Queensland towns hit by 100-year river flood

Jake Brumpton was able to walk his dog in St George, hit by a record 13.5m flood. Photo / News Limited

ST GEORGE - Once-in-a-century flooding has caused hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage in southwest Queensland, with authorities focusing on hard-hit communities after the town of St George escaped the worst.

St George, the township at the centre of one of the state's major cotton-growing regions, was spared a potentially ruinous river-level peak of 14m yesterday.

But the record-breaking flooding is causing problems for the townships of Thallon, Bollon and Dirranbandi, south of St George.

The water has breached the levee at the Moonie River at Thallon, and road access to all three regional communities has been cut off.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said the damage bill from the flooding was expected to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

"There's been major cuts to highways, we have seen railway lines washed away. This is a massive water event which has smashed all the records known here in the southwest.

"All this water ultimately is going to mean great things for local primary producers but there is a lot of pain to be felt in these communities before we can see total recovery."

Bligh, who toured flooded areas yesterday, said all shires across the southwest region would be eligible for disaster relief assistance.

Balonne Shire Mayor Donna Stewart said St George had escaped the worst and should be back on its feet in a week. The main priority now was Thallon, Bollon and Dirranbandi because the river levee had been breached, she said.

Twenty-five homes in St George were inundated with water and about 40 of the town's 2800 residents displaced by the flooding moved to a makeshift evacuation centre at the showgrounds.

In Victoria, a severe thunderstorm dumped hail and rain on Melbourne on Saturday, delaying sporting events, shutting down transport and forcing the evacuation of a train station when the storm tore a hole in its roof.

The Bureau of Meteorology said the storm blanketed roads with hail and brought 2.5cm of rain in less than an hour.

"It was a very dangerous thunderstorm," said senior forecaster Richard Carlyon. "We don't often see storm cells like that."

Emergency services could not keep up with reports of flooding and damage. In the city centre, water was nearly knee deep in some streets and shopping centres were cleared out.

The State Emergency Service received 4200 calls for help when hailstones the size of lemons pummelled the city, leaving 100,000 homes without power. Authorities were expecting another storm front early today, to be followed by winds up to 100 km/h.

- AAP, AP