers break banks

BRISBANE: A man who went missing from a campsite near Imbil, south of Gympie, as intense rain pushed the southeast Queensland region to the brink of disaster has been found safe.

A vast area was awash yesterday, with hundreds of roads cut and councils on alert as major rivers broke their banks after up to 224mm of rain fell in 24 hours.

More rain was forecast.

More than 10,000 Queenslanders whose homes were damaged by recent floods can apply for the state government to buy back their properties or for grants to raise, repair or retrofit them.

The state has been ravaged by six floods, which have killed 28 people, left thousands of homes uninhabitable and caused billions of dollars in damage, since November.

The Queensland government yesterday launched its $A741 million ($NZ817 million) Resilient Homes Fund for residents hit by the three biggest floods: in the south and west in NovemberDecember, the Wide Bay Burnett in DecemberJanuary, and the southeast and Brisbane in FebruaryMarch. — AAP