Australia Flood Waters Cut off Queensland Town

After many days of heavy rain, rivers remain swollen across much of Australia'seastern state of Queensland, forcing some residents to flee their homes.Some reports tell of more than 200,000 people having been evacuated due toflooding as well as at least 10 reported deaths.

The Fitzroy River, which has risen to near-record heights following disastrousupstream flooding of some of its tributaries, has cut off Rockhampton.

Rockhampton is a small city of about 75,000 located near Queensland's centralcoast.

On Monday, hundreds of homes have already been inundated, yet the slowly risingFitzroy is not forecast to reach its near-record crest until Wednesday.

The Rockhampton airport had already been closed due to floodwaters covering therunway. Rail service linking northern and southern Queensland was alsoreportedly cut off in the area.

Rockhampton and the Fitzroy are but a tiny sampling of the towns and riversthat have been hit by flooding that is said to be the worst in decades.

Google maps image shows where floods havehit hard in Queensland, Australia.Indeed, at least 22 towns and cities have been hit hard by flooding.

Flooding has even swelled often-dry streams flowing west into the desert.

The disaster has been costly with some estimates pegging the loss at $1 billionor more. Along with personal losses and those related to public infrastructure,agricultural commodities have been hit hard, as have coal exports.

Trigger for the flood disaster was torrential rainfall during December, much ofit happening during the latter half of the month.

Rainfall at no fewer than three Queensland cities, Rockhampton, Brisbane andMackay among them, had at least 30 inches of rainfall during December. Threefeet of rain doused Mackay. At Rockhampton, rainfall was more than 30 inches,and more than 600 percent of normal.

Looking forward, the area will be subject to scattered thunderstorms withlocally heavy rain during the next 5 to 7 days. No widespread heavy rain isindicated, however.