By Samantha Hayes
Flooding has seen the Australian state of Queensland forced to enact the state's largest ever mandatory evacuation.
Floodwaters are receding in Charleville and Mitchell where the clean up has begun.
Three thousand people were evacuated from Saint George by bus or air as the Balonne River rose to a new record.
Towns downstream in northern New South Wales are now bracing for the worst.
The only way in or out of St George in south-west Queensland is by air. It has been cut off by the rising Balonne River which is expected to reach 15 metres by Tuesday.
Queensland disaster coordinator Ian Stewart says they were in “record territory” as of 6am today.
“Manual checks of the flood heights in St George have shown us we're at 13.5m; the record from 2010 was 13.4 and rising."
Every man and his dog were ordered to evacuate. The last of 3000 residents left this morning, with the sick and frail airlifted out by an Air Force Hercules.
Queensland premier Anna Bligh says if they see that 15 metre peak then they are going to return to a “devastated town”.
“This is a town where people were flooded in 2010,” she says. “And the low lying areas again in 2011, so they're going to have to dig pretty deep to recover from this one." "Last year this was the town that raced out with big excavators and built a levy that saved the town; this time it's too big for that."
Taking matters into their own hands some desperately tried to build their own before leaving, racing against the clock to get the blockade high enough to fight of the rising waters.
Authorities are encouraging people to forget about property and focus on safety after a woman was killed north of St George in Roma.
Jane Sheehan had driven into a flooded road and reportedly saved her seven-year-old son before being swept away.
An 18-month-old girl also drowned near St George in a dam. Authorities say it is tragic but not connected to the flooding although the emergency response was hampered by conditions.
While Ms Bligh praised those who quickly evacuated, Charleville resident Richard Wakefield refused to go. Instead he tied a canoe, chilly bin and supplies on the roof, just in case.
Luckily Charleville's levy held, at a time when the weather service says every town through south-west Queensland is experiencing major flooding.
There is hope that the Balonne River will not quite reach 15 metres so the last minute levy building may pay off.
The flood crisis is far from over. Already soaked parts of northern New South Wales will see a knock on effect as the water moves down stream, which will dissipate for weeks.
3 News