Qld flood victims being airlifted home

Residents of the Darling Downs town of Condamine will be airlifted back to the
flood-devastated community on Wednesday, its mayor says.
Condamine's 150 residents were evacuated last week as the town suffered its second
major flooding event in a fortnight.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the Condamine River peaked at 14.67 metres on Sunday
night, below the 15.2-metre record set earlier this month.
Mayor Ray Brown said electricians from energy provider Ergon and water treatment
plant operators would be flown into the town on Tuesday to begin the recovery
effort.
They will be followed by support workers including police, doctors, structural
engineers and Lifeline counsellors along with dozens of military personnel.
Residents would be airlifted in by Black Hawk helicopter and other military aircraft
as local roads remained flooded, he said.
Many people may be able to return to their homes but the worst-affected, especially
those flooded twice, would be housed in an evacuation centre.
Mr Brown said the council was taking every measure to ensure residents' safety
during the clean-up process.
"It is paramount that everything is done correctly, we do not want an accident," he
told AAP.
"We know it seems a lot but we need to be very thorough."
Mr Brown said recovery operations at nearby Chinchilla and Dalby were well under way
but there was a lot more work to do.
Dalby's water treatment plant is working again, despite only a few of the town's
artesian bores operating, while Chinchilla residents are still being urged to boil
water following an E. coli outbreak.



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