Rainwater tanks floating down King Street

Charleville Queensland flood 2nd March 2010
Two massive plastic rain water tanks floating past the hospital on King street.
Hundreds of people will be evacuated from flood-affected Charleville in Queensland's south-west, as heavy rain and flooding continues across the state's inland region.

A monsoonal low has dumped more than 130 millimetres of rain over parts of south-west Queensland overnight.

That has led to flooding in Bradley's Gully, which cuts through the centre of Charleville.

Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts says around a third of Charleville will be evacuated.

"For the town today ... expect potentially up to 500 people to be evacuated from their homes, which is quite significant," he said.

"People from the nursing home have been evacuated to the hospital.

"The mayor describes it as the worst in years so it's quite a significant flood for the town."

Queensland Health says some nursing home residents have been moved to the nearby hospital while others have been sent home with relatives.

A spokeswoman says hotels are being assessed to see if they can take patients if the hospital has to be evacuated and the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) is on standby to fly people to Roma for treatment if necessary.

Caravan park owner Julian Delchau says many homes along the gully have been inundated.

"A lot of people are going to higher ground - the showground is taking a lot of accommodation where they can at the moment," she said.

"Anywhere there's higher ground, everybody's parked their cars and lifting stuff off the ground and doing the best they can."

A long-time resident of south-west Queensland says the floodwaters are the biggest he has seen since 1968.

Alby Lyons from Cheepie, east of Quilpie, says there is significant flooding in the region.

"I've never seen it - I think it's the second-biggest - I thought the last one was a big flood, but this one out does it," he said.

"It'd be a good metre over the highway this morning - I drove out to have a look this morning and I thought I was looking out over the ocean."

Grazier Michael Treloar, from Boothulla Station between Charleville and Quilpie, says the headwaters of the Paroo are the highest they have been in decades.

He says river levels on his property are almost at record levels and could cause problems further downstream.

"The river's running very high this morning - I'd say almost a record here, higher than 1990 levels," he said.

"That water is crossing over the Quilpie Road now and that'll be shut.

"You've also got Quilberry Creek which was very high last night.

"It actually put four inches of water through the roadhouse there on the Quilpie road."

Further east, Roma is expecting major flooding this afternoon.

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