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http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25051665-952,00.html
Feb 13
TWO-thirds of Queensland has been disaster-declared with a virtual inland sea covering a million square kilometres - the size of South Australia.
Seven people are dead, most washed away in raging torrents, hundreds are homeless and thousands have lost all of their possessions in the biggest flooding event in three decades.
Flood refugee Katie Price, a mother of seven, has no home and nowhere to go.
She is one of thousands of flood-affected north Queenslanders counting the cost as receding floodwaters expose an estimated state-wide $300 million damage bill.
"It has been a living nightmare," said Ms Price, 29, whose young family are the last remaining flood refugees sleeping on the gymnasium floor in hardest-hit Ingham.
"There was so much water my roof collapsed," Ms Price said.
"We had nowhere to go because our little township was cut off. All we could do was sit in the flooded house for 10 days watching water pour out the light sockets."
Her story is familiar to the 12,000 flood-weary residents in the Ingham district where rotting piles of couches, whitegoods and clothing line the streets.
"The stench of the flood mud is gut-wrenching. It is everywhere," said Halifax father-of-four Tony Lewis.
"We have all got cabin fever from being stuck in the house unable to move for two weeks," he said.
Unsung hero Frank Demarco said his fishing village of Taylors Beach was cut off for 10 days until he was able to co-ordinate helicopter resupply to the 200, mostly elderly, residents.
"We were the forgotten town," Mr Demarco said.
"It was a schmozzle. There need to be some lessons learnt in how to manage disasters. We had helicopters landing to deliver one package of pills, but no bread or fresh supplies."
Ingham Mayor Pino Giandomenico said 3000 homes were flood-affected, 50 had metre-deep water inside the house and, at its peak, 53 men women and children were sheltering in the refugee centre.
He said the true Aussie spirit was evident as some Ingham flood victims donated their $1000 federal assistance payout to the bushfire appeal.
"Give me a flood anytime. We have the sun out and we feel like a weight is off our shoulders," Cr Giandomenico said.
Receding floodwaters have revealed the shattered jigsaw puzzle of the north's road network.
Highways are flooded with a convoy of trucks delivering hundreds of tonnes of fresh produce to empty shelves in Cairns, Innisfail and Port Douglas.
Towns in central Queensland such as Muttaburra near Longreach have joined those in the Gulf and Cape York as cut off by floodwaters in the aftermath of ex-tropical cyclone Ellie.
The monsoonal low, related to that weather event alone, has dumped an average 229mm across Queensland.
The highest rainfall for the month of January was Paluma, near Townsville, with 1631mm of rain, Tully with 1382.6mm and Babinda with 1370mm.
Food drops are continuing by air and barge to Normanton, Croydon and other isolated communities in the Gulf that expect to be cut off by road for at least another six weeks.
Karumba in the Gulf is surrounded by water but there is very little to drink because floods have breached the pipe that supplies the Gulf town's 600 residents.
Pending the arrival of a portable water treatment plant, the town has three to six days of water in storage.
Carpentaria Shire Council chief executive Mark Kelleher said he expected the Defence Department to agree to the State Government's request for the portable treatment plant used by troops.
The the treatment plant would be flown to Normanton and sent by barge to Karumba which had been cut off for five weeks and would remain so for up to another six weeks.
Water is not the only thing in short supply in Gulf towns. Beer sales are being restricted in Normanton's three pubs where there are no takeaway sales.