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Being isolated for days, or sometimes weeks on end, after rain is to be expected for those living in outback Queensland communities.
Key points:
- Almost one tonne of fresh produce was flown into outback Queensland on a domestic flight
- Floodwaters have isolated the remote towns of Birdsville and Bedourie
- Police issue warnings as outback roads become treacherous
Bedourie resident Michelle McFadyen was visiting Mount Isa in north west Queensland on Tuesday when she heard that widespread flooding in her home shire 500 kilometres away had worsened.
It became apparent she needed to return to the tiny community before it was too late.
As the Diamantina Shire Council acting CEO landed in Boulia, the first stop of the connecting regional flight, she was told a delivery truck was stranded nearby enroute to the remote community of Bedourie.
"It was sitting in Boulia and was going to spoil if we couldn't get it off that truck and onto the plane," Ms McFadyen said.
Bedourie Roadhouse, the town's only grocery store, had placed an order in preparation for being cut off by floodwaters encroaching from the north.
But an unexpected deluge halted the delivery 220 kilometres away from its destination.
Ms McFadyen said some quick thinking and a call to the Rex Airlines CEO resulted in a team of 10 volunteers recruited to load 850 kilograms of chilled goods including milk and bread and eight bags of mail onto the aircraft.
"Fortunately, I was the only passenger on the plane so we did have enough capacity on the aircraft to take a fair bit of produce and chilled goods," she said.
"That will now allow our [Bedourie] community to go for another three weeks before we start to get into dire circumstances."
Bedourie Roadhouse manager Jaime Dare said even though dry goods did not fit on the plane, the community was grateful to have the fresh produce.
"When these things happen it kind of reminds you where you are and [reminds you of the] remoteness and isolation," Ms Dare said.
"But to get those things it makes a life a bit more normal."
Outback an 'inland sea', roads submerged
In parts of the Diamantina Shire, main roads have been totally submerged in floodwater.
"When I flew over the area between Boulia and Bedourie, it [looked like] an inland sea," Ms McFadyen said.
"It's going to be a long time before we can even assess what damage has been done and it's going to be a long time for us to get the work done that'll be required to fix it."
Ms McFadyen said the council engaged the disaster management group and was monitoring the situation.
"At our local disaster management group [meeting] on Tuesday [we checked with] with our primary health services in both Birdsville and Bedourie and they're fine for medications at the moment," she said.
"We had three pregnant women who left town just before the floods and [we] have one pregnant lady in Birdsville but she's going ok."
Police have issued a warning to all Queenslanders to take care as flooding worsens and outback roads become treacherous.
The Diamantina Shire Council urged drivers to avoid driving through floodwaters.
Rescues underway
Aerial support has also been deployed in the central west, where police have used helicopters to perform rescues, and check on the condition of travellers stranded by wet conditions.
Longreach Patrol Group Acting Inspector Chris Smith said travellers needed to obey road closures, stick to major roads, and exercise commonsense.
"The information we have at this stage, we believe we have nine persons and four vehicles in a relatively clustered area outside of Aramac, and we have a family of two adults and one child in an area off Prairie Road," Mr Smith said.
"We did have some efforts to extricate a number of persons from a known location yesterday by helicopter but unfortunately those individuals declined that support.
"They'd have some supplies to provide some sustenance, and we're certainly planning with the Barcaldine Shire to look at an aerial food drop to provide some necessities for them."
Mr Smith said police expected to have completed the rescues within the next 24 hours, as locals stepped up to provide assistance as well.
"We're very grateful for the assistance of a property owner, through their own resources and without risk to themselves and their safety, there's a plan in place to extract them via a 4WD tractor and return the mum, dad and infant back to the property," Mr Smith said.
More rain needed
Despite the drenching in some parts, other regions in outback Queensland had missed out.
On the edge of the Munga-Thirra Simpson Desert National Park, 400 kilometres from the Northern Territory border, Sandringham Station received just 26 millimetres of rain this week.
"Some places missed out on the rain this end too, we were lucky, we were just on the edge of it," organic cattle grazier and station manager Greg Woods said.
"There's a lot of dry country in between that it has got to fill."
However, he said including most recent rain, there had been a total of 100mm of rain on the station in the past two months.
"All the water holes are full, the dams are all full so it's a good start," he said.
"We had a really cool year last year and I've never really experienced that out here [in the] 35 years [I've been] out on this country."
As flood waters from north Queensland made their way through the state's channel country, Mr Woods would be monitoring his cattle's safety from a helicopter.
"They were all in the right spots today and we just have to check them Monday and see how we're going," said Mr Woods.
"There's a lot of water on its way down [but] it's only moving slowly."