Outback deluge disappeared as fast as floods rose

AFTER standing in floodwaters for six hours on Tuesday, Jenny Braun woke yesterday to find the runoff had disappeared.

AFTER standing in floodwaters for six hours on Tuesday, Jenny Braun woke yesterday to a scene as unexpected as the swirling river that had, on Monday, suddenly engulfed her home in Charleville, southwest Queensland.

As quickly as the waters rose, damaging about 400 houses in less than an hour, the runoff from days of drought-breaking rain disappeared.

Under a clear sky, the surge of the Warrego River and Bradley's Gully, where the deluge poured through the community before breaching the banks and levy, had largely receded.

Pools of water around houses were the only outward signs of the devastation from the flash flood that sent town residents climbing on to their roofs and, later, into

the jam-packed evacuation centre.

Outside the town, the waters have brought desperately needed relief to farmers working land that has been parched for a decade.

For Mrs Braun and her husband, Steve, relative newcomers to Charleville after arriving a year ago for the "quiet life", the benign clean-up scenes yesterday were a world away from the flood chaos.

"Looking out, you can't believe that it is the same place," Mrs Braun said.

"All of it was under water and there were emergency guys flat-out everywhere rescuing people.

"It was so sudden when it hit, and then it was gone."

As a precaution, the couple stayed in a caravan that was towed to the evacuation centre when the waters first began to rise about 7.30am on Tuesday.

About the same time, Mr and Mrs Braun were busy rousing elderly neighbours to move to higher ground.

But their efforts came at a cost.

"We woke some people and got others moving, but by the time we got back to our house, the water had reached into the house and it was too dangerous to move anything," Mrs Braun said.

"Steve took the pets and climbed on to the roof, but I couldn't get up there and had to stay on the veranda. The water just rose around me, right up to my chest.

"It was very frightening, because I was getting worried that the SES wouldn't get to me in time.

"I was standing there, holding on to a post for about six hours and then about 3.30 the water started to go down and the SES guys arrived."

Mr Braun went to the house yesterday and found that all of their belongings had been destroyed.

They are not insured and, like most of the residents whose houses were flooded, will have to wait days, even weeks, for structural assessments and repairs to be made before they are given clearance to move back into their homes.

The state government is offering longer-term financial relief to those who are not insured.