Mt. Isa Flooding

Heavy rains in NW Queensland, AU:

SEVERE flooding in northwest Queensland is shaping up to be a multimillion-dollar windfall for farmers and the state's faltering economy.

However, the positive outlook comes amid fears the low pressure system that dumped all the rain could form into the state's first cyclone of the season.

Dozens of stranded tourists, cattle station workers and mining contractors have been airlifted to safety as floodwaters turn the drought-stricken outback into an inland sea.

Roads into Mount Isa have been cut in every direction, Cloncurry is an island and planning is under way to fly food and medical supplies into the isolated towns of Burketown and Doomadgee in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Tourists marooned on sections of the Barkly Highway, west of Mount Isa, yesterday told how they were stuck for two days as torrents of water carved huge chunks out of the road.

A mother and two babies had to be evacuated during a food drop by a Cessna fixed-wing aircraft that landed on the highway.

Outback dams are full and overflowing. Lake Julius is 1.3m over the spillway, raising hopes of an Outback economic boom for the besieged cattle and mining industries.

Some parts have recorded more than 400mm since New Year's Day.

"It is manna from heaven," said Independent federal MP Bob Katter, whose electorate of Kennedy covers the vast flooded region the size of France and Germany.

"It is raining dollars. This is worth millions.

"We've had a terrible time with cattle dying of starvation and thirst, 60,000 head of stock have been shipped out because there is no food or water, and the mining industry has been on the brink of closure because of water issues."

It is the best rainfall the northwest has received in five years.

Mount Isa reported 169.2mm in four days, just 4mm short of last year's entire annual total (173.8mm).

"No one is complaining," said Mount Isa weather bureau field officer Les Lever.

"This is the sort of rain that can set up the graziers and mining companies for a year."