A girl falls in the mud as her sister and father remove damaged belongings from their home affected by floodwater in Bundaberg, Queensland, Saturday. (Reuters) BUNDABERG, Australia: Flood waters swept through vast areas of northeastern Australia Saturday, threatening to inundate thousands more homes in a disaster. As Queen Elizabeth II sent her “sincere sympathies” to Queenslanders who rang in a damp new year, helicopters were being used to deliver food and other supplies to isolated towns. Up to 200,000 people have been affected by the floods, which have hurt the nation's lucrative mining industry and cut off major highways as the water rushes through sodden inland regions to the sea. “In many ways, it is a disaster of biblical proportions,” Queensland State Treasurer Andrew Fraser told reporters in flood-hit Bundaberg. As the scale of the flooding mounted, the defence forces on Saturday set up a joint task force to coordinate military relief including three army Black Hawk helicopters already at work, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported. Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who on Friday toured inundated regions, said the floods had been devastating and would have an economic impact. “We're still directly battling flood waters -- we haven't seen the peak of the flood yet at centres like Rockhampton - so the people of Queensland in many places are doing it tough today,” she said. Gillard said the mining sector had been particularly badly hit, with some companies using the force majeure clauses in their contracts. “They've had to say to the people who buy their minerals that at this time, circumstances are such that they can't keep supply moving,” she told reporters. “Even those mines that could continue to mine obviously have got difficulties with supply routes because so many roads have been affected,” she said, adding that farmers, small businesses and tourism would also suffer. Emergency workers were focusing their efforts on Rockhampton where the Fitzroy River had broken its banks and was rising dangerously, threatening 2,000-4,000 homes ahead of reaching its expected peak on Wednesday. “The community is likely to be cut off for a period of 10 days from the south and through this airport,” said Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter. “It's possible that our airport could be closed for anything up to three weeks because it takes a fair bit to re-engage and reactivate an airport once flood waters cover its tarmac. “The community is still expecting to have significant amounts of flood waters at the height of about 8.5 metres into the middle of January.” But as some wait for the flood peak, in other towns residents are preparing to return to homes evacuated during the week following torrential downpours. – Agence France
