Brisbane in shock as fresh rains feared

Ed Davies -

Flood water in Australia's third-biggest city peaked below feared catastrophic levels on Thursday but Brisbane and other devastated regions faced years of rebuilding, while fresh flood threats loom with a cyclone forecast off the coast.

Large parts of the capital of Queensland state resembled a muddy lake, with an entire waterfront cafe among the debris washing down the Brisbane River, a torrent that has flooded 12,000 homes in the city of 2 million and left 118,000 buildings without power.

With 35 suburbs flooded, many parts of Brisbane looked more like Venice as residents used boats to move about flooded streets, where traffic signs peeped above the stagnant water.

The floodwaters destroyed or damaged many parts of the city's infrastructure. One group of residents was lucky not to disappear into gushing waters when the street they were walking along collapsed.

"The ground started to move and began to rumble like thunder. We all started to run as fast as we could," said Rebecca Bush. "The next minute we heard this huge cracking noise that sounded like lightning had just struck. We turned around and the pathway was gone. It had completely collapsed."

Aerial views of Brisbane showed a sea of brown water with rooftops poking through the surface.

"What I'm seeing looks more like a war zone in some places," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.

"All I could see was their rooftops ... underneath every single one of those rooftops is a horror story," she told reporters after surveying the disaster from the air.

"This morning as I look across not only the capital city, but three-quarters of my state, we are facing a reconstruction effort of post-war proportions," Bligh said.

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Photos Mick Tsikas

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