 for what is going to be a significant amount of water that will be coming down towards the town. Those plans are well advanced and we are talking to the disaster district coordinator in that area who is in close communication with the local disaster management group. Moving further up the coast towards Bundaberg, Bundaberg has seen a number of evacuations. We've seen people utilising evacuation centres but to the credit of a lot of people they're actually staying with family and friends in higher places and we're actually seeing now that roads are starting to open. We do ask for patience from the motoring public. The fact that roads are open but only to one lane is allowing repair works to be undertaken on those major arterial roads and we do urge motorists to allow additional time for their travel and to proceed at a speed based on the road conditions upon which they are driving. That could be a speed substantially lower than the speed limit that is posted for that road and also to be aware of road workers that are working on those roads to restore them to the motoring public. Bundaberg is looking at issues of power as well and water in the Gander area and Mandabera. One of the things they've asked us to clarify has been a number of reports about a dam wall breaking. That is incorrect. I would like to say to you that the Paradise Dam is intact. They have confirmed that this morning and that is a rumour that we wish to put to bed today. Moving up the coast now towards Emerald, Emerald has experienced extremely high waters. There's been a number of outstanding work conducted in that area by a wide range of people and we applaud their efforts. They're doing a fantastic job. Water is in the town but again it is starting to level out so we're seeing it go down in some parts of the town and going up in others. We are moving resources up there to assist in the accommodation. The QFRS tenting called Habitat which is self-sufficient for 160 people is being moved into Emerald today courtesy of the Australian Defence Force and we're also sending another tenting capacity to support that of another 160. Again we're in very close communication with the disaster management teams that are working in those areas and we're working on the resupply and the re-powering of a number of communities. It is important to note that in some communities where there is water inundation power has to be disconnected for safety and that once the waters have receded that power is then reconnected. Rockhampton is preparing itself for a fairly significant amount of water towards the end of this week. There is a lot of work in that particular space at the moment and we are redeploying assets across a wide range of government and non-government agencies to support the people of Rockhampton in what will be a fairly protracted flooding situation. Again a lot of this is a prediction and we are predicting that Rockhampton could be isolated from the south for a few days. There are plans in place for the resupply of those centres and also the centres to the north as you've heard on recent radio reports. And that provides in essence a synopsis of what is happening around the state at the moment. Food drops, have you been creative with anything? Well in creative I would say to you that what we're doing is we're planning food drops well in advance at the moment. There are quite a few food drops being organised at a local level and also a district level. Those that can't be managed at those particular levels are being then coordinated from the State Disaster Coordination Centre. So for example little places such as Rolleston and Springshore, very important towns and those food drops are being organised. Now whether that be by road or by air that is we have cells of people that are very competent in this and they're organising those foodstuffs and that includes medical supplies as well. So we have cross agency, cross government communication to ensure that the right foodstuffs and medical supplies are delivered. You were saying that assets are going to be deployed to Rockhampton. What kinds of things are being sent there? We're sending additional personnel to support the community across a wide range of things. We've got extra police officers in those particular places. We're seeing the Department of Communities also moving into those areas. We're seeing the provision of the redeployment of Rotary Wing that's helicopter assets into the area to support the community and to also make sure that if for example if there are medical issues that they can be dealt with a sense of urgency. Given the scale of the flooding now what's the morale lag for emergency services workers knowing that this is going to be going on through to next week? Surely there must be some I guess some tiredness starting to creep in. I'll look undoubtedly fatigue and tiredness is a consideration for all of us. I would like to say to you that the morale and the feeling I'm getting in talking to people around the state is that they're very committed and they're very focused on what they need to achieve. It's important to remember that the flooding that's affecting Queensland is the size of France and Germany combined and that is a significant land area. And so the people in the community, the volunteers, the police, this emergency services personnel, Australian Defence Force are all performing to a very high standard. And I'm sure at the end of this protracted incident that we'll be all very glad to have some rest but I think at the time where we are now in this particular space we're all very focused on delivering the best outcome we can possibly deliver for the community. You seem to expect you're on campus to be isolated from the south. Where do you think that will take place? Well, we're anticipating that to occur probably by the weekend. Again, we're talking with nature here and nature is a fickle beast. There's a lot of water coming down. There's various river systems that are emerging and as they start to merge we're seeing different patterns arising. We're talking with the Bureau of Meteorology and Hydrology and what they're providing for us is the best possible picture they can based on predictions. But again a lot of flooding in Queensland is reaching all-time high. Some of them have never been recorded this high in the past and again it's really looking at where is this going to be when it picks. We've seen cases where we thought it was peaking and it's kept rising. I don't have exact figures that have moved in there yet. I think they're actually preparing for as the waters come up to accept people into those centres. Any estimations on how many people might go there? Well I think there's facilities catered for well over a thousand people and again it's really a case now of depending on how many people stay with family and friends. People in times of need are putting their doors open and taking in their friends and we thank them for that. When you're talking about some medical supplies are there any particular needs that arise from the floods themselves that mean different kinds of medical supplies have to go to different areas and are there areas that are more in need of medical supplies than ours? That's a very good question. A lot of those questions are actually being addressed by Queensland Health. The Queensland Health representatives are actually looking at supplies and again looking at whether or not we're in a recovery or response mode will actually depend on also the types of supplies that we're sending. We're very focused on the fact that we need to make sure that there's sufficient supplies of insect repellent as well for the post response phase and Queensland Health is keeping a very close watch on medical supplies and they're being repositioned in good time. Would you be able to talk a bit about the force evacuation of Columbine? I understand there were some residents who really didn't want to go. Did police have to use force at all? Not that I'm aware of, no. And I think on evacuations if we look at where we live and our ties to our place of where we live we have very strong bonds to that and especially where we've lived in a place of a long period of time and our families have lived there before us. And I totally understand the angst that people must feel in evacuation. What I will say though about Columbine, it was a decision made at a local level. They sought support from the district. The district sought support from the state. The state provided that support and the fact that Columbine is facing unprecedented flooding levels. There are police in town. They are living in an area that is above what is I think 15 metres I mentioned. But I think it's important to say that even listening to locals talk on media they're saying we've never experienced this before in that area and there are a significant number of houses in that community that are affected. When communities are affected like that and the power goes off for protection you've got to look at the safety of life and preserving of human life. And that's what this is about. The thing with meteorology is saying that it looks like there could be extensive flooding between Emerald and Rockhampton and there are lots of smaller communities around there. Are they up for evacuation as well? Are there any towns that you're considering might need to be evacuated the next couple of days? We're looking at a large number of communities across a wide area and we're looking at each one based on the hydrology. So each decision is made based on the local area. What specific areas? Well, Surat's a very good example. The planning for Surat is underway. They've been underway for some time and in that case it's about looking at the heights that are predicted to arrive there and that's based on a lot of predictions. And again, there are many small Queensland towns that are affected by flooding and there are just so many. There's over 22 cities and towns in Queensland that have been affected by this particular event. Is there any truth in unconfirmed reports that people had to put down animals or people chose to put down animals? I'm not aware of that. I'm not aware of any such thing occurring. Were they frustrated, the people in Condomine, that they weren't given enough time and that they weren't able to take some of their pets as the people in Thedo were allowed to do? Well, again, I can't answer that but I do in its entirety but my understanding is that pets were accompanied with their owners, that the pets were moved as well as part of the evacuation plan. There are a large number of dogs that are left behind there. Okay. Well, that's something that we would need to talk to the local district about. Are there plans to evacuate Surat entirely? Well, as I say, that planning is still ongoing and probably closer to the time we will have a better idea of that. Sorry, it's important to look at the flooding as the water moves downstream. It may affect a town tomorrow, any town but in three weeks' time it could affect towns further down the line so that's one of the things we're looking at is is that planning in that area. And when is Surat likely to be most at risk? Off the top of my head, I think it's next week but that's just, I think from the briefing today, I think it was next week. Not tomorrow. No, not tomorrow. Are there any communities that you're concerned about for tomorrow? Well, I'm still very concerned about Emerald at the moment and I'm still very concerned about Rockhampton and I'm also concerned about the small communities in and around those particular large centres and that's something that we're continually monitoring to look at and where we're asked to assist in evacuations we do. It's important to understand as well that there are evacuations instigated at a local level so there are a lot of evacuations that do occur. There are self-evacuations where people think, no, this is getting too dangerous, I need to leave. There are evacuations where, for example, the local disaster management group issue a warning and people say, no, it's time to go. Is Rockhampton, are you concerned that people are going to hang up as long as they came for there to be a lot of people to leave? Well, I would probably suggest to you and Rockhampton have a number of rows around them that are actually cut so it might not be possible to leave because those rows go under and are clear at various times. But I think that's a matter for the local group. They're looking at that, their warnings are out there and we just ask people to pay attention to the warnings that have been issued by the local disaster management groups. The looting I know yesterday, Brett, you were saying there hadn't been, what's the situation? No, there hasn't been any, thankfully, there hasn't been any reports of looting. As I discussed yesterday, we have police in all of the communities that are affected, police from state crime operations.