 She needs to be close so that I can keep her in her shop. Okay, we're ready to go. Well Queensland is reeling this morning from the worst natural disaster in our history and possibly in the history of our nation. As we look across Queensland and see three-quarters of our state having experienced the devastation of raging floodwaters, we now face a reconstruction task of post-war proportions. That is how we are seeing it and that is the sort of steely determination that it will require to overcome what we have seen in the last three weeks. As we all watch with awe at the power of Mother Nature here in Ipswich and in Brisbane, we are also very mindful that in the regions of Queensland people are still facing rising floodwaters. If I can just take you through what's happening in some other parts of the state first. In Gundawindi, the rivers are continuing to rise. It is heading, it is a town headed for its record-ever flood and it is likely to peak overnight. We are keeping a very careful watch on the levee banks around Gundawindi. The water is likely to be very close to those levee bank levels. We are very, very concerned about Gundawindi and throughout the day we will provide further updates. The town of Condemine is also seeing levels in their river continuing to rise. It may not reach quite the peak it did last week but we will be in that vicinity either tomorrow or on the weekend. I'm very pleased that the river levels in all other river systems are now falling but in Gundawindi and in Condemine we see them rising. In the Toowoomba and Lockia Valley region, while the water has receded, the kind of devastation that it has left I think is only now becoming fully clear to everybody in that valley. This is a valley that has been completely and utterly devastated. There are whole towns that are now unrecognisable. Unfortunately I can confirm that just this morning we have a further death to add to the toll in the valley. We have a 13th victim has been found in a field near Grantham and the Deputy Commissioner can make further comment about that a little later but our condolences go to the family of another victim of the terrible floods in the Lockia Valley. We also have more than 70 people now notified as missing with the floods particularly in and around the Ipswich area many people were unable to locate friends and loved ones last night and have made reports to the police of missing persons. We hope that throughout the day as we locate people in evacuation centres and others some of the informal evacuation centres if you like that we will be able to put those people's minds at rest but we will nevertheless be out looking for all of the people who have been listed as missing. There is now a major search and rescue mission in the Lockia Valley. It is a mission that is being supplied by the Australian Defence Force, by police, by fire and rescue staff and by emergency workers. In some of the towns that the search and rescue operations are operational in of course we are also trying to get utilities reconnected. Can I reassure people in each of these towns that despite the search and rescue efforts utilities trades people will be going in today they will be given some priority by police and we will be looking to have electricity supplied where possible as quickly as we can. We also continue to see a large number of people in evacuation centre in Gatton who have come out of some of those small towns and they are likely to be there for some time. So many of them were in the evacuation centre they are now with friends or family where possible in the Gatton area as I said likely to be out of their homes for some time. We also have some major supply issues in the other parts of Queensland towns like Rockhampton where the water is falling it is not falling at the rate that we had predicted and we are seeing those roads cut for longer than we had hoped. So it may be well into the weekend or even later before we see the roads into Rockhampton open and we are continuing to provide Australian Defence use Australian Defence Force planes to take groceries and supplies into those towns north of Rockhampton supply back into Rocky and supply north. So that cut in the Bruce Highway is causing a great deal of problem and concern with supplies into those parts of Queensland. However we did have as I said planes go into Townsville and to Bundaberg last night and this morning and they will continue those supplies for as long as possible. Here in the South East I think a number of people have woken up to some good news and some relief this morning but I have to stress that authorities in the South East are still on full alert. This continues to be a very dangerous situation. We have 118,000 residences without electricity and the electricity cuts to the CBD means that there are considerable strains on our traffic management system. Traffic management cameras are out around the city so this is a potentially very dangerous situation across a city the size of Brisbane and I repeat the warnings we've given please if you don't have to be out there on the roads don't be it is a dangerous situation. We also have dangerous fast moving water going through our rivers and creeks and we need to make sure people stay away from them. But we also know that this morning thousands of people in the South East literally thousands have woken to the unbearable agony of their homes being devastated, their businesses their workplaces being devastated and for some people they've seen both their workplace and their homes washed away. For many others they may not have water in their backyards but they've woken to the devastation of parts of their city. I don't think there's any more powerful symbol of what's happened to the modern city of Brisbane than the sight of our floating walkway drifting down the Brisbane River this morning. The floating walkway is a much loved part of Brisbane. It is the modern face of a thriving, sophisticated capital city. It's a loss that we will all experience and there will be other experiences just like it in neighbourhoods where people watch their parks their swings, their recreational spaces possibly their schools all devastated. So there's a lot of grief and there's a lot of pain not only here in the South East but in other parts of Queensland today. Here in the South East I wanted to acknowledge that overnight we had no emergency rescues. That is a great tribute to the people of this region. I'm very proud of them. They did what we asked. We said please make sensible decisions move to higher ground. Don't stay in dangerous situations and they followed all the warnings. They cooperated with our emergency staff and I'm very, very proud of the staff who were out there on the front line last night. We had an enormous army of police fire and rescue and emergency staff. They were assisted by more than 400 defence personnel right across this region. It was an incredible effort overnight and I'm very grateful to all of the people who heated our warnings and who helped our emergency staff keep us all safe. As I said we have some 18... I think it's actually 119,000 homes and businesses without power. There are 37 substations in the CBD that are currently cut. We will this morning start prioritising substations for reconnection. There are some suburbs that were disconnected as a precaution because of the level we thought the water would reach. Those suburbs can be reconnected very quickly and that process is starting this morning. So please be patient as that is rolled out. In other areas the substations were disconnected and what water did go into them. So there will be some areas that will take some time to reconnect and again I ask for your patience. But I also encourage you to keep listening to news. We will let you know which suburbs are being reconnected over the course of today. But for some suburbs you may find because other parts of your neighbourhood are seriously flooded we may not be able to reconnect power for some days. Please listen to the information we're putting out on electricity supply because you may need to make decisions about relocating to friends for a couple of nights if you don't think you're going to have power. We are also working very hard to restore where they've been affected telecommunications. This has been a particular issue in the Lockyer Valley. In the areas of Gatton, Heledon, Grantham not only have they had phone lines cut but they've had mobile phone towers go down. So these are people in desperate circumstances and they haven't been able to make or receive mobile phone calls. Today we've got temporary mobile phone towers being erected and I hope that that assists in ensuring that they don't feel as quite as alone as they might have in the last couple of days. When an event like this happens it's the best come out in people and we've seen it already on our streets people out there helping their neighbours doing everything they can. What we're now seeing is an avalanche of people wanting to volunteer for the cleanup not only here in Brisbane but across the whole of the state. Can I just thank you for the calls that you're all making. We are going to need every single person to be part of this but can I implore the best way to make use of you and do it in an organised way. So can I encourage people to go and register online with Volunteering Queensland. This is a peak volunteering body. They are an expert at making sure that we get the best use out of volunteers. Please go online and register and you will be contacted about the way that we can use you and use your skills. But we'd also encourage people please help your neighbours, your family and your friends first. If we help the people we know around us it will be the task for the authorities that much easier. As I said at the start we have seen here in our capital city a devastating event but it is no more devastating than those events that we have seen in towns and cities right across regional Queensland for the last three weeks. I want to reassure regional Queensland that as we go about the business of recovering here in Ipswich and in Brisbane we will keep the towns and cities of regional Queensland absolutely at the front of our radar. You will not be forgotten. I have tasked up Major General Mick Slater with the task of being out there in every one of the towns affected. He's been out there this week. He'll continue those duties. He is not being used to deal with the immediate circumstances here in Brisbane. His task of recovery and rebuilding is full steam ahead and we are not being diverted from the business of recovering your communities by the issues here in the East. Can I say to Queenslanders everywhere wherever you are if you are so many places to list if you're in Central Queensland if you're in Southwest Queensland if you're in Western Queensland if you're in the Burnett region the Darling Downs to Wumba the Lockyer Valley Ipswich or Brisbane all of those places have been affected by floods and I say to every one of the people as we weep for what we have lost and as we grieve for family and friends and we confront the challenge that is before us I want us to remember who we are we are Queenslanders we're the people that they breathe tough north of the border we're the ones that they knock down and we get up again. I said earlier this week that this weather may break our hearts and it is doing that and in the coming weeks and the coming months we are going to prove that beyond any doubt. Together we can pull through this and that's what I'm determined to do and with your help we can achieve it. Thank you. Good morning ladies and gentlemen as the Premier has announced unfortunately we've had another confirmed death this morning and unfortunately I've got to warn Queensland that we need to brace ourselves for more bad news and we need to police into some of the more remote areas of the Lockheed Valley where we haven't been able to get to until now. I am sure that as we go through this process of meticulously searching some of the very isolated areas, remote farmhouses buildings that have been collapsed and waterways that unfortunately we will receive more bad news in relation to victims of this very very tragic event. If there is one message that I would give to Queensland as well, could you please be patient with emergency service personnel? I have on a number of occasions asked the community don't go out of your way to go into areas where you are not wanted or needed this is going to be a critical issue particularly over the next 48 hours so please keep away from those areas respect the needs of the rest of the community and in particular obey the directions of emergency service personnel in particular police they will have very very good reason to keep you out of areas or to give you directions. Thank you. All I know is that a male person who is deceased at Grantham. We are hearing reports of a story unfolding of a mass grave underneath the Grantham bridge can you update us on that? No I can't because that is an area they are going to search today access to that area because of the water levels has only just come in the last 12 hours or so. We've got local heroes all across Queensland who have the stories that have been coming out of regional towns and cities of people who put their own lives at risk to rescue others we've now seen that across the south east as well. I think everybody thinks the little tug that could this morning did a remarkable effort made a remarkable effort there's no doubt that in my mind that the tug driver saved lives without him steering that 300 ton piece of concrete away from boats and pontoons we would have seen that debris into the river system and possibly into flooded areas so we'll certainly be looking to recognise local heroes out of this event in the little towns and the big towns and cities when the time comes but we're certainly very very proud of the people who have been out there as I said being the heroes of this event. Premier is there a risk that the blue sky and the lower than expected level that people are going to underestimate how bad the situation actually is? We're in a very strange situation here in Brisbane there are parts of the city which today are seeing blue sky and sunshine for the first time in weeks their suburb is completely unaffected and I think they probably feel a bit euphoric this morning but that's because they haven't yet gone into those suburbs that have been completely devastated I think in the days to come as people get out and start talking to their friends as they start to be part of the volunteer teams as they start to actually see and hear some of the stories of the families that have been affected by this that I guess the reality will start to sink in for everybody and I'm sorry if I was a little emotional when the reality sinks in when you're flying over those homes and you look at those roofs and I could see hundreds of roofs yesterday and that's all I could see was their rooftops and underneath every one of those roofs is a family underneath every single one of those rooftops is a horror story and we're going to see that play out so I think it is going to take some days for it to totally sink in in Brisbane what has happened to our city as the water goes down that floating walkway is only one part of the city that we can tangibly see we've lost the image and destruction in the central business district in the parks, in the gardens, in the schools and in the neighbourhoods of people we know and love so it is going to be I think a gradual realisation there's now potentially tens of thousands of people out of homeless how great is what they're saying that's why I describe our task now as of post-war proportions we potentially have thousands of people who will need temporary accommodation we currently have serious and significant issues about water supply and food supply can I reassure people we are being assisted by experts from around Australia from the Australian Defence Force we have teams of people now working on every one of these priorities I think it looks like a mammoth task and it is but let's have confidence in the people who have protected us so far who have shown what they can do clean up in regional Queensland this is a huge job I don't have all of the details answers right now what I can tell you is we have dedicated task groups of people working on every one of these questions sorry the one other issue I wanted to repeat from yesterday in relation to water and I know that it sounds very strange with all of this water around us but one of the issues that our water supply will face is the movement in these floodwaters has created a great deal of turbidity and that means the water is very dirty we are asking people only use the water that you need at this point please let's remember our water conservation efforts and apply them we need to make sure we keep our water supplies you need to reserve and conserve as much of the clean water supply we've got at the moment we do have the Churgen Desalination Plant activated and that will make a big difference but if we all conserve water what are the essential services like water treatment plans for sewerage and how are they holding up at this stage I'm not aware of any major issues with sewerage treatment plans but that's something that I suspect the Brisbane City Council will be assessing and have to report on a little later today an update on some of the figures of how many people are expected to be home lost in Brisbane because that number has been crushed way more than okay just hang on I'll get you the best estimates from the Brisbane City Council at the moment is that 11,900 homes in Brisbane have experienced flooding across the entire property now that means across the footprint of their whole property so they may be unable to access or it may be above the floorboards or in some cases right up to the roof a further 14,700 homes have experienced some partial inundation so we are talking their numbers close to the 25,000 30,000 mark the estimates indicate that about two and a half thousand commercial businesses have been fully inundated or impacted and a further two and a half thousand have had some partial impact of course there's also the question of roads being cut off and may be cut off for some time so there are some people who simply can't get to their homes because the roads are keeping them out even though their homes have been impacted so there will be some people who will be able to get in in the next couple of days assess the damage, clean up and get back into their homes within a week there will be others and I think we need to prepare ourselves for this, there will be others who will go into their homes and find that those homes will never be habitable again and that will require a total rebuilding effort and for some people they will have some insurance to cover things like temporary accommodation but many people will not so yes temporary accommodation and when I say temporary it could be for months will have to be put in place to assist people as they rebuild homes that cannot be lived in ever again Rebuildingly replacing some of the damage, I mean it could take weeks if not months what do you sort of, what are the expectations for downtown Brisbane Clearly we will it is simply not possible to restore every road that is cut off in regional Queensland and around the cities of Brisbane and Ipswich we will have to prioritise major arterial roads that are essential for food supply we will have to then prioritise within the city major roads for access into the central business district we need obviously to operationalise the CBD as quickly as we can because it really is the nerve centre of managing the rest of this disaster so we need strategic prioritisation undertaken and that's what we've got people working on right now Certainly Brisbane is only one aspect of this and it will take some days until those water levels drops until we can allow safe access to all of the roads in those major roads around the central business district but you've got to remember that in the Lockyer Valley and in many of those other communities the bridges have been washed out culverts have gone and there is going to be a massive reconstruction process necessary to bring our highway system back into full use Regarding the river the river walk that you saw floating down the Brisbane River this morning was a piece of concrete that weighed 300 tonnes if the tug that was steering it away from the river banks and away from pontoons and other vessels had not been successful so if you can work and loose without any guidance you can imagine the kind of damage it might have done even breaking into parts of the river system so it was a very lucky save The question of whether or not it's rebuilt is one that we will have to think about at another time it is I think a very important powerful symbol of our modern city but it is not our first priority The gateway of Bridge was closed this morning sorry the gateway of Bridge was closed this morning for a time where there are concerns of damage to the bridge The gateway bridges were actually closed a number of times overnight because of this situation with the walkway it was prudent to do that but our engineering experts told us that the gateway bridge even if it had been hit by that projectile because that's really what it was it wouldn't have damaged the infrastructure There was actually very fine line decisions being made throughout the night people had to make decisions calculating the risk of sending experts in they considered actually using explosives to break up the walkway and they had to weigh the risk of that in fast moving water against the possibility of this escaping and seriously damaging the gateway bridge The engineering assessments ultimately indicated that even if it had hit the mighty gateways would not have blinked so given that the decision was made not to risk further lives by putting emergency workers in there to use explosives to break up the bridge I think ultimately it proved to be the right decision Is there a possibility you may need to report to a point of secondary recovery Yes I am thinking of cloning him There is no doubt that the task for Major General Mix Slater the task for all levels of government and the task of recovery has increased exponentially in the last four days It doesn't seem that long to go to me that I was standing at a press conference at the end of last week saying the situation was stabilising and we could now put emergency disaster behind us and start the rebuilding effort Well one week later what we've seen is the rebuilding effort has in fact more than doubled in its enormity So yes we will have to sit down with the Major General departments and work through what resources we can bring to this effort and what other resources we need I've already had a discussion with the Prime Minister who has indicated that if we need additional resources not only for managing the emergency but additional resources for the recovery and the rebuilding from the ADF they will be available I have to say and I just want to say to Queenslanders we have been I've been overwhelmed with people ringing my office offering support and the government around Australia has offered all the resources that they can spare to assist not only in the cleanup but expertise engineers to come up here and check bridges so we can open roads sooner Those are the sorts of psychologists to help work with people who are in grief The Prime Minister of New Zealand ran yesterday offering very similar sorts of advice and assistance and expertise We are not alone in this We have potential resources of our nation prepared to come and help us get through this and we will use those resources we won't hesitate I was very grateful this morning when I heard that it hadn't reached the heights that we had anticipated You can see the devastation that has been caused at 4.6, 4.5 metres I ask you to consider what would have been out there this morning if it had been another metre higher or even further which was a possibility earlier this week Some people around the city have been spared the heartbreaking devastation of losing their homes and risk and damage to their lives but there are many, many, many thousands of people out there who have not been spared So while some people might this morning be breathing a sigh of relief I'm not A couple of weeks ago it was estimated that about 200,000 people across Queensland had been affected by the floods Has that figure increased at all? Absolutely We now have 70 towns and cities across Queensland that have been affected in some way by this flood either because they've been inundated themselves or they have been cut off from major supply lines and isolated for weeks We now have to add in the 2.5 million people who call South-East Queensland home to that number People at the Gold Coast, for example are affected by the flood but any of them that had medical appointments in the CBD they're cancelled Any of them that work for corporations affected by this flood will have their lives disrupted People from the Sunshine Coast who had surgery scheduled it's had to be cancelled These are the sorts of disruptions to lives that are occurring everywhere I know that people went to friends and family on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts They will be accommodating those friends in some cases for weeks So the effects and the ripple effect of this event cannot be underestimated Major highways, major rail lines are all cut and in Rockampton's case it's still cut by air Here in the South-East as I've said while you may not have been flooded in your own house the dislocation and the disruption across the capital city and the effect of that on the broader region is having a ripple effect on people I think are only now starting to understand I'm hoping to get out and about today but that will depend just a little on my first priority is to be absolutely confident that we've got everything happening we need on water and electricity and that'll be my first priority here this morning when we've got that bedded down a little more than it is now then we will be I'll be hoping to get out and about I don't think anything can really prepare any of us what we might see in the Lockyer Valley I've spoken to the mayor there on a number of occasions and I'm certainly hearing some of the stories that are coming out and I do think that our search and rescue teams have got a very grim task ahead of them today but when these families go about the business of trying to rebuild their towns they may have to rebuild something completely different to what has just been washed away so I think we all need to brace ourselves for further difficult news to hear You said that Gundawindi is under threat as well as Condomine are people being evacuated from those areas and how many homes are under threat by now? The town of Condomine has been evacuated for the second time in 10 days we are not commencing any evacuations in Gundawindi yet and I don't want any panic in Gundawindi I'm just trying to give the people of Gundawindi as much information as we can and to let them know that hydrologists are currently working on formulas to give some predictions we anticipate, we think at the moment it's around the peak is expected to be at 10.7 the levee banks there are 11 metres but they are refining that prediction because that's not a very big margin of error