Rainfall eases as recovery begins from major flooding in Australian outback

Sydney, April 3 (IANS) Rainfall is set to ease in an area of the Australian outback hit by record-breaking flooding that is expected to continue for weeks.

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) on Thursday said rainfall that has caused widespread flooding in the southwest and central regions of Australia's state of Queensland is "over."

"Thankfully, rainfall-wise in southwest Queensland, we are done -- the rain is over," Dean Narramore from the BoM said.

"But even though the rain has stopped, the flooding will continue for many days, if not weeks, through southwest Queensland."

An area the size of the state of New South Wales has been affected by the flooding, with floodwaters in some places exceeding record-high levels set in 1974 as every river in southwest Queensland is at major flood levels.

Communities in the sparsely populated region, which is a major livestock farming area, have been evacuated, and hundreds of homes have been inundated by floodwater.

Touring the affected area on Wednesday, Queensland Premier David Crisafulli told reporters in the town of Longreach, about 1,000 km northwest of Brisbane, that over 150,000 livestock are either dead or missing in the floods, Xinhua news agency reported.

"That's 70,000 cattle, 70,000 sheep and 10,000 goats and horses, and I stress this number will continue to rise," he said.

"I want Queenslanders to understand how big a deal this is. Agriculture underpins these communities and they're going to take a long way to get back on their feet. This recovery will take months and years."

He announced assistance grants worth up to 75,000 Australian dollars ($46,881.5) for affected primary producers, and said he is working with the federal government to assist communities to repair damaged infrastructure.

Over 3,500 km of fencing is estimated to have been damaged, as well as 5,000 km of private roads.

--IANS

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